Recently I stumbled across this post by Ryan Creighton at Untold Entertainment from back in October 2008 titled ‘stop(); Action Ignored on Nested Movieclip ‘. It basically demonstrates how (in AS3) a child movieclip does not stop on the first frame (even though you have put a stop(); action on it) when it’s parent/container is dynamically attached to the stage.
To me this does seem like a bug. Unless I am missing some subtle difference in this area between AS2 and AS3 that I am missing. If so, please can someone explain it to me?
I’ve knocked up a couple of examples to demonstrate …
Firstly, here is the AS2 version that attaches the container movieclip to the stage using the old attachMovie method. Sure enough, the child movieclip does as it is told and stays on frame 1.
And here is the AS3 version that instantiates the Contaner class and adds it to the display list using addChild. As you can see the child movieclip ignores the stop() command on frame 1 and goes to frame 2 instead. Why?
You can download a ZIP file containing the source files for these two examples here.
More discussion about this issue can be found on actionscript.org , but no-one really explains why this is happening. Any ideas?
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Bug , Sample Code | 3 Comments »
HexoSearch - The World’s First Search Engine Dedicated to Actionscript
I know this has been around for quite a long time now, but I had kinda forgotten about it. It is a seach engine that is set-up specifically to search ActionScript related sites for your search term. This can be better than just using Google because it helps filter out all the non-actionscript content for you.
You can also add HexoSearch directly into your browser .
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Tool , Websites | 1 Comment »
Adobe have consolidated all their ActionScript 3.0 help documentation for the Flash Platform in to one central place online. It works using search and filters to show you the information you are looking for.
BETA ActionScript 3.0 Reference for the Adobe Flash Platform
Posted in AIR , ActionScript 3.0 , Adobe , Flash , Flex | No Comments »
It has just been announced at Adobe MAX that Flash Professional CS5 will allow you to set your publish settings to ‘iPhone’. This will compile your movie as a native iPhone app that can be submitted to the Apple AppStore. This is great news. Still no word on Flash within Safari on the iPhone, but to be honest I think being able to create useful standalone applications for the iPhone is better.
Read more info on Adobe Labs
Developer FAQ
Developing for the Apple iPhone using Flash
Adobe TV: Building Applications for iPhone with Flash Pro CS5
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Flash , Mobile , iPhone | No Comments »
I have just come across some great video tutorials for the Box2D physics engine in Flash AS3. They have been recorded by a chap called Todd Kerpelman . The website address is …
http://www.kerp.net/box2d/
He has over 70 screencasts on there going through the process of using Box2DFlashAS3 .
I also found a few useful links over on a blog post by Matthijs Kamstra .
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Tutorials | No Comments »
Here is a round up of some of the most popular ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) libraries out there to use. Let me know if I have missed an important one off.
NOTE: This list was originally for my personal use (that I thought I would share), it is not intended to compete with or replace the list maintained by OSFlash .
Update 29/10/08: Ted Patrick has put together a list of ActionScript Cloud/Service APIs that he going to highlight during his Adobe MAX 2008 keynote presentation.
Update 28/11/08: I have just come across the Actionscript Classes website . A very handy resource.
Update 11/01/09: Rich Tretola has a small list of AS3 Libs on his blog EverythingFlex .
Update 12/01/09: The Flashchemist has compiled a similar list on his blog.
Update 27/02/09: Check out Spark Project which includes the FLARToolkit for Augmented Reality
Update 11/08/09: I just stumbled across this (old) list of projects .
Update 19/12/09: Sean “theflexguy” Moore has just written a blog entry called ‘List of 34 More ActionScript 3.0 APIs ‘. This is a follow-up to his original post ‘List of 22 ActionScript 3.0 API’s ‘.
Update 22/12/09: “30+ ‘Must Try’ Open Source Actionscript 3 Libraries ” and “30 MORE Awesome Open Source AS3 Libraries ”
Update 28/01/10: “30 Classes AS3 bem úteis!”
