ActionScript in Flex Applications (Page 1 of 4 )
If you want to create a fairly sophisticated program in Flex, you will need to use ActionScript. If you've never used the two languages together, this five-part series gets you started. It is excerpted from chapter four of the book
Programming Flex 2, written by Chafic Kazoun and Joey Lott (O'Reilly, 2007; ISBN: 059652689X). Copyright © 2007 O'Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission from the publisher. Available from booksellers or direct from O'Reilly Media.
ActionScript is the programming language that you can use along with MXML to create sophisticated Flex applications. While MXML is an important part of a Flex application, it is mostly used for creating the user interface, and it can go only so far in creating a complete application. For data models and sophisticated client-side business logic, you’ll need to use ActionScript as well.
Flex applications require ActionScript 3.0, which represents a significant maturation from earlier versions of the language. ActionScript 3.0 is compliant with the ECMA262 specification and leverages parts of the pending ECMAScript Edition 4 specification. ActionScript 3.0 supports a wide range of features including formalized classes, interfaces, and packages, runtime exception handling, runtime data types, reflection, regular expressions, E4X (XML), and more.
ActionScript is a standards-based, object-oriented language. Since ActionScript is an object-oriented language it can be viewed as a collection of APIs generally in the form of classes. There are three tiers of ActionScript APIs:
Flash Player APIs
These APIs are part of the Flash Player itself, and they run natively in that runtime environment. Flash Player APIs consist of core classes such asString,Number,Date, andArrayas well as Flash Player-specific classes such asDisplayObject,URLLoader,NetConnection,Video, andSound.
Flex framework APIs
These are the APIs that make up the Flex framework itself. The Flex framework is written in ActionScript, so it leverages the lower-level Flash Player APIs. The Flex framework is effectively a layer on top of the Flash Player APIs. The Flex framework APIs consist of all the Flex containers (Application,VBox, etc.), controls (Button,TextInput, etc.), and other assorted data, manager, and utility classes that are discussed throughout much of this book.
Custom APIs
These APIs are for the classes you build for use in custom applications. Custom classes can use Flash Player APIs as well as the Flex framework APIs.
The APIs that comprise the Flash Player are far too large a category to attempt to discuss in this chapter, and in fact there are books spanning many hundreds of pages that still can’t cover all of the Flash Player APIs. Our assumption in this book is that you are either already basically familiar with the Flash Player APIs or you are also reading a companion reference specific to Flash Player APIs. Most ActionScript 3.0 books focus primarily on the Flash Player APIs. You will most likely find that the Flex documentation API reference is quite helpful in this regard.
Much of this book is dedicated to the Flex framework APIs, via either ActionScript or MXML. For that reason, this chapter doesn’t focus on the Flex framework APIs.
ActionScript 3.0 is an object-oriented language, which means that in one form or another, the ActionScript code you write is part of a class. This book assumes you are already familiar with basic object-oriented programming concepts. It is not our intention to attempt to teach object-oriented theory in this chapter. Yet you will need to have a fundamental understanding of object-oriented concepts to make the most of this chapter. You can find a good introduction to object-oriented concepts at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented.
ActionScript is an important and essential part of Flex applications. In fact, ActionScript is the foundation upon which the entire Flex framework is written. This chapter teaches you the important fundamental concepts about ActionScript, including the relationship between MXML and ActionScript, ActionScript syntax, events, error handling, XML, and reflection.
Next: Using ActionScript >>
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 This article is excerpted from chapter four of the book Programming Flex 2, written by Chafic Kazoun and Joey Lott (O'Reilly, 2007; ISBN: 059652689X). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.
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