Flash ActionScript 3 overview
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Disclaimer: Until today I have never seen any ActionScript code. I will use this page to write down a few things. Wait until this message goes away before you can trust anything ! - Daniel K. Schneider 15:56, 5 September 2007 (MEST)
This is part of the Flash series of articles. But it is not a tutorial !!
Introduction
{{quotation|ActionScript 3.0 is a dialect of ECMAScript which formalizes the features of ActionScript 2.0, adds the capabilities of ECMAScript for XML (E4X), and unifies the language into a coherent whole. (Grossman, 2006).
Basically, there are two ways of using ActionScript 3:
- Use the Flash CS3 environment more less as "in the ActionScript 2" way, i.e. you add bits of code to certain frames
- Write your code in a file and compile it (you also may use Flash CS3 that way). No drawings, just code !
Stand-alone code development with AS 3
You do not need to buy Flash CS3 (that's actually a cool thing) to program in AS3 and to create *.swf files.
- Use Flex SDK 2.0.1 from Adobe
- Download this free SDK from Adobe:
For Windows and Mac there is a Flex Builder plugin for Eclipse. Otherwise there is a platform independent compiler, the Adobe Flex2 Software Development Kit (SDK).
- Installing the Adobe Flex2 Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows
- Unzip it somewhere
- Edit the Environment variables through the configuration panel to include the bin directory in the path: I.e. something like Parameters->Config Panel->System->Advanced (I don't have an English System at hand).
- Installing the Adobe Flex2 Software Development Kit (SDK) for Ubuntu
- Unzip it somewhere (I put it under /usr/local/flex)
- Under Linux change permissions of the shell scripts in the bin directory, in particular mxmlc
- Then add this directory to your path. E.g. under my Ubuntu I added in file /etc/bash.bashrc:
export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/flex/bin
- Using the compiler
- Just type something like:
mxmlc HelloWorld.as
.... This will make an *.swf file
Finally, I also need some Emacs code for help with editing (not done yet)
* http://nisheet.wordpress.com/tag/emacs/
Simple AS3 code patterns
Event handling
- General pattern
Definition of an event handler function:
function eventResponse (eventObject:EventType):void
{
// Actions performed in response to the event go here.
}
Using it:
eventSource.addEventListener(EventType.EVENT_NAME, eventResponse);
- Example
launch_button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,launchRocket);
function launchRocket(event:MouseEvent):void {
gotoAndPlay(2);
}
Links
Manuals
Overviews
- Grossman, Gary and Huang, Emmy (2006). ActionScript 3.0 overview, Adobe.
- ActionScript (Wikipedia)
- Comparing the syntax of Java 5 and ActionScript 3
General Tutorials
- Adobe Livedocs has fairly good documentation, e.g.
- Getting started with ActionScript
- However, its target are rather programmers.
- Tutorials at ActionScript.org has several action script tutorials, e.g.
Example-based tutorials
Examples
ActionScript without Flash CS3
- Flash/ActionScript3 Programming under Ubuntu ... Tested, this works :)
Blogs and stuff
- Tag: Actionscript3 at Wordpress