Update 29/01/10: “15 Awesome ActionScript 3 Frameworks To Inspire Your Next Project”
Update 24/02/10: Emanuele Feronato has a good list of Isometric Engines on his blog
Update 19/03/10: Tom Krcha has posted a list of Flash Gaming Engines, plus a few others that were new to me
Update 09/07/10: FluxDb has a huge list of AS3 Libraries
3D Engines
3D Game Engines
2D Game Engines
Isometric Engines
3D Animation Framework
3D Physics Engines
Augmented Reality
Animation Tweening Engines
2D Physics Engines
Security
Audio Libraries
Particle Systems
Data Visualization
Loading Kits
OOP Frameworks
Other APIs and libraries
facebook-actionscript-api - Actionscript API for the Facebook platform.http://code.google.com/p/facebook-actionscript-api/ as3facebooklib - ActionScript 3.0 API for Facebook.http://code.google.com/p/as3facebooklib/ Yahoo Maps API http://developer.yahoo.com/flash/maps/ corelib - ActionScript 3.0 library for several basic utilities (JPEG Encoding, MD5 Hashing, JSON Serialization).http://code.google.com/p/as3corelib/ as3flexunitlib - ActionScript 3.0 framework for unit testing.http://code.google.com/p/as3flexunitlib/ as3flickrlib - ActionScript 3.0 API for Flickr.http://code.google.com/p/as3flickrlib/ as3mapprlib - ActionScript 3.0 API for Mappr.http://code.google.com/p/as3mapprlib/ as3syndicationlib - ActionScript 3.0 library for handling syndication feeds.http://code.google.com/p/as3syndicationlib/ as3odeolib - ActionScript 3.0 API for Odeo.http://code.google.com/p/as3odeolib/ as3youtubelib - ActionScript 3.0 API for YouTube.http://code.google.com/p/as3youtubelib/ as3ebaylib - ActionScript 3.0 API for eBay.http://code.google.com/p/as3ebaylib/ as3awss3lib - ActionScript 3.0 library for interacting with Amazon S3.http://code.google.com/p/as3awss3lib/ as3soundeditorlib - Actionscript 3.0 library for sound playback, spectrum display, and cue point display.http://code.google.com/p/as3soundeditorlib/ as3ds - AS3 Data Structures For Game Developers.http://code.google.com/p/as3ds/ as3notificationlib - A notification framework written in AS3 for the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR).http://code.google.com/p/as3notificationlib/ as3preferenceslib - An AIR library for storing preferences.http://code.google.com/p/as3preferenceslib/ as3nativealertlib - An AIR alert that appears in a native window.http://code.google.com/p/as3nativealertlib/ ASCOLLADA - actionscript library for parsing Collada files.http://code.google.com/p/ascollada/ FZip - An Actionscript 3 class library to load, modify and create standard ZIP archives.http://codeazur.com.br/lab/fzip/ AS3 Zip Library - An ActionScript 3 based library for reading and writing zip files.http://nochump.com/blog/?p=15 lastfm-as3 - Actionscript 3.0 API to access the Last.fm web services.http://code.google.com/p/lastfm-as3/ MapQuest http://company.mapquest.com/mqbs/4a.html Modest Maps - A display and interaction library for tile-based maps in Flash.http://www.modestmaps.com/ as3cards - An ActionScript 3.0 card engine and example games.http://code.google.com/p/as3cards/ flexircclient - ActionScript 3 based IRC library.http://code.google.com/p/flexircclient/ AsWing - A GUI framework and library that allows programmers to make their flash application(or RIA) UI easily.http://www.aswing.org/ as3httpclient - ActionScript 3 utils/classes to extend HTTP/HTTPS APIs in Flash Player 9 (onwards).http://code.google.com/p/as3httpclient/ DistortionTweener http://evolve.reintroducing.com/2007/11/18/as3/as3-distortiontweener/ ascanvas - An adapter of HTML Canvas and fl.display.Graphicshttp://code.google.com/p/ascanvas/ dopplr-as3 - actionscript 3 code for accessing data from dopplr.com’s api.http://code.google.com/p/dopplr-as3/ FC64 - an Open-Source Commodore 64 Emulator.https://mirror1.cvsdude.com/trac/osflash/fc64/ Google Maps API