ActionScript is a object oriented scripting language. Like ECMAScript the Actionscript is similar to the java script. Actionscript provides the interactive functionalitry to the the web site. Actionscript is mostly used in the flash software developer can set and control the actions of the Flash objects. Actionscript provide the additional features to the animation with flash and to create advance interactive animations and applications for the users. Actionscript is used for the kids tutorials and games so that kids can understand the lessons more easily. This is used by many advertisement companies to create the advertisements banners with flash and small animations http://www.myassignmenthelp.net/programming-assignment-help.php
2. Introduction
• ActionScript is an object-oriented programming language
originally developed by Macromedia Inc. (now owned by
Adobe Systems). It is a dialect of ECMAScript (meaning it
is a superset of the syntax and semantics of the language
more widely known as JavaScript), and is used primarily
for the development of websites and software targeting the
Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the
form of embedded SWF files.
3. Advantages of ActionScript
• ActionScript goes beyond the scripting capabilities of
previous versions of ActionScript. It is designed to
facilitate the creation of highly complex applications
with large data sets and object oriented, reusable code
bases. ActionScript is not required for content that runs
in Adobe Flash Player, it opens the door to performance
improvements that are only available with the AVM2,
the new virtual machine.
4. Objects And Classes
• In ActionScript, every object is defined by a class. A class can be
thought of as a template or a blueprint for a type of object. Class
definitions can include variables and constants, which hold data
values, and methods, which are functions that encapsulate
behavior bound to the class. The values stored in properties can
be primitive values or other objects. Primitive values are
numbers, strings, or Boolean values.
• ActionScript contains a number of built-in classes that are part of
the core language. Some of these built-in classes, such as
Number, Boolean and String, represent the primitive values
available in ActionScript. Others, such as the Array, Math, and
XML classes, define more complex objects.
5. Variables
• Variables allow you to store values that use in your
program. To declare a variable, you must use the
var statement with the variable name.
var i;
To associate a variable with data type you must do so
when you declare a variable without designating the
variable’s type is legal, but will generate a compiler
warning in strict mode. You designate a variable’s
type by appending the variable name with a colon(;)
followed by the variable’s type.
var i:int;
6. Data types
• A data type defines a set of value. For example, the Boolean data type is the set
of exactly two values: true and false. In addition to the Boolean data type,
ActionScript defines several more commonly used data types, such as String,
Number and Array. You can define your own data types by using classes or
interfaces to define a custom set of values. All values in ActionScript 3.0,
whether they are primitive or complex , are objects.
• A primitive value is a value that belongs to one of the following data types:
Boolean, int, Number, String, and uint. Working with primitive values is usually
faster than working with complex values, because ActionScript stores primitive
values in a special way that makes memory and speed optimizations possible.
7. Syntax The syntax of a language defines a set of rules that must be followed when writing executable code.
• Case sensitivity
var num1:int;
var Num1:int;
Dot syntax
Slash syntax
17
“hello”
-3
9.4
Null
Undefined
True
False
8. 14, to the variable sumNumber .
Operators
• Operators are special functions that take one or
more operands and return a value. An operand is
a value—usually a literal, a variable, or an
expression—that an op
• For example, in the following code, the
addition(+) and multiplication(*) operators are
used with three literal operands(2, 3 and 4) to
return a value. This value is then used by the
assignment(=) operator to assign the returned
value, 14, to the variable sumNumber.
var sumNumber:unit = 2+3*4; // unit=14
9. Conditionals
• ActionScript provides three basic
conditional statements that you can use to
control program flow.
• if..else
If(x>20)
{
Trace(“x is > 20”);
}
else
{
Trace(“x is <= 20”);
}
10. if..else if
If (x > 20)
{
trace(“x is > 20”);
}
else if (x < 0)
{
trace(“x is negative”);
}
11. Switch
• var dayNum:uint = someDate.getDay();
• switch(dayNum)
• {
• case 0:
• trace("Sunday");
• break;
• {
• case 1:
• trace(“Monday");
• break;
• {
• case 2:
• trace(“Tuesday");
• break;
• default:
• trace("Out of range");
• break;
• }
12. Functions
• Functions are blocks of code that carry out specific tasks and can be reused in
your program. There are two types of functions in ActionScript
3.0: methods and function closures . Whether a function is a called a method or a
function closure depends on the context in which the function is defined. A
function is called a method if you define it as part of a class definition or attach it
to an instance of an object. A function is called a function closure if it is defined
in any other way.
• Functions have always been extremely important in ActionScript. In ActionScript
for example, the class keyword did not exist, so “classes” were defined by
constructor functions.