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Macromedia Flash 8: ActionScript

Description

Macromedia Flash 8: ActionScript provides experienced Flash designers with the knowledge and hands-on practice they need to create dynamically generated event-driven animation and interactive games with Flash. The course teaches fundamental programming techniques. It begins by introducing core concepts including instance names, variables, functions, properties, and methods; then proceeds through conditions, loops, event handling, and animating with ActionScript.

Audience

To take this course, you should have:

• Completed the Macromedia Flash 8: Rich Content Creation course, or have equivalent experience.
• The desire to learn how to program Flash content using ActionScript.

Course Outline

Unit 1: Introducing the Course

• Understanding the course format
• Reviewing the course objectives and prerequisites
• Looking at the course outline

Unit 2: Controlling Visual Objects with ActionScript

• Using the Actions and Help panels
• Declaring variables and their data types
• Using the trace() function
• Using code hinting
• Assigning instance names and using them to assign runtime property values
• Using the with operator
• Introducing core properties of visual built-in classes: MovieClip, Button, and TextField
• Controlling Button and MovieClip position and visual state
• Controlling TextField content
• Introducing core properties of non-visual built-in classes: Math
• Using mathematical operators
• Understanding data type conversion

Unit 3: Using and Writing Functions

• Working with Flash Player global functions
• Converting values returned from functions and assigning them for display
• Writing user defined functions
• Returning, or not returning, data from a function
• Understanding variable scope
• Adding code within a MovieClip symbol's own timeline
• Introducing the this operator
• Understanding object methods
• Introducing core methods of visual built-in classes: MovieClip and TextField
• Controlling the MovieClip playhead within its timeline
• Loading external MovieClip content
• Understanding cross-domain security issues
• Exporting and attaching MovieClip symbol instances at runtime
• Writing and using user defined functions to create visual content
• Understanding depth
• Dynamically referring to instance names and property names at runtime

Unit 4: Using Text, Dates, Math, and Paths

• Controlling TextField formatting through code
• Creating and formatting TextFields at runtime
• Using Date objects
• Working with String concatenation
• Generating random numbers and integers using the Math class
• Understanding relative path names
• Controlling nested MovieClip objects

Unit 5: Understanding and Handling Events

• Understanding event driven programming
• Working with event handler syntax
• Moving from symbol-based to timeline-based event handling
• Introducing core events of visual built-in classes: Button, MovieClip, and TextField
• Controlling the playhead within an event handler
• Understanding the this keyword inside an event handler
• Creating rollover effects
• Responding to TextField focus events
• Calling a single function from multiple event handlers
• Referring to a parent object from within an event handler

Unit 6: Managing Color, Sound, and Data with Built-In Classes

• Understanding complex (aggregate) variables
• Working with Arrays
• Working with generic Objects
• Transforming MovieClip objects using Transform and ColorTransform objects
• Generating random color transformations
• Using Sound objects
• Creating audio feedback with event-driven sounds linked from the Library

Unit 7: Making Decisions and Repeating Yourself

• Understanding looped code
• Using loops and arrays to attach, name, and control MovieClip objects
• Using loops to create, name, and control TextFields to display data object values
• Understanding conditional code execution
• Surveying the comparison and logical operators
• Using if/else comparison to toggle MovieClip visual states

Unit 8: Animating with ActionScript

• Dragging and dropping a MovieClip object
• Testing for collision between MovieClip objects
• Initializing attached MovieClip objects
• Using the onEnterFrame event handler
• Controlling visual change rate
• Testing and responding to position at runtime

External links: Adobe