http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/flash/intro.html gmaps-utility-library-flash - Google Maps API for Flash Utility Library.http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-utility-library-flash/ FVNC - VNC Client for Flash Player 9 and above.http://osflash.org/fvnc AS3 Parametric Curve Library http://www.algorithmist.net/as3pc.html AWI - AMFPHP-WordPress Integration.http://www.klr20mg.com/awi/ (in Spanish)as3webservice - Open-source Webservice class implementation in AS3 for Flash CS3 IDE.http://code.google.com/p/as3webservice/ as3jayrock - AS3 wrapper for Jayrock communication.http://code.google.com/p/as3jayrock/ ASAP Library - A library for the development of maintainable, multi-movie, interactive applications.http://asaplibrary.org/ Wordpress XML-RPC API http://blog.absentdesign.com/?page_id=22 as3maillib - An ActionScript 3 email library.http://code.google.com/p/as3maillib/ AlivePDF - ActionScript 3 Open-Source PDF Library – 100% client side PDF generation.http://alivepdf.bytearray.org/ purepdf - Flash/Actionscript library for creating PDF files.http://code.google.com/p/purepdf/ SWFAddress - Deep linking for Flash.http://www.asual.com/swfaddress/ Flash Camouflage - Skinning framework for AS3.http://code.google.com/p/flash-camouflage/ Flexlib - Open Source Flex Component Library.http://code.google.com/p/flexlib/ Yahoo Astra Flash Components http://developer.yahoo.com/flash/astra-flash/ as3-fullscreen-lib - A small lib used for scalling content to the full size of the browser.http://code.google.com/p/as3-fullscreen-lib/ coordy - An Actionscript 3 Layout Framework.http://code.google.com/p/coordy/ vectorvision - Vectors in papervision3D.http://code.google.com/p/vectorvision/ WiiFlash - Communication between the Wiimote and Flash.http://code.google.com/p/wiiflash/ Stats - A simple info box that will help you monitor your code performance.http://code.google.com/p/mrdoob/wiki/stats Flash-Optimizing-Tools - APIs that can help optimize a Flash applicationhttp://github.com/EladElrom/Flash-Optimizing-Tools/ twitterscript - Twitter API in ActionScripthttp://code.google.com/p/twitterscript/ oauth-as3 - OAuth Actionscript library (useful for Twitter clients).http://code.google.com/p/oauth-as3/ OAuth - AS3/Flex OAuth Library (useful for Twitter clients).http://github.com/srohde/OAuth/tree/master NabaztagAPI - Nabaztag API wrapper for Actionscript 3.http://www.iotashan.com/NabaztagExplorer/ SWFObject - Standards-friendly method to embed Flash content using one JavaScript file.http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/ tweetr - AS3 Twitter APIhttp://code.google.com/p/tweetr/ myLib - A powerful open source framework designed for advanced components programming with Adobe Flash AS3 projects.http://mylib.samystudio.net/ as3scribdlib - ActionScript 3.0 API for Scribdhttp://code.google.com/p/as3scribdlib/ FDOT - A collection of ActionScript 3 classes that make hard things easier.http://onflash.org/ted/2009/08/fdot-making-hard-things-easier.php xpath-as3 - An XPath implementation for ActionScript 3.0http://code.google.com/p/xpath-as3/ DirectorAS3 - Library for SlideShowPro Directorhttp://www.tuftandco.net/DirectorAS3/ SWX - The Native Data Format for Adobe Flashhttp://code.google.com/p/swx-format/ openplatform-flash - AS3 client library for The Guardian Open Platformhttp://code.google.com/p/openplatform-flash/ ARTionscript - An AS3 ‘Generative Art’ Frameworkhttp://artionscript.com/ ffffound-as3-api - FFFFOUND! (unofficial) AS3 APIhttp://toki-woki.net/blog/p336-ffffound-as3-api colormunch - Actionscript (AS3) library for the Adobe Kuler APIhttp://code.google.com/p/colormunch/ GpxAS3 - A library for parsing and manipulating GPX (GPS Exchange Format) files.http://github.com/ryanstewart/GpxAS3/tree gaforflash - Google Analytics Tracking For Adobe