Actionscript 3.0 Cookbook

by Lott, Joey

• ISBN13: 9780596526955
• ISBN10: 0596526954
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-01
• Publisher: Adobe Developer Library

Summary

ActionScript 3 Cookbook helps developers work with the language right away. Rather than focus on ActionScript in the abstract, the book puts theory into practice with ready- made answers to common problems. Readers will find more than 300 worked-out scripts they can use to solve a wide range of coding dilemmas, while learning practical techniques for resolving similar issues in the future. Each recipe includes a discussion that explains how it works and why. The Cookbook progresses from short recipes for small problems to longer, more complex scripts for thornier riddles. Developers can even learn to link modular ActionScript pieces together to create rock-solid solutions for Flash applications. This is the first ActionScript 3 title for developers that will include Learning ActionScript 3, ActionScript 3: The Definitive Guide, and Essential ActionScript 3. All four books will feature cross references as appropriate, so users can easily find more extensive discussions of tangential topics.

Author Biography

Joey Lott is the author of several O'Reilly books on Macromedia technology, including Flash 8 Cookbook, Programming Flash Communication Server, and the ActionScript Cookbook. He is also the author of Flash 8 ActionScript Bible (Wiley) and Advanced ActionScript with Design Patterns (Adobe Press, October 2006). Joey has been teaching Flash and ActionScript since 1999. His professional experience in the Internet industry includes co-founding RightSpring, Inc., as well as consulting for YourMobile/Premium Wireless Services (J2EE B2C application) and Ads.com (leading the development of a J2EE B2B application).

Darron Schall is an independent consultant specializing in the Flash Platform, with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Lehigh University. He has been using ActionScript since the early days and is a prominent voice in the Flash and Flex communities. He is actively involved in the Open Source Flash movement with projects ranging from software development tools to a Commodore 64 emulator. Darron has spoken at various conferences about ActionScript, and has contributed to books and magazines. You can find his Flash Platform related weblog at http://www.darronschall.com.

Keith Peters is a Flash developer in the Boston area. He has been working with Flash since 1999 and is currently a Senior Flash Developer at Brightcove (http://www.brightcove.com). Keith has been a contributing author to nine other books on Flash and ActionScript. His personal website, http://www.bit-101.com, features an active blog, over 700 open source Flash experiments, and lots of other random Flash-related stuff.

