ActionScript 2.0 Garage

Table of Contents:

Preface xv

Topic 1: What’s New in AS2? 1

Super-Short History 1

What Is AS2 Really? 1

Does AS1 Still Work? 2

Biggest Change: New Class Syntax 2

Components 2

General Changes 3

Language Changes 3

Topic 2: Strong Typing 5

Strong Typing and Code Hints 7

Tricking Flash 9

Topic 3: Function Return Typing 11

Part I: Forms 15

Topic 4: Forms: Flash or HTML? 17

Topic 5: Creating a Form Using Components 21

What Are Components? 21

Two Ways to Add Components 22

Topic 6: Creating a Form from Scratch 27

What We Did 32

Topic 7: Validating Form Data 35

ComboBoxes 35

Checkbox 38

Radio Buttons 38

Reading a DataGrid 39

TextInput, TextArea, and Regular Input Text Fields 41

Is the Right Thing Entered? 41

Alert 42

List 43

DateField 44

Topic 8: Submitting a Form and Getting Data Back 45

Checkboxes 47

Radio Buttons 48

List 48

Date Field 49

Topic 9: Form Screens 53

Overview 53

Code Fix! 55

Extras 56

Part II: Skinning Components 59

Topic 10: Setting Skins and Styles: Halo and Sample 61

Dealing with Halo’s themeColors 63

Topic 11: Setting Styles on a Single Component 65

Style Objects 69

MenuBar Misguiding 70

Topic 12: Setting Styles on a Certain Type of Component 71

Huh? 71

Those Darn Buttons 72

Topic 13: Setting Styles on All Components 77

Styles and Precedence 78

Topic 14: Skinning Components 81

Part III: Data 85

Topic 15: LoadVars Object 87

Code Fix! 87

Extra Geek 88

sendAndLoad() 89

Topic 16: Reading in Data 91

Name/Value Pairs 91

Loading XML 92

Topic 17: Sending and Receiving Data 95

getURL() 95

LoadVars.sendAndLoad() 96

XML.sendAndLoad() 97

Part IV: Loading Movies And Images 99

Topic 18: Loading and Unloading Movies 101

Loading Images 103

Unloading 103

Levels 104

Topic 19: Attaching Movies 105

Code Fix! 105

Syntax 106

Attaching to the Legs 113

Do the Fade 113

Topic 20: Loading JPEGs 117

Part V: XML 119

Topic 21: Reading and Parsing XML 121

Our XML 122

Looping through XML 124

Topic 22: RSS: Parse Me, You Fool 129

How the Function Does Its Function Thing 130

Topic 23: Creating an Internal XML Document 133

Basic Steps 134

Code Fix! 134

Title Nodes 135

Part VI: Sound 137

Topic 24: Using Simple Sound 139

Vital to Understand 139

Topic 25: MP3s and ActionScript 143

Code Fix! 143

onSoundComplete 144

ID3 144

attachSound() 145

Part VII: Video 147

Topic 26: Using Imported Video 149

Controlling the Clip 149

Exporting FLV Files 151

Topic 27: Video 153

Playback Using Media Components 154

Skipping the Component 155

Part VIII: Menus Components 159

Topic 28: Menu Component 161

Code Fix! 162

Types of Menu Items 164

Submenus 166

Menus and XML 167

Submenus and an External XML File 169

Topic 29: MenuBar 171

Do It 171

Topic 30: Accordion Panel 173

Populating the Accordion 173

Code Fix! 174

Reading from the Accordion 175

Reacting to Changing Movies 175

Part IX: Styles and Stylesheets 177

Topic 31: Stylesheets 179

CSS 179

Code Fix! 180

Some Extra Stuff 183

Topic 32: Stylesheets and XML 185

Topic 33: TextFormat 189

Part X: Random Stuff 193

Topic 34: Using Masks 195

Code Fix! 196

Another Example 196

Topic 35: Preloaders 199

Code Fix! 200

ProgressBar Component 200

Preloading and Components 201

Topic 36: Calling JavaScript 203

fscommand() 203

Topic 37: Date and Time 207

Finding How Long From Now Until Then 208

Time 209

Topic 38: Drawing with ActionScript 211

Code Fix! 211

Drawing Shapes 212

Drawing Curves 213

Topic 39: _global 217

Code Fix! 217

Part XI: Classes 219

Topic 40: Classes and Objects: An Introduction 221

Actual Code 223

Topic 41: Your First Class 225

Topic 42: Extending the Movie Clip Class 229

Classes and Subclasses 229

Code Fix! 230

Topic 43: Adding Methods to Built-in Classes 233

arrayShuffle.as 233

Part XII: Events and Listeners 237

Topic 44: Events, Handlers, and Listeners 239

Broadcasters 240

Event Handler Methods 241

Listeners 241

Topic 45: on() and onClipEvent() 245

on() 245

onClipEvent() 246

Topic 46: Event Methods 247

Code Fix! 247

Topic 47: MovieClipLoader 249

Topic 48: addListener() 251

Code Fix! 251

Events 252

removeListener() 252

Topic 49: addEventListener() 253

Code Fix! 253

Part XIII: Some New UI Components 255

Topic 50: DataGrid Component 257

Code Fix! 257

Code Fix! 260

Topic 51: Label Component 263

Styles 264

Code Fix! 265

Topic 52: Loader 265

Topic 53: Numeric Stepper 267

Topic 54: Tree 269

Code Fix! 270

Populating the Tree with an Internal XML Document 272

Topic 55: Window Component 275

Pop-Up Window 276

Close the Window 277

Issues 279

Part XIV: Data Binding 281

Topic 56: Yes, Data Binding 283

No, Really—What’s Data Binding? 283

Code Fix! 284

Getting Deeper 285

Index 287