FLASH

ActionScript 101

While there were some ActionScripts in the earlier versions of Flash, the language really didn't get its start until the year 2000, when it was officially named. Heavily influenced by JavaScript, the language went from a few simple commands to an evolving powerhouse of functions. This article will explain some of those functions.

Author Info:

By: James Payne

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January 16, 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Property	What it Does
X. Y Coordinates	The coordinates of an object indicate where it is located on the stage
Width/Height Measures	The width and height of an object
Xscale, Yscale	Adjusts the object size
Visible	Makes an object visible or invisible
Rotation	Sets the object's degree of rotation; i.e. by how much to rotate a ball
Quality	Used to change the quality of a scene (and therefore every object in the scene)
Name	Used to read or change the name of an object
Alpha	Affects the transparency of an object
Xmouse, Ymouse	Gives you the coordinates at which a user clicks their mouse
CurrentFrame	Tells you which layer in a movie is presently playing
TotalFrame	Tells you the total amount of frames in a movie
URL	Returns the URL of the SWF file the movie was downloaded from
Target	Returns the path of a movie clip
DropTarget	*Discussed in-depth later
FocusRect	Boolean that lets you know if a keyboard has focus
FramesLoaded	Tells you the total frames of a movie that were downloaded
SoundBufTime	*Discussed in-depth later.

X, Y Coordinates

As described above, X and Y represent the coordinates of an object. The best way to explain this is to actually work with the properties. Open up Flash and draw a shape on your stage. Change the shape to a symbol (press the F8 key) and name the image something like Mov_Rect or something along those lines. Set its Behavior as a Movie Clip and press the OK button.

Next, select the shape you created and look at your Properties Pane (this should be located at the bottom of your window, below the stage). Where it says Instance Name, erase what is there and type in Rectangle.

Finally, right-click the frame in the Timeline and choose Actions from the pop-up menu. Being sure that you have turned off the Script Assistant, type in the following code:

onClipEvent (mouseDown) {

setProperty("", _x, "250");

setProperty("", _y, "250");

}

Now test the movie. If you click on the Rectangle object (or whatever object you created), its position on the stage will relocate. If you go back and change the coordinates to say, 300, and test the movie again, you the object will move to a new location once you click it.

Next: Width/Height >>