ActionScript

A Primer
 ActionScript is…
• Object-oriented programming
• Everything you do in ActionScript does
something to some object*
• Some objects are called Symbols in Flash
– Movie Clip
– Graphic
– Button
*anything you can manipulate in some way

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 Object oriented?
• You can decide what happens when a user clicks a
button without worrying about how the button (or
program) knows that it has been clicked

• You can decide what changes to make to an object’s

• You can program tasks incrementally without sitting

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 ActionScript Deconstructed
• Class: a group of items that are similar in some
way
– Items are called objects or instances of the class
• Objects can be concrete (like a button or graphic) or abstract
(like a variable that is invisible, but hold data)
• Objects have two aspects form (properties) and function
(methods)
• Each property and method is defined by Actions
(pieces of code that tell Flash how to manipulate
a target object at any point in your movie).

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 ActionScript Metaphor
• Ball could be considered a class of items
defined as “spherical things”
– One object in this class is a movie clip called
Tennis_ball
• The properties of Tennis_ball might be the color
neon green or a 20-pixel diameter
• Its methods might be bounce, roll, and/or spin
– A 2nd object in the ball class might be Softball
• Properties white…etc.

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 ActionScript Flow
• Flash executes ActionScript statements
starting with the first statement and
continuing in order until it reaches the final
statement or a statement that instructs
ActionScript to go somewhere else.

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One type of action that sends ActionScript somewhere
other than the next statement is an if statement

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 Actions
• Tell Flash to do something
– Frame actions
– Object actions
• Actions also can have parameters

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 gotoAndPlay
• This frame action sends the playhead to
the specified frame in a scene and plays
from that frame. If no scene is specified,
the playhead goes to the specified frame
in the current scene.

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 Functions
• Perform a specific task
• Like in a spreadsheet program (Excel)

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 getVersion
• Returns the Flash Player version number
and operating system information.
• You can use this function to determine
whether the Flash Player that is in use can
handle your Actionscript.

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 Properties
• All available information about an object
• You can use ActionScript to read and
modify object properties
• All property names begin with an
underscore (e.g., _visible)

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 _visible = false
• This property make an object invisible
• Assign the following action to a button…
On (release) {
_visible = false;
}
• Button disappears on mouse click

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 Method
• Similar to actions in that they effect objects
• Built into objects
• Invoked (Executed) through dot notation

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RocketMC.gotoAndPlay(“BlastOff”);
• ActionScript notation must end in ;
• Movie clip Rocket MC goes to a frame
labeled BlastOff and plays

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 Variables
• hold data for use in your Flash movies
• Variables can hold any type of data
• You could store:
– User name
– Result of calculation
– True or false value

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 Expressions
• An expression is any statement that Flash
can evaluate and that returns a value.
• You can create an expression by
combining operators and values or by
calling a function.

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 Operators
• Expressions use operators to tell Flash
how to manipulate the values in the
expression.
• They are the commands that say “add
these values” or “multiply these numbers”

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 Some types of operators
• Assignment:
• are used to assign values to variables.
• The most common is (=). It makes the variable on
the left equal to the value of the variable or
expression on the right.
• Comparison and equivalence:
• (<), (>), (< =)
• Numeric:
• perform mathematical operations on values

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 Looping
• When you need to repeat certain actions
in your movies more than once.
• Makes coding more efficient, using the
same set of commands as many times as
necessary to complete a task.

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 Looping examples
• while
• Creates a loop that continues to repeat as long as a
condition remains true
• for
• Creates a loop that executes a specific number of
times using a counter
• for…in
• Creates a loop that executes once for each
member of a group of objects (class)
• This makes certain that the entire group of objects
is processed in the same way
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 Hints
• Before you begin writing scripts, formulate your goal and
understand what you want to achieve.
• Planning your scripts is as important as developing
storyboards for your work.
• Start by writing out what you want to happen in the
movie, as in this example:
– I want to create my whole site using Flash.
– Site visitors will be asked for their name, which will be reused in
messages throughout the site.
– The site will have a draggable navigation bar with buttons that
link to each section of the site.
– When a navigation button is clicked, the new section will fade in
at the center of the Stage.
– One scene will have a contact form with the user's name already
filled in.
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