Table of Contents

Preface	xvii
ActionScript Basics	1	(42)
Creating an ActionScript Project	2	(1)
Customizing the Properties of an Application	3	(1)
Where to Place ActionScript Code	4	(4)
How to Trace a Message	8	(2)
Handling Events	10	(2)
Responding to Mouse and Key Events	12	(2)
Using Mathematical Operators	14	(2)
Checking Equality or Comparing Values	16	(3)
Performing Actions Conditionally	19	(5)
Performing Complex Conditional Testing	24	(2)
Repeating an Operation Many Times	26	(4)
Repeating a Task over Time	30	(2)
Creating Reusable Code	32	(2)
Generalizing a Method to Enhance Reusability	34	(2)
Exiting a Method	36	(1)
Obtaining the Result of a Method	37	(1)
Handling Errors	38	(5)
Custom Classes	43	(15)
Creating a Custom Class	43	(5)
Determining Where to Save a Class	48	(1)
Creating Properties That Behave As Methods	49	(2)
Creating Static Methods and Properties	51	(1)
Creating Subclasses	52	(2)
Implementing Subclass Versions of Superclass Methods	54	(2)
Creating Constants	56	(1)
Dispatching Events	57	(1)
Runtime Environment	58	(16)
Detecting the Player Version	58	(2)
Detecting the Operating System	60	(1)
Checking the Player Type	61	(1)
Checking the System Language	61	(2)
Detecting Display Settings	63	(2)
Scaling the Movie	65	(1)
Changing the Alignment	66	(1)
Hiding the Flash Player's Menu Items	67	(1)
Detecting the Device's Audio Capabilities	68	(1)
Detecting the Device's Video Capabilities	69	(1)
Prompting the User to Change Player Settings	70	(1)
Dealing with System Security	71	(3)
Numbers and Math	74	(29)
Representing Numbers in Different Bases	74	(1)
Converting Between Different Number Systems	75	(2)
Rounding Numbers	77	(2)
Inserting Leading or Trailing Zeros or Spaces	79	(4)
Formatting Numbers for Display Without a Mask	83	(1)
Formatting Currency Amounts	84	(2)
Generating a Random Number	86	(2)
Simulating a Coin Toss	88	(3)
Simulating Dice	91	(2)
Simulating Playing Cards	93	(2)
Generating a Unique Number	95	(1)
Converting Angle Measurements	96	(1)
Calculating the Distance Between Two Points	97	(1)
Determining Points Along a Circle	98	(3)
Converting Between Units of Measurement	101	(2)
Arrays	103	(34)
Adding Elements to the Start or End of an Array	104	(2)
Looping Through an Array	106	(1)
Searching for Matching Elements in an Array	107	(4)
Removing Elements	111	(2)
Inserting Elements in the Middle of an Array	113	(1)
Converting a String to an Array	114	(1)
Converting an Array to a String	115	(1)
Creating a Separate Copy of an Array	116	(4)
Storing Complex or Multidimensional Data	120	(3)
Sorting or Reversing an Array	123	(4)
Implementing a Custom Sort	127	(2)
Randomizing the Elements of an Array	129	(2)
Getting the Minimum or Maximum Element	131	(1)
Comparing Arrays	131	(2)
Creating an Associative Array	133	(2)
Reading Elements of an Associative Array	135	(2)
Display List	137	(44)
Adding an Item to the Display List	141	(5)
Removing an Item from the Display List	146	(3)
Moving Objects Forward and Backward	149	(4)
Creating Custom Visual Classes	153	(3)
Creating Simple Buttons	156	(5)
Loading External Images at Runtime	161	(4)
Loading and Interacting with External Movies	165	(3)
Creating Mouse Interactions	168	(5)
Dragging and Dropping Objects with the Mouse	173	(8)
Drawing and Masking	181	(19)
Setting a Line Style	182	(1)
Setting Gradient Line Styles	183	(1)
Drawing a Line	184	(2)
Drawing a Curve	186	(1)
Drawing an Arc	187	(1)
Drawing a Rectangle	187	(2)
Drawing a Circle	189	(1)
Drawing an Ellipse	190	(1)
Drawing a Triangle	191	(1)
Drawing Regular Polygons	192	(1)
Drawing a Star	193	(1)
Filling a Shape with a Solid or Translucent Color	194	(1)
Filling a Shape with a Gradient	195	(2)
