ActionScript 2.0

Accessing XML Data with XFactorStudio - One of the most common questions new ActionScript developers have is about how to interact with basic XML data in Flash. XFactorStudio takes the arduous task of walking through nodes of XML and makes it as simple as an XPath statement.

AJAX - Getting to know the competition. - As in everything, it is important to know the competition and for Flash developers AJAX is a major player. This article provides an introduction to AJAX by looking at a ColdFusion implementation called AJAXCFC. Today we will learn more about AJAX as we build a dynamic weather application that utilizes remote data provided by Weather.com.

Configure Your Applications with ConfigScript - Wouldn’t it be nice to control the configuration of a Flash application with a simple ActionScript file? When you can’t recompile the SWF, #include files aren’t an option. What we need is a simple configuration script.

Delegating Events in Flash - Some of the most common problems ActionScript developers come across are usually issues of scope. Knowing what’s being stored or called where can be challenging. One way to overcome the issue of scope when handling events is to make use of the Delegate class included in Flash 8.

Events: Broadcasting, Listening, and Responding - AS 1.0 provided the means to broadcast events and add/remove listeners, but AS 2.0 made it standard procedure. However, there were disadvantages. Some developers created alternatives, but now we have the Delegate class. Is it the best solution? Follow the links and help Jed decide.

Flash (In)Security - To not be concerned with web security is to not understand the the threat. Know that Flash is inherently insecure. Satori Canton examines some common types of security attacks and ways that Flash can be turned against an unknowing developer.

Manage Communications with EventDispatcher - Last week, we took a look at Flash Delegates. This week, we continue looking at event handling with EventDispatcher. The EventDispatcher in Flash gives us a simple, standardized way of handing events by eliminating the need for _root and _parent references.

Mastering Full Browser Flash (Part 1) - Full Browser Flash is a hot trend in the design community that has many advantages over predetermined stage sizes. With ActionScript, your movies can scale 100% and keep their proportions giving you extra real estate to present content.

Mastering Full Browser Flash (Part 2) - Part 2 of Mastering FBF takes a look at the building blocks for HTML and ActionScript. Our HTML settings for the SWF movie will allow the movie to scale while the ActionScript keeps our content from distorting.

Mastering Full Browser Flash (Part 3) - Part 3 looks into using listeners to react to browser resizing and content positioning. By setting up listeners and simple math in conjunction with the Stage width and height properties we can reposition content.

Preloading Files into the Browser's Cache - Sometimes you need to load data or media onto the client, without immediately displaying it in Flash. Dynamically loading it into the browsers cache gives you the flexibility of local content, without displaying it until ready.

The External Interface API - Learn by Coding - Flash 8 has unveiled the new External Interface API that facilitates easy to implement communication between Flash and it's surroundings. This could be a HTML page with JavaScript, or a desktop application with Flash Player embedded. If you ever tried to implement the old Flash / JavaScript Integration kit you may be a bit leery of trying the new External Interface API. Hoepefully, this example will spur you to look at this again.

Understanding _root & Scope - Scope and the keywords reserved for referencing different timelines aren't often understood by designers and developers using Flash. By understanding how these keywords work, you'll have a better idea of how to reference scope within Flash for portability.

Using HLS Color Instead of RGB - We're used to representing color with RGB. But breaking from this constraint can open a whole new world of color. Satori Canton explores using Hue, Luminance and Saturation (HLS) to represent and manipulate colors in Flash.

Basic Training

ActionScript Quick Tips and Gotchas - Jed shares some of the Flash and Actionscript tidbits he wishes he learned sooner. Most of you probably know these already. But for some of you out there, hopefully something here will save you a few pulled hairs...

Calculating Leap Years in Flash - Dealing with times and dates in any programming language can be a challenge, and ActionScript isn't any exception. Satori Canton investigates why's of calculating one of the most complicated Time/Date functions; calculating leap years.

Dealing with Dynamic Layers in Flash - Working with dynamically loading MovieClips into Flash can be tricky when everything has to exist in its own unique layer. Satori Canton illustrates the methods he uses for ensuring each item is loaded onto a unique layer in Flash.

Loading Dynamic Content in Flash - When loading dynamic content in Flash, the simple LoadVars object can be used in a variety of ways. In this article, Chris Bizzell re-examines Flash Remoting and demonstrates how easy it is to build RIA's with this technology.

Mastering the Array - Satori explores some of the interesting ways that Objects and Strings can often be treated as Arrays in Flash. Includes code examples to explore Object properties and methods as well as how to create a simple find and replace String function using Arrays.

Overcoming Eolas with FlashObject - A recent court-ordered change to IE could make your Flash content inaccessible to many users. But there’s good news! FlashObject, an open source JavaScript class, can overcome this issue, and make the task of detecting Flash and embedding content much easier.

Recursive Functions and TypeOf - Recursive functions allow developers to break up larger problems into smaller ones and automate many processes. In combination with Flash's built in typeOf operator, developers have lots of advantages at their finger tips.

Components

Display Images w/a Datagrid Cell Renderer - Chris Bizzell extends the standard Datagrid component, using ActionScript and Flash Remoting, to render images in a cell. After reading this, you will be ready to create more compelling RIA interfaces by implementing your own cell renderer.