Flashhttp://code.google.com/p/gaforflash/ minimalcomps - Minimal ActionScript 3.0 code only UI components (Keith Peters)http://code.google.com/p/minimalcomps/ HYPE Framework - A collaborative visual framework (Branden Hall and Joshua Davis)http://hype.joshuadavis.com/ TempoLite - A small, efficient media libraryhttp://blog.coursevector.com/tempolite SoundManager - Makes adding sounds to your projects super simplehttp://evolve.reintroducing.com/2008/07/15/news/as3-soundmanager/ TextFlowPro - Enables you to flow a series of textfields together so that they act as a single text containerhttp://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2009/01/editable_multif.html AnimatedBitmap - Provides functionality for Bitmap objects that are animated by using a series of still imageshttp://blog.hexagonstar.com/animatedbitmapclass/ Active Window Blur http://blog.onebyonedesign.com/?p=81 SWFsize - Works with SWFObject and provides control over the swf’s container metricshttp://chargedweb.com/swfsize/ as3-signals - Signals is a new approach for AS3 events, inspired by C# events and signals/slots in Qthttp://wiki.github.com/robertpenner/as3-signals/ swffit - Not an AS3 library, but a JavaScript file that adds scrollbars to the browser when smaller than a specified sizehttp://swffit.millermedeiros.com/ libscorm http://code.google.com/p/libscorm/ pipwerks.SCORM - Adding basic SCORM functionality to an existing Flash filehttp://pipwerks.com/2008/04/27/how-to-add-basic-scorm-code-to-a-flash-movie/ custom-context-menu - Capture right-click events in Flash / Flex (AS 3)http://code.google.com/p/custom-context-menu/ Library & LibraryManager - For using external assets in your flash projects.http://www.tink.ws/blog/library-librarymanager/ DataStructures - HaXe/AS3 library for game developershttp://code.google.com/p/polygonal/ miditoflash - Receive midi events in Flash from any midi device through Java and JavaScripthttp://code.google.com/p/miditoflash/ ASBlender - Actionscript 3 library for reading Blender .blend fileshttp://wiki.github.com/timknip/asblender/ OpenPyro - An Open Source ActionScript 3 framework built for creating Rich Internet Applicationshttp://www.openpyro.org/ TurboSignals - A library implementing the signals and slots design patternhttp://jacksondunstan.com/turbosignals evoTinyEngine - Demo scene enginehttp://www.simppa.fi/blog/opensource-demo-engine-evotinyengine/ FlashSURF - SURF (Speeded Up Robust Features) feature extraction library written in Flash using Alchemyhttp://code.google.com/p/in-spirit/wiki/FlashSurf XML-RPC - Easy way to get Flash to transfer data with an XML-RPC endpointhttp://danielmclaren.net/2007/08/03/xmlrpc-for-actionscript-30-free-library as3-rpclib http://code.google.com/p/as3-rpclib/ as3swf - Low level Actionscript 3 library to parse, create, modify and publish SWF files.http://github.com/claus/as3swf BrowserCanvas - The World’s Easiest Way to Dynamically Resize Flashhttp://www.dncompute.com/blog/2008/06/23/browsercanvas-the-worlds-easiest-way-to-dynamically-resize-flash.html Chain - Delayed function callinghttp://blog.stroep.nl/2009/11/delayed-function-calling-chain/ App Analytics - Complete analyrics solution for Adobe AIR applicationshttp://www.appanalyticshq.com/ governor - A multithreading script enginehttp://code.google.com/p/governor/ mojocolors - An Actionscript 3 color library inspired by the great Nodebox Colors libraryhttp://code.google.com/p/mojocolors/ flashdraw3d - A very lightweight 3d drawing API for Flashhttp://code.google.com/p/flashdraw3d/ Sprouts - An open-source, cross-platform project generation and configuration toolhttp://projectsprouts.org/ ZaaIL - 40+ Image format support for Flashhttp://www.zaalabs.com/2010/04/introducing-zaail-40-image-format-support-for-flash/ MouseWheelTrap - A fix for unwanted simultaneous Flash and browser scrolling