Given its ability to deliver high-impact experiences even over low-bandwidth connections, Flash has become the de facto standard for hundreds of thousands of multimedia web developers worldwide.Flash 5 now includes a new full-fledged programming language called "ActionScript" for controlling animation and multimedia. It's a quantum leap from the bare-bones "Actions" supported in Flash 4, andActionScript: The Definitive Guide is the first book dedicated entirely to documenting and demonstrating this new language.ActionScript includes all fundamental programming constructs (variables, loops, conditionals, functions, etc.), and is inextricably fused with Flash's authoring behaviors and animation timelines. Because ActionScript is based heavily on the ECMAScript Language Specification (ECMA-262) and is syntactically nearly identical to JavaScript, Macromedia expects thousands of existing JavaScript programmers to migrate to ActionScript.This book is divided into three sections.
- "ActionScript Fundamentals" introduces both programmers and non-programmers to the new language by first describing fundamental programming concepts and then delineating in detail the components, syntax, and usage of ActionScript.
- "Applied ActionScript Code Depot" shows you how to use common applications, such as processing online forms.
- "Language Reference" is a concise and detailed reference that makes all ActionScript globals, properties, and objects, including extensive implementation samples, easy to find quickly.
Code samples are also available from the "Code Depot" on the
author's web site devoted to Flash developers.Topics covered in this book include:
- Step-by-step tutorials of the most common ActionScript behaviors
- Object-oriented programming in Flash
- Intelligent interface development
- Server communication
- Dynamic content generation
- Password protection
- String handling
- Message boards
- Basic physics
- Games
ActionScript: The Definitive Guide is structured so both programmers and non-programmers can learn how to use ActionScript. This book will take you well beyond simple Flash animations so you can create your own enhanced Flash-driven sites.
The arrival of
ActionScript in O'Reilly's excellent
Definitive Guide series shows the increasing importance of Flash scripting. Suitable for any Flash developer, this book is both a tutorial and a reference, and comes from an author who is already well known in the Flash community, and whose Web site at www.moock.org is a treasure-trove of Flash resources.
The first and most substantial part of the book describes ActionScript's features from basics like variables and operators, through to more advanced topics such as event handling, ActionScript objects and manipulating Flash movie clips. No previous programming experience is assumed, but you are expected to be familiar with Flash itself. The "Movie Clips" chapter includes a careful and very useful explanation of the order in which ActionScript code executes. A short "Applied ActionScript" section follows, covering the Flash 5 authoring environment, forms and fields and debugging. Finally there is a detailed 250-page language reference. This includes core JavaScript elements as well as ActionScript objects, and is liberally annotated with tips and Flash-specific example code. The XML support in Flash 5 is fully described and illustrated in this section.
A strong point is that despite covering the fundamentals the early chapters remain interesting even for experienced JavaScript programmers. The section on applied ActionScript is perhaps too short, but the annotated language guide is superb. Combining in-depth Flash expertise with precise and detailed reference material, this is an outstanding ActionScript title. --Tim Anderson
