Introduction to Actionscript3

Adobe Platform Mastering

•Technology overview•AVM1 and AVM2•AS3 new features•AS2 migration to AS3•Coding samples•Performance tips•The future•Questions


•Flash Player 2 – timeline control commands•Flash Player 3 – load movie•Flash Player 4 – Full scripting implementation

(Actions, loops, variables, conditions)•Flash Player 5- AS1 (prototyped based on

ECMA, procedural and OOP)•Flash Player 6 – AS1 + Events model, RTMP

support, minor language improvements


•Flash Player 7 – AS2 introduction (ECMA4), inheritance, CSS support , FP6 support

•Flash Player 8 – AS1/AS2 improvements, mostly graphical, File uploads

•Flash Player 9(8.5) – AS3 introduction, AVM2, JIT compilation, Binary sockets, E4X, RegEx

•Flash Player 10, AIR – the future


•Introduced September 2003 – Flash MX 2004

•Features▫Compile time type checking▫Class based syntax▫Strict typing▫Inheritance▫ECMA 4 partially


•Introduced June 2006 – Adobe Flex 2•Features

▫New AVM2▫2 AVMs in FP9 player▫Performance improvement▫New bytecode compilation▫Packages support▫ECMA4 completely



•Performance▫Using strict typing▫Complete rewritten AVM▫Comparison example

•Sophistication▫Complete class support

•No hacks needed


•Evolution of Actionscript 2.0•Full re-engineered for performance•Final and Dynamic classes•Runtime exception•E4X•RegEx


•Type declaration required (warning)•Public, internal, protected, private, final•Packages •Constants•Int, Uint•* vs. Object•… parameter•More runtime and compile time errors•For each in (E4X)


•Completely re-write and organize•More object oriented•Event Model•Display tree exposed•Binary Socket•Binary Data – Bytes Array

•More: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/ActionScriptLangRefV3/migration.html


•Display objects treated as objects▫Reparenting▫Handling without display▫Resource management…

•Dynamic content, removing idle actions•Loaded content (untrusted content)•System.totalmemory (process memory info)•Weak reference – listeners, Dictionary•Garbage collection reference:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/garbage_collection.html


•Flash CS3 •Flex 3

▫Actionscript project▫Flex project

•Flex SDK – open source•Flex SDK for player 10 beta


•FP9 SWF•FP10 SWF•Air application•Projector application


•Http▫Server side scripts (ASP, PHP), SOAP, REST▫Images, Progressive download▫File reference

•RTMP▫FMS, Red5 – streaming ▫Flash remoting


•Binary Sockets + binary data▫TCP, FTP, SMTP etc…

•External Interface▫Desktop application wrapper, Javascript

•Local Connection▫Communication between movies▫AVM1 – AVM2

•AIR


•Say goodbye to: attachAudio, attachBitmap, attachMovie, createEmptyMovieClip, createTextField, duplicateMovieClip, swapDepths, removeMovieClip

•Say hello to: DisplayObjectContainer, addChild, removeChild



•DisplayObject – base class, cannot contain additional DisplayObject

•InteractiveObject – supporting user interaction, such as buttons and text fields

•DisplayObjectContainer – can contain additional DisplayObject

•MovieClip – sprite with timeline•root => stage•Examples…


•AS2▫Callback : onLoad, onData, onPress▫Events: addListener

•AS3 ▫Events Model

Decoupling Asynchronic execution

▫No more Delegation


•Event System▫Event dispatcher▫Event listener▫Event object

•EventDispatcher class addEventListener dispatchEvent removeEventListener …

•Example…


•Event Propagation▫Capture▫At target ▫Bubbling▫Example…

•Event Object▫Creating custom events ▫Example…


•XML Structure▫Tree structure of data, built by nodes, properties and

values

•XML Loading▫URLLoader, URLRequest ▫XML

•Example…•XML Reading•XML Filtering


•XML Reading▫XML – direct data access▫XMLList – indirect data access (for each in, for)

Children() Attributes() Attribute(attName:String)

•XML Filtering▫Node values (name == value)▫Attributes (@attName == value)

•Examples…..


•Flash Player 10▫Communication▫File system access ▫Etc.

•Actionscript 4.0▫Array typing▫Union typing▫More primitives▫ECMA 4 compatible (December 2008 spec

release)▫And many more…..

Introduction to Actionscript3

Technology

regex flash player

conditions flash player

oop flash player

fp6 support flash player

file uploads flash player

flash mx

load movie flash player

flash cs3 flex