Filling a Shape with a Bitmap	197	(1)
Scripting Masks	198	(2)
Bitmaps	200	(29)
Creating a BitmapData Object	201	(1)
Adding a Bitmap to the Display List	202	(1)
Drawing a Display Object to a Bitmap	203	(1)
Loading an External Image into a Bitmap	204	(1)
Manipulating Pixels	205	(2)
Creating Rectangular Fills	207	(1)
Creating a Flood Fill	208	(1)
Copying Pixels	209	(2)
Copying Channels	211	(1)
Creating Noise	212	(2)
Creating Perlin Noise	214	(4)
Using Threshold	218	(3)
Applying a Filter to a Bitmap	221	(3)
Dissolving Between Two Bitmaps	224	(3)
Scrolling a Bitmap	227	(2)
Text	229	(37)
Creating an Outline Around a Text Field	230	(1)
Creating a Background for a Text Field	230	(1)
Making a User Input Field	231	(1)
Making a Password Input Field	232	(1)
Filtering Text Input	233	(1)
Setting a Field's Maximum Length	234	(1)
Displaying Text	235	(1)
Displaying HTML-Formatted Text	235	(1)
Condensing Whitespace	236	(1)
Sizing Text Fields to Fit Contents	237	(1)
Scrolling Text Programmatically	238	(3)
Responding to Scroll Events	241	(1)
Formatting Text	242	(5)
Formatting User-Input Text	247	(1)
Formatting a Portion of Existing Text	248	(1)
Setting a Text Field's Font	249	(1)
Embedding Fonts	250	(2)
Creating Text That Can Be Rotated	252	(1)
Displaying Unicode Text	252	(1)
Assigning Focus to a Text Field	253	(1)
Selecting Text with ActionScript	254	(1)
Setting the Insertion Point in a Text Field	255	(1)
Responding When Text Is Selected or Deselected	256	(1)
Responding to User Text Entry	257	(1)
Adding a Hyperlink to Text	258	(2)
Calling ActionScript from Hyperlinks	260	(1)
Working with Advanced Text Layout	261	(3)
Applying Advanced Anti-Aliasing	264	(1)
Replacing Text	265	(1)
Retrieving a List of System Fonts	265	(1)
Filters and Transforms	266	(15)
Applying Color Changes	266	(1)
Applying Color Tints	267	(1)
Resetting Color	268	(1)
Shearing	269	(1)
Applying Basic Filters	269	(3)
Applying Advanced Filter Effects (Emboss, etc.)	272	(2)
Embossing	274	(1)
Detecting Edges	275	(1)
Sharpening	276	(1)
Making a Digital Negative	276	(1)
Applying Grayscale	277	(1)
Changing Saturation	278	(1)
Changing Brightness	278	(1)
Changing Contrast	279	(2)
Programmatic Animation	281	(17)
Moving an Object	282	(1)
Moving an Object in a Specific Direction	283	(2)
Easing	285	(2)
Acceleration	287	(2)
Springs	289	(2)
Using Trigonometry	291	(3)
Applying Animation Techniques to Other Properties	294	(4)
Strings	298	(29)
Joining Strings	298	(4)
Using Quotes and Apostrophes in Strings	302	(1)
Inserting Special Whitespace Characters	303	(1)
Searching for a Substring	304	(4)
Extracting a Substring	308	(3)
Parsing a String into Words	311	(4)
Removing and Replacing Characters and Words	315	(2)
Retrieving One Character at a Time	317	(2)
Converting Case	319	(1)
Trimming Whitespace	320	(2)
Reversing a String by Word or by Character	322	(1)
Converting Between Strings and Unicode or ASCII	323	(4)
Regular Expressions	327	(21)
Understanding Regular Expression Patterns	328	(5)
Testing Regular Expressions	333	(3)
Looking for Pattern Matches	336	(2)
Removing and Replacing Characters and Words Using Patterns	338	(3)
Creating a Nongreedy Pattern	341	(2)
Validating User Input with Common Patterns	343	(5)
Dates and Times	348	(17)
Finding the Current Date and Time	348	(3)
Retrieving the Date Values	351	(1)
Retrieving the Day or Month Name	352	(1)
Formatting the Date and Time	353	(2)
Formatting Seconds or Milliseconds as Minutes and Seconds	355	(1)
Converting Between DMYHMSM and Epoch Milliseconds	356	(1)
Using Timers	357	(1)
Calculating Elapsed Time or Intervals Between Dates	358	(5)
Parsing a Date from a String	363	(2)
Programming Sound	365	(27)
Creating a Sound Object and Loading a Sound	365	(2)