Dynamic Animation

Flash 8 Component: Tile Transitions - The new expressiveness features of Flash 8 allows for a whole new world of visual transitions between images. Satori Canton explains his new Tile Transitions component built to take advantage of bitmap caching and expressiveness features.

Injecting TextScript - TextScript isn’t just a class that creates cool text effects. It’s a full infrastructure to create your own text effects. Today we take an even deeper look into the effects engine and see how easy it is to create our own fully customized text effects.

TextScript: The Text Effect Infrastructure - I absolutely love seeing cool text effects in Flash, but I hate having to create them by hand. Third party applications are great, but they bloat your SWFs and don’t really deliver the impact that dynamic effects can offer.

Object Oriented Programming

Playing and Planning with OOP - Taking a moment to plan your application can save your major time and headaches during the course of development. Let’s take a look at how you would go about planning some simple classes that could be used to create any kind of card game.

UML key concepts applied to Flash development - Carlos Rovira introduces the use of UML (Unified Modeling Language) to plan and organize Flash projects in a more convenient way. UML aids in the creation of complex object-oriented applications by allowing for the visual planning of classes and relationships.

Open Source Flash

Far Beyond Open Source Flash Development - Open Source Flash development has come a long way in the previous year. From FAME to AMES, Open Source Flash is here. Carlos Rovira takes a look back at Open Source Flash development and shows us some additional tools that we may be able to add to our arsenal.

The haXe (R)evolution - Introducing MTASC's successor, haXe. The universal web development language. Nicolas Cannasse (creator of MTASC) shows how to program ActionScript syntax across a web application from server-side to AJAX to Flash.

Optimizing Your Workflow with Eclipse and FDT - By choosing the right Eclipse plug-ins, you can easily cut 30-40% off of your development time, when creating enterprise-scale Flash applications. Xavi Beumala explains how he uses FDT to optimize his workflow and standardize team based Flash application development.

Towards Open Source Flash Development - Many people think that Flash development is tied to Macromedia's Flash MX 2004, but now there's another way to produce your SWFs -- and it's free. Carlos Rovira sets off on a journey to show you the Open Source way based on the MTASC Compiler and Eclipse technology.

Optimizing Performance

Different SWFs for Different IFs - Targeting a minimum version Flash Player 6 and using Flash MX 2004? Consider publishing at least two different SWFs. Give your F7 audience an increase in performance, while ensuring your application stays accessible to the F6 crowd.

Getting Sloppy With Your Connection - Sloppy acts like a clog in your plumbing, constraining your internet connection for testing purposes. When used in combination with Flash, developers can test preloaders, video buffering, loading XML and connecting with XML sockets all from a single machine and a single connection.

Optimizing Large Pizza - Flash optimization is somewhat of a dying art these days. Leveraging the power symbols can help reduce file size. Simple tricks and a bit of planning can help make drastic improvements in your project's weight loss plan.

Using Shared Fonts - Shared fonts offer an easy to deploy option for shedding extra file size off large scale projects like e-learning lessons. While there are misconceptions about the effort involved to use them, it's very simple to setup a shared library to reuse your fonts.

Server-Side Interaction

AMFPHP: Flash <–> PHP interaction - AMFPHP, a new dimension in Flash PHP interaction. Tibor Gyorgy Ballai explains how AMFPHP works and a short tutorial on how to install it and make a working "Hello World!" application.

Compressing XML in transit - Carlos Rovira investigates the compression of XML documents to reduce file size and help optimize bandwidth usage for your Flash-XML based proyects. Discover the secret behind the compression of a 225kb XML file that now uses only 16Kb and can be loaded by Flash transparently, by adding a small snippet.

Consuming Remote Web Services with Flash MX 2004 - Web Services are the "next big thing." Chris Bizzell examines the process of integrating Web Service data in Flash appliactions. Such services are everywhere and growing fast -- but to the uninitiated, they can be a bit intimidating. And help is often hard to find.

Consuming Web Services and Flash Remoting - Connecting to a public web service via Remoting with AS 2.0 can be tricky. And help is hard to find. Web Services and Remoting with AS 2.0. Chris Bizzell tells you what you need to know to get started.

Dynamic Content - Flash and ASP - Learn about Flash as you code. In this article, Chris Bizzell combines dynamic content and Flash to create an online photo gallery application. The new MovieClipLoader class is used in conjunction with LoadVars to enable Flash utilize data passed from an Active Server Page.

Free Code - File Upload Application - The first in a series of Free Code articles. Designed to jump-start the creative process. Chris Bizzell offers up a File Upload Application in Flash.

Speed Boost: Simplified Flash Remoting Code - Starting a new data-driven Flash application can be tough, but new work by Jed Wood and others significantly reduces the hassle. In the process, you'll be saving bandwidth and data-transfer time by using ActionScript Shared Objects for client-side caching.

Sound

Controlling Sound Part 1 - Controlling sound with ActionScript isn't as difficult as many designers think. In this first article covering sound I'll show you how to declare a new sound and how to start and stop it.

Controlling Sound Part 2 - Now that you can create a sound object you need to control its properties. In part 2 we’ll discuss the volume and pan methods of the sound object.