behaviour in AS3http://code.google.com/p/mousewheeltrap/ FLVSlicer - A simple FLV slicer and mergerhttp://code.google.com/p/flvslicer/ Fluxus - AS3/Flex library registry similar to Ruby Gemshttp://fluxusproject.org/ EventController - Event Management made easyhttp://fla.as/ec/ as3-jaws - Just Another (AS3) Web Service Client (for .NET web service)http://code.google.com/p/as3-jaws/ CJSignals - ActionScript 3.0 Observer Framework (a new approach for ActionScript 3.0 events)http://code.google.com/p/cjsignals/ Reflex - A light weight component framework being built for the Flash Platformhttp://reflex.io/ Merapi - A bridge between AIR and Javahttp://www.merapiproject.net/ AS3-P2P-LIB - ActionScript 3 Lib for the new P2P API in Flash Player 10http://github.com/devboy/AS3-P2P-LIB
Posted in AIR , ActionScript 3.0 , Augmented Reality , Flash , Flex , Papervision 3D , Tweening | 80 Comments »
This is how you set the stage quality using ActionScript 3.0
Old AS1 & AS2 code was …
New AS3 code is …
stage .quality = StageQuality.LOW ;
The setting options are BEST, HIGH, MEDIUM & LOW.
If you are using this inside a class, you will also have to import the ‘StageQuality’ class from within the ‘flash.display’ package…
import flash.display .StageQuality ;
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Flash , Sample Code | 2 Comments »
UPDATE 29/07/2010: Flash CS4 and CS5 now support this metadata, and will override the stage properties that are set in the IDE.
If you are creating an AS3 only project in Flex then at some point you will want to set the framerate, stage size, and stage colour. This is not obvious to find and can be done in one of two ways.
The first method is by providing this information as compiler arguments in the Flex IDE. Go to Project > Properties > ActionScript Compiler. And in the ‘Additional compiler arguments:’ textfield you could enter the following …
-default-frame-rate 25 -default-background-color #FFFFFF
-default-size 800 600
The second method is by putting this information in to your main AS3 class as metadata. For example …
package { import flash.display .Sprite ;[ SWF( width ='800' ,height ='600' ,backgroundColor ='#ffffff' ,frameRate='25' ) ] public class Test extends Sprite { public function Test( ) { } } }
Make sure you put the SWF Metadata AFTER any import statements.
Here are a couple of other blog entries on the subject …
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Flex | 2 Comments »
In ActionScript 3 you can detect key presses on the keyboard using the Stage class. I discovered that the Stage object is not globally accessible. You need to access it through the stage property of a DisplayObject instance. So from within a Class you can check which keys are being pressed using the following code.
package { import flash.events .KeyboardEvent ;import flash.display .MovieClip ;public class KeyboardTest extends MovieClip { private var base:MovieClip ;public function KeyboardTest( $base:MovieClip ) :void { trace ( "KeyboardTest constructor is being run" ) ;stage .addEventListener ( KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN ,keyboardListener) ;} private function keyboardListener( event:KeyboardEvent) :void { trace ( "event.keyCode: " + event.keyCode ) ;} } }
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Sample Code | No Comments »
Hooray! I managed to get a ticket to the Colin Moock ActionScript 3.0 training day being ran by Adobe. I’ll be attending the London event on Monday 3rd March 2008. The event is being held at Vinopolis , the famous wine tasting venue (map here ). I hope we get some free wine to help us get our heads around the nitty-gritty of AS3. See you there, if you are going as well.
Posted in ActionScript 3.0 , Adobe , Conferences and Events , Flash | No Comments »
December 24th, 2009 by 
Adrian Parr 
3 Comments »