Starting and Stopping a Sound	367	(1)
Setting the Buffer for a Sound	368	(1)
Offsetting the Start of a Sound	369	(1)
Playing a Sound Multiple Times (Looping)	370	(1)
Getting the Size of a Sound File	371	(2)
Reading the ID3 Tag of a Sound File	373	(2)
Find Out When a Sound Finishes Playing	375	(2)
Tracking the Progress of a Playing Sound	377	(2)
Pausing and Restarting a Sound	379	(2)
Reading the Level of a Sound	381	(1)
Stopping All Sounds	382	(1)
Reading the Sound Spectrum	383	(2)
Changing the Volume or Pan of a Sound	385	(1)
Creating a Sound Application	386	(6)
Video	392	(17)
Loading and Playing Back Video	392	(2)
Controlling Video Sound	394	(1)
Reading Playback Time	394	(1)
Reading Video Duration	395	(2)
Controlling Playback Time	397	(1)
Scaling Video	398	(1)
Managing and Monitoring Buffering and Loading	399	(1)
Listening for Cue Points	400	(1)
Applying Filters to Video	401	(1)
Pausing and Resuming Video	402	(1)
Stopping Video	402	(1)
Scrubbing Video	403	(2)
Clearing the Video Display	405	(1)
Determining User Bandwidth	405	(4)
Storing Persistent Data	409	(13)
Creating and Opening a Local Shared Object	409	(2)
Writing Data to a Shared Object	411	(1)
Saving a Local Shared Object	411	(3)
Reading Data from a Shared Object	414	(1)
Removing Data from a Shared Object	415	(1)
Serializing Custom Classes	416	(2)
Sharing Data Between Flash Applications	418	(2)
Controlling the Size of Local Shared Objects	420	(2)
Communicating with Other Movies	422	(13)
Creating Local Connections	423	(4)
Sending Data	427	(3)
Validating Receipt of Communication over Local Connections	430	(2)
Accepting Local Communications from Other Domains	432	(3)
Sending and Loading Data	435	(17)
Loading Variables from a Text File	436	(4)
Loading Variables from a Server-Side Script	440	(2)
Loading a Block of Text (Including HTML and XML)	442	(2)
Checking Load Progress	444	(2)
Accessing Data Being Downloaded	446	(1)
Sending Data to a Server-Side Script	447	(2)
Sending Variables and Handling a Returned Result	449	(3)
XML	452	(35)
Understanding XML Structure (Reading and Writing XML)	454	(2)
Creating an XML Object	456	(2)
Adding Elements to an XML Object	458	(3)
Adding Text Nodes to an XML Object	461	(2)
Adding Attributes to an XML Element	463	(1)
Reading Elements in an XML Tree	464	(1)
Finding Elements by Name	465	(3)
Reading Text Nodes and Their Values	468	(2)
Reading an Element's Attributes	470	(3)
Removing Elements, Text Nodes, and Attributes	473	(1)
Loading XML	474	(1)
Loading XML from Different Domains	475	(1)
Sending XML	476	(6)
Searching XML	482	(3)
Using HTML and Special Characters in XML	485	(2)
Web Services and Flash Remoting	487	(7)
Calling Web Services Methods	488	(1)
Handling Web Services Responses	489	(1)
Handling Web Services Errors	490	(1)
Calling Flash Remoting Methods	490	(2)
Handling Flash Remoting Responses	492	(2)
Building Integrated Applications	494	(5)
Calling JavaScript Functions	494	(1)
Calling ActionScript Functions	495	(2)
Passing Parameters from HTML	497	(2)
File Management	499	(10)
Downloading Files	499	(3)
Detecting When a User Selects a File to Upload	502	(1)
Monitoring Download Progress	503	(1)
Browsing for Files	503	(1)
Filtering Files That Display in the Browser Window	504	(2)
Detecting When the User Has Selected a File to Upload	506	(1)
Uploading Files	506	(1)
Monitoring File Upload Progress	507	(2)
Socket Programming	509	(18)
Connecting to a Socket Server	510	(3)
Sending Data	513	(2)
Receiving Data	515	(4)
Handshaking with a Socket Server	519	(4)
Disconnecting from a Socket Server	523	(1)
Handling Socket Errors	524	(3)
Appendix. Unicode Escape Sequences for Latin 1 Characters	527	(6)
Index	533