ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, 2/e

Updated to cover Flash MX, the newest version of Macromedia Flash, ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition is the one book no serious Flash developer should be without.

ActionScript is Macromedia's programming language for Flash MX, the popular authoring tool for creating rich internet applications and animations for the Web. With Macromedia's new focus on application development, ActionScript now includes a direct drawing API, loading of external MP3 and JPG files, improved sound control, an extensive set of text formatting tools, complete support for component development using movie clip subclasses, local data storage, accessibility features, and much more. And ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide is the most complete, up-to-date reference available for the latest version of this language.

Author Colin Moock, one of the most universally respected developers in the Flash community, has added hundreds of new code examples to show new Flash MX techniques in the real world: how to draw circles, save data to disk, convert arrays to onscreen tables, create reusable components, and preload variables, XML, and sounds. The book's language reference alone has nearly doubled from the first edition, with more than 250 new classes, objects, methods, and properties. You'll find exhaustive coverage of dozens of undocumented, under-documented, and mis-documented features.

Along with the new material, Colin Moock has meticulously revised the entire text to conform to Flash MX best-coding practices. In particular, objected-oriented programming and the new event model get special attention in light of changes to Flash MX ActionScript. From sending data between two movies to creating getter/setter properties, the new edition of this book demystifies the often-confusing new features of Flash MX, giving developers easy access to its powerful new capabilities.

ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide is structured so non-programmers can learn how to use ActionScript and programmers can take their skills to new heights. If you are in the market to really learn about the hows and whys of ActionScript, then this is the book for you.

Table of Contents

Foreword 

Preface 

Part I. ActionScript Fundamentals

1. A Gentle Introduction for Nonprogrammers
2. Variables
3. Data and Datatypes
4. Primitive Datatypes
5. Operators
6. Statements
7. Conditionals
8. Loop Statements
9. Functions
10. Events and Event Handling
11. Arrays
12. Objects and Classes
13. Movie Clips
14. Movie Clip Subclasses and Components
15. Lexical Structure
16. ActionScript Authoring Environment
17. Building a Flash Form

 
Part II. Language Reference

ActionScript Language Reference 

 
 
Part III. Appendixes

A. Resources
B. Latin 1 Character Repertoire and Keycodes
C. Backward Compatibility and Player Build Updates
D. Differences from ECMA-262 and JavaScript
E. HTML Support in Text Fields
F. Support for GET and POST
G. Flash UI Component Summary
H. Embedding a Flash Movie in a Web Page
Index