INTRO TO ACTIONSCRIPT 3.0The Bad News: Learning ActionScript is as Much Fun as Being Torn Apart By a Pack of Crazed Wombats. (And I say that in a loving way.) But youll be fine. I promise. The Good News: 90% of a designers code will consist of 5-10% of available ActionScriptJ. DAVIS

You wont ever be held responsible for a scripting problem in your work that you cant figure outas long as you contact me so I can troubleshoot with you.

You wont have to memorize scripts just yet. You can just copy and paste them and change the parts you need to change, to learn how it works.My Guarantee To You

Introduction1) Programming Language vs. Scripting Language2) Syntax vs. Semantics (how words are arranged in sentences versus the linguistic meaning of words)3) The computer is dumb.4) ActionScripting is case sensitive5) Camel case convention: John Doe becomes johnDoe6) Spaces: ActionScript deletes them all when running script.7) Scripts are also called instructions or commands8) Runtime error script runs, but doesnt do what you want it to9) Movie clips are objects (as are other things that can be instructed).10) ActionScript 3 can be created in the Flash authoring environment, in a text editor, or in Flex.

The Actions Pane (Windows>Actions)Global actions appear on the first frame of a movie.

2 SYNTACTIC RULES OF ACTIONSCRIPTING

1) Use a semicolon at the end of each line2) object.method (argument); like noun.verb (adjective); Example 1 root.gotoAndPlay(2); this.gotoAndPlay(2); gotoAndPlay(2); Explanation: This script instructs the playhead on the main timeline (root or this) to go to and stop on frame 2. Identifying root or this by name is optionalthe current timeline is the default, so you could just say gotoAndStop(2);

More ScriptsExample 2 stop() ; play(); movieclipinstance.play(); Explanation: Some instructions are implied. Example 2 movieclipinstance.gotoAndStop(musicoff) Explanation: This script instructs the playhead inside of a movieclip instance to go to and stop on a frame that has been labeled musicoff.

2 Most Common Uses of ScriptsControlling a timeline example: stop(); Controlling a movieclip example: moviclipinstancename.play(3);

2 Notes:Indenting: Flash automatically indents lines of script so that they are visually scannable. Blocks are used for visual scannability as well as practical reasons. // This signals commentary that is not script. //

Controling Time LinesMain timeline gotoAndPlay(2) OR root.gotoAndPlay(2) OR this.gotoAndPlay(2) A movieclip timeline (child) (the movieclip instance must be named and must be on stage) movieclipinstancename.gotoAndPlay(2) movieclipinstancename.gotoAndStop(2) OR instance1.instance2.gotoAndStop(2) [in the above case, instance1 is inside of instance2example, control Godzillas breath] A parent movieclip timeline parent.gotoAndPlay(2) parent.gotoAndStop(2)

MethodsTo See All Movie Clip Methods: Flash.Display>Movie Clips>Methods Popular Methods: stop play gotoAndStop gotoAndPlay prevFrame nextFrame navigateToURL

Buttons

Mouse EventsTo See All Mouse Event Properties Flash.Events>MouseEvents>Properties>MOUSE_DOWN (and others) Popular Mouse Event Properties: CLICK MOUSE_DOWN MOUSE_MOVE MOUSE_OUT MOUSE_OVER MOUSE_UP MOUSE_WHEEL ROLL_OUT ROLL_OVER

Lets Try ItIntroduce Assignment: TUTORIAL #1: Simple Exercise: Script Buttons to gotoAndStop on Frames See finished file at: www.julietdavis.com/flashtutorials/simpleActionScriptExercise.fla www.julietdavis.com/flashtutorials/simpleActionScriptExercise.swf See next screen and Word doc: Intro to ActionScript 3.0

Script THISName your instances FIRST (button instances)

stop();

btn1_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownHandler1); function mouseDownHandler1(event:MouseEvent):void { gotoAndStop (10); }btn2_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownHandler2); function mouseDownHandler2(event:MouseEvent):void { gotoAndStop (1); }

Common Mistakes That Mess Up Scripts1) Instance Name. First, make sure you have named the instance of your movie clip that you are applying the script to, and you have targeted that instance name and NOT the name of the movie clip thats in the library. 2) Curly Brace. Make sure you have used a curly brace to end your block. 3) Function Names. In each set of instructions, the function name appears twice (think of them as twins)make sure they are identical (e.g., mouseDownHandler1 and mouseDownHandler1). BUT, for each separate set of instructions, there must be separate sets of function names (e.g., mouseDownHandler2 and mouseDownHandler2. Example: See the scripts for the color picker. 4) SPELLING! Button instance names and movie clip instance names must be spelled exactly in the script as they have been named. 5) If all else fails, paste the scripts directly from the tutorial files and only change the parts in red.

Where to Find Script Assists For Movie Clip Class: Flash.Display>Movie Clips>MethodsFor Add Event Listener: Flash.Events>IEventDispatcherInterface>Methods>Add Event Listener For Mouse Event Properties: Flash.Events>MouseEvents>Properties>MOUSE_DOWN NOTE ABOUT SCRIPT ASSIST

QUESTIONS?

EXPLANATION OF ABOVE SCRIPT 1) This script identifies red_btn as the instance name of the button we want this script to affect. 2) We addEventListener so that the button will listen for a mouse event (in this case MOUSE_DOWN) and relate that mouse event with a function (in this case mouseDownHandler1). 3) The problem is that we have not yet defined mouseDownHandler1 as a function, so we have to do that in the second line and associate it with a mouse event. 4) The word void is there because there is no return for this function (its not that kind of function). 5) Finally, in the third line we tell our script what we want to see happen when the button is pressed downwe want the main timeline to go to and stop on the frame that is labeled red.

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