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

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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

Adobe Platform Mastering

•Introduced September 2003 – Flash MX 2004

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

Adobe Platform Mastering

•Introduced June 2006 – Adobe Flex 2•Features

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

Adobe Platform Mastering

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

•Sophistication▫Complete class support

•No hacks needed

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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)

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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

Adobe Platform Mastering

•Flash CS3 •Flex 3

▫Actionscript project▫Flex project

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

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

•RTMP▫FMS, Red5 – streaming ▫Flash remoting

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

•External Interface▫Desktop application wrapper, Javascript

•Local Connection▫Communication between movies▫AVM1 – AVM2

•AIR

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

•Say hello to: DisplayObjectContainer, addChild, removeChild

Adobe Platform Mastering

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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…

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

•AS3 ▫Events Model

Decoupling Asynchronic execution

▫No more Delegation

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

•EventDispatcher class addEventListener dispatchEvent removeEventListener …

•Example…

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

•Event Object▫Creating custom events ▫Example…

Adobe Platform Mastering

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

values

•XML Loading▫URLLoader, URLRequest ▫XML

•Example…•XML Reading•XML Filtering

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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…..

Adobe Platform Mastering

•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…..