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Chapter 15: ActionScript
ActionScript® is the scripting language in Flash. Use ActionScript to make your applications play in a nonlinear way,
and to add interesting or complex functionality that cannot be represented in the Timeline.
Working with ActionScript
About ActionScript
The ActionScript® scripting language lets you add complex interactivity, playback control, and data display to your
application. You can add ActionScript in the authoring environment by using the Actions panel, Script window, or an
external editor.
ActionScript follows its own rules of syntax, reserved keywords, and lets you use variables to store and retrieve
information. ActionScript includes a large library of built-in classes that let you create objects to perform many useful
tasks. For more information on ActionScript, see the following titles:
•
Programming ActionScript 3.0
at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_fl_cs4_programmingAS3_en
•
ActionScript 3.0 Language and Components Reference
at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_flashcs4_langref_en
•
Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Adobe Flash
at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_fl_cs4_learningAS2_en
•
ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference
at
www.adobe.com/go/learn_flcs4_as2lr_en
You don’t need to understand every ActionScript element to begin scripting; if you have a clear goal, you can start
building scripts with simple actions.
ActionScript and JavaScript are both rooted in the ECMA-262 standard, the international standard for the
ECMAScript scripting language. For this reason, developers who are familiar with JavaScript should find ActionScript
immediately familiar. For more information about ECMAScript, go to ecma-international.org.
Using the ActionScript documentation
Because there are multiple versions of ActionScript (2.0 and 3.0), and multiple ways of incorporating it into your FLA
files, there are several different ways to learn ActionScript.
This help system describes the graphical user interface for working with ActionScript. This interface includes the
Actions panel, Script window, Script Assist mode, Behaviors panel, Output panel, and Compiler Errors panel. These
topics apply to all versions of ActionScript.
Other ActionScript documentation from Adobe will help you learn about the individual versions of ActionScript; see
Programming ActionScript 3.0
,
Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Adobe Flash
,
Developing Flash Lite 1.x Applications
or
Developing Flash Lite 2.x Applications
. For information about the ActionScript vocabulary, see the
ActionScript
Language Reference
for the version you are working with.
For video tutorials about ActionScript 3.0, the Flash workflow, and components, see the following:
•
Getting started with ActionScript 3.0:
www.adobe.com/go/vid0129
•
Creating interactivity with ActionScript 3.0:
www.adobe.com/go/vid0130
•
Flash workflow:
www.adobe.com/go/vid0132
•
Using components:
www.adobe.com/go/vid0133
Updated 5 March 2009