JavaScript Workshop » Flash

Events are things that happen that Flash can recognize and respond to. A mouse click is an event, as are mouse movements and keypresses on the keyboard. Events can also be things that the user doesn't initiate. The completion of a sound, for example, is an event.

Anytime an event happens, an object of the Event class is created. When the mouse button is clicked, a MouseEvent object (a subclass of the Event class) is created. When a key on the keyboard is pressed, a KeyboardEvent object (another subclass of the Event class) is created. It may seem a little strange that an object represents an event, but remember Flash objects can be very abstract.

With all these events happening, you need a way to detect and respond to them. You detect an event by creating an event listener (or event handler).

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The key to successful manipulating graphics on the Stage is to understand what is known as the display list. The display list is the hierarchy of visible objects on the Stage. The display list lets Flash keep track of what the user sees, the visual relationships between objects, and the stacking order (or overlapping) of the objects.

Conceptually, it's much like the folder structure on your computer desktop, and can be represented as a tree structure. The top-level element is the Stage. Each time you play a Flash movie in a Web browser, the Flash Player opens your SWF and places it on the Stage. So the Stage is the container that holds your main SWF.

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Sas Jacobs is a web developer who set up her own business, Anything Is Possible, in 1994, working in the areas of web development, IT training, and technical writing. The business works with large and small clients building web applications with ASP.NET, Flash, XML, and databases. Sas has wrote a number of books such as Beginning XML with DOM and Ajax, Foundation XML for Flash and Object-Oriented ActionScript 3.0. She is also an instructor, speaker and avid photographer. Sas was nice enough to give me some of her time in discussing Flash and its use on the web.

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Like any language, ActionScript evolves over time. ActionScript 3.0 is simply the latest version of the Flash programming language that lets you control graphics, animation, sound, and interactivity. However, ActionScript 3.0 represents a significant change (some may say revolutionary) from the previous versions because in many ways it is conceptually and architecturally different.

Key differences from ActionScript 2.0 include:

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Learning Flash by watching videos is a very efficient way to learn specific techniques without going through books or online tutorials. As I mentioned in a previous post about online learning, there are many website that offer video tutorials on different web technologies including Flash.

LearnFlash.com is one of them and they offer one of the largest selections of Flash video tutorials.
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Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a security update to Internet Explorer that changes the way it handles web pages that contain ActiveX controls. This would affect any control (Flash, video plug-in, etc.) that uses the APPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT tags. Basically the control's user interface is blocked until the user activates it by clicking on it or hitting the space bar when it has focus.

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One of the cool new features of Adobe Flash 8 Professional is the Import Video Wizard. Flash converts your original video files (.avi, .mov, .mpeg) to a flash video file (.flv) that is compressed, progressively downloaded, cached, and then played from your flash movie.

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