Flash 8 ActionScript
Chapter 1 Introduction to Actionscript 2.0 - Training from the Source:
●What is actionscript?
●Actionscript syntax and terms:
●Events – something occurrs (clicking mouse) every script is triggered by an event
●Actions – any line of script that instructs flash to do something (setting a variable)
●Operators - =, >, <, +, -, *, &&, etc... (assigning a value to a variable)
●Keywords – words that have specific purposes in actionscript, they are reserved (cannot
be used for anything other than their intended purpose) (if, else, break, var, etc...)
●Data – this gets updated created or used during dynamic scripts. (i.e; a variable)
**Variables are case sensitive in actionscript
●Curly Braces – usually holds actions that will be triggered and executed
●Semicolons – seperate actions in a script
●Dot Syntax – used in a couple of different ways:
●denote the target path
●invoke a method of an object
●change the properties of an object (i.e; wheel_mc._rotation = 45;)
●Parenthesis – parenthesis are used to set up values for a function
●Quotation Marks – used to denote textual data called a “string” the only way for flash
to know differentiate between data and actual text is to use a string.
●Comments – flash ignores comments (i.e; // or /* <content> */)
●Indenting & Spacing – good habit to get into when developing with ActionScript
Actions Panel:
●what is the actions panel?
●simply allows you to add and edit actonscript to your FLA and relects the code of what is
selected (i.e; a keyframe or an object on the stage)
●practice using the actions panel
●Actions Panel Parts:
●script pane – allows you to edit the actionscript
●toolbar – become familiar with all the toolbar buttons
●actions panel menu – become familiar with the options in the menu
●toolbox – where flash keeps all of the classes that you can use to develop
●script navigator – a quick and easy way to view all the scripts that are in your
FLA, more efficient because you dont need to hunt for your actionscript
Creating Variables
●what are variables?
●Variable syntax:
●var <variable name> : <type> = <value>;
●Strict Data Typing
●what is strict data typing?
●What data types can be used?
