ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Foreword Preface I. ActionScript Fundamentals 1. A Gentle Introduction for Non-Programmers Some Basic Phrases Further ActionScript Concepts Building a Multiple-Choice Quiz 2. Variables Creating Variables (Declaration) Assigning Variables Changing and Retrieving Variable Values Types of Values Variable Scope Some Applied Examples 3. Data and Datatypes Data Versus Information Retaining Meaning with Datatypes Creating and Categorizing Data Datatype Conversion Primitive Data Versus Composite Data 4. Primitive Datatypes The Number Type Integers and Floating-Point Numbers Numeric Literals Working with Numbers The String Type Working with Strings The Boolean Type Undefined Null 5. Operators General Features of Operators The Assignment Operator Arithmetic Operators The Equality and Inequality Operators The Comparison Operators The String Operators The Logical Operators The Grouping Operator The Comma Operator The void Operator Other Operators 6. Statements Types of Statements Statement Syntax The ActionScript Statements Statements Versus Actions 7. Conditionals The if Statement The else Statement The else if Statement Simulating the switch Statement Compact Conditional Syntax 8. Loop Statements The while Loop Loop Terminology The do-while Loop The for Loop The for-in Loop Stopping a Loop Prematurely Timeline and Clip Event Loops 9. Functions Creating Functions Running Functions Passing Information to Functions Exiting and Returning Values from Functions Function Literals Function Availability and Life Span Function Scope Function Parameters Revisited Recursive Functions Internal Functions Functions as Objects Centralizing Code The Multiple-Choice Quiz Revisited 10. Events and Event Handlers Synchronous Code Execution Event-Based Asynchronous Code Execution Types of Events Event Handlers Event Handler Syntax Creating Event Handlers Event Handler Scope Button Events Movie Clip Events Overview Movie-Playback Movie Clip Events The User-Input Movie Clip Events Order of Execution Copying Clip Event Handlers Refreshing the Screen with updateAfterEvent Code Reusability Dynamic Movie Clip Event Handlers Event Handlers Applied 11. Arrays What Is an Array? The Anatomy of an Array Creating Arrays Referencing Array Elements Determining the Size of an Array Named Array Elements Adding Elements to an Array Removing Elements from an Array General Array-Manipulation Tools Multidimensional Arrays The Multiple-Choice Quiz, Take 3 12. Objects and Classes The Anatomy of an Object Instantiating Objects Object Properties Methods Classes and Object-Oriented Programming Built-in ActionScript Classes and Objects 13. Movie Clips The "Objectness" of Movie Clips Types of Movie Clips Creating Movie Clips Movie and Instance Stacking Order Referring to Instances and Main Movies Removing Clip Instances and Main Movies Built-in Movie Clip Properties Movie Clip Methods Applied Movie Clip Examples The Last Quiz 14. Lexical Structure Whitespace Statement Terminators (Semicolons) Comments Reserved Words Identifiers Case Sensitivity 15. Advanced Topics Copying, Comparing, and Passing Data Bitwise Programming Advanced Function Scope Issues The movieclip Datatype II. Applied ActionScript 16. ActionScript Authoring Environment The Actions Panel Adding Scripts to Frames Adding Scripts to Buttons Adding Scripts to Movie Clips Where's All the Code? Productivity Externalizing ActionScript Code Packaging Components as Smart Clips 17. Flash Forms The Flash Form Data Cycle Creating a Flash Fill-in Form 18. On-Screen Text Fields Dynamic Text Fields User-Input Text Fields Text Field Options Text Field Properties HTML Support Working with Text Field Selections Empty Text Fields and the for-in Statement 19. Debugging Debugging Tools Debugging Methodology III. Language Reference IV. Appendixes A. Resources B. Latin 1 Character Repertoire and Keycodes C. Backward Compatibility D. Differences from ECMA-262 and JavaScript Index