Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with actionscript

Help me batch print text files on the Mac

grumblebee — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:19:03 -0800

OS X: I want to batch print all the files in a source-code library. They are actionscript files, which means they are text files that all end in a .as extension. The files are in a complex directory structure (one root folder but files in multiple subfolders), and there are non .as files that I don't want printed. When the files print, I need some kind of separator ( spaces, asterisks, new page...) between each file. I can't seem to find a FILTERABLE batch printing app for OSX -- one that can print all files (of a certain type or naming scheme) in all folders and subfolders starting at a certain root.

I thought about opening Terminal and doing this:

find . -name "*.as" | xargs cat > outfile.txt

And then printing outfile.txt. That would be perfect except that I won't easily be able to tell where one file begins and another ends. I need

*****************

or some other delimiter between files.

If it matters, this is for OS X Leopard.

What is the current state of Adobe Flex and what tools are commonly used?

Riemann — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:57:16 -0800

What is the current state of Adobe Flex and what tools are commonly used? Though most of my experience is in C# / C++, I have done a fair bit of development in Flash over the last few years. Despite the fact that the threading model is still crippled (compared to desktop technologies or even Silverlight), I have an idea for which I think Flash / Actionscript 3 might be an appropriate platform.

Right now I am considering whether to base my app off of Flex 3 framework or just code directly with AS3 / Flash.

(as an aside, I have read the answers to these questions on the Adobe website. However, years of experience working with Adobe products has made me extremely skeptical of anything they claim about their own products)

So, I have two questions:

1) What are the advantages which Flex 3 offers compared to just Flash? Are the Flex user interface controls substantially better than what is available with Flash alone?

2) What IDE and other tools are actually worth using for Flex 3 development? Is Eclipse still the IDE of choice?

Pay for Flex?

drjimmy11 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:58:42 -0800

What, anecdotally speaking, are Flex developers getting paid right now in Los Angeles or a similar city? I have been to the salary calculators and such, they tend to come back with a number up around $120k or so- but I'm not sure how "real world" that is. I'm a Flex developer with about 2 years experience in Flex, and 10 years programming overall. I consider myself an expert in Flex/AS3 (have written my own framework, used all the major ones, can explain their strengths and weaknesses, and stuff like that).

I'm interested in knowing, if I put myself on the market tomorrow, what salary could I expect to find in Los Angeles for full-time? How about as a consultant? How high is the demand, really? Mostly just looking for anecdotes, but hard data is welcome if it's more specific than those generic salary calculators.

Thanks!

I'm building my first Flash program, and I need help with a problem with collision detection...

monkeyagent — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:06:54 -0800

I'm building my first Flash program, and I need help with a problem with collision detection... I'm making a side scrolling video game and am trying to tweak my collision detection.

What I currently have:
The "player's"/controlled Movie Clip deducts health from a "health" movie clip when other specified movie clips hit the player. The movie clips hitting the player are then removed. However, the top half of the graphic I'm using (a png with transparent background) is recessed from the lower half, meaning that if an enemy movie clip hits the top half of the bounding box, the result is what looks like a collision with empty space. Here's the basic jist of my current code (I place this in the Actionscript of whatever object I want to collision detection against):

function onEnterFrame()
{
if(this.hitTest(_root.player))
{
this.removeMovieClip();
}
}

What I'm trying to do:
I'd like to draw a transparent circle on the upper portion of the player movie clip, but *within* the player movie clip so that I can run hitTest against that instead of the entire graphic. I've been trying to reference the circle in the hitTest like so: if(this.hitTest(_root.player.collide) but no joy. I also tried referencing the clip directly with (_root.collide). I've also tried both putting the circle on a separate layer and in the same layer within the player movie clip - In all cases, I end up with no collision detection at all. Ultimately, I want the effect of enemy objects only damaging that top, vulnerable part of the player.

What I'd like to avoid:
BitmapData.hitTest
hitTestPoint

I tried to figure these out, but they seemed overly complex for what I want to do. Also, I've still quite newbish and this is my first exposure to ActionScript.

Bonus question: can anyone explain (or point me the the right direction for) when I do and don't need to specify the Identifier and Class for a symbol? Also, any good Flash game programming tutorials that teach by doing and then explaining without laying out the entire groundwork for the language (like, Kongregate's Shootorials)?

ActionScript 3.0 and rollovers.

reductiondesign — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:16:55 -0800

ActionScript 3.0 trouble: rollover effects. Alright, so here's what I'm trying to do in Flash CS3. I want a button to get darker when I roll over it, and lighten back up when I roll out. It's linked to a movie clip with a simple tween to change the color, and I have ActionScript (3.0) doing this. (HTML link; my code got messed up during preview.)

This works except for the fact that it doesn't fade between colors; it simply jumps between them, and I can't figure out why. I've tried Googling, but that's proved fruitless.

If you can find a way to fix my current code rather than replace it, that would be much preferred (i.e. no alpha effects, please).

Feel free to email/MeMail me with questions, for the .fla, etc. Thanks so much.

Running OS X 10.5, Flash CS3.

What will they make fun of me for not knowing?

ignignokt — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:53:40 -0800

Help me prep for an interview for a Flex job. I have an interview for a job doing Flex development in a couple of days.

I'm not an established Flex developer. I've spent most of my career writing C++ code for Windows applications, with a couple of Flash proof-of-concept type projects here and there and some Flash toys I wrote at home. I got my foot in the door (I think) by writing an Adobe AIR application in the last month or so in Flex that interacts with social networks (and publicizing that to them) and by doing a Flex programming test for them.

I feel pretty comfortable with Actionscript and haven't had much of a problem getting things done with it, but I still have no idea what the average Flex developer knows. What are the things they might expect me to know?

TLS up my XIFF!

ignignokt — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:46:00 -0800

I'm working on a Flex app, and I want it to interact with Google Talk. Are there any xmpp libraries for Actionscript that use TLS? XIFF looked good, but it doesn't use TLS encryption, which Google Talk requires. I suppose I could modify XIFF to use TLS with as3crypto, but getting into its guts could be a lot of trouble.

Any ideas? I'm open to entirely different approaches. All my app needs to do is set statuses ("headlines" in xmpp, I think) on Google Talk accounts.

fl vs flash

iconjack — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:20:27 -0800

What's the relationship between the ActionScript namespaces fl.* and flash.* ?

Actionscript physics of curveball

c:\awesome — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:23:32 -0800

Flash-physics-filter: I'm working on a simple flash game similar to curveball, but I can't figure out 1) how the script determines the amount of spin/curve to put on the ball, and 2) how the AI gets progressively better as the levels increase.

How to convert shapes drawn with ActionScript to movie clips?

nímwunnan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:02:51 -0800

How do I convert a shape drawn with ActionScript to a movie clip that can have mouse actions in Flash (ActionScript 2)? Maybe I'm missing something really basic here, but a couple hours of research in all the likely places haven't produced anything. Bascially I'm using some functions for creating isometric drawings and I would like to be able to address the shapes they create as objects with onRollOver and onRelease and so on. Any help would be appreciated.

How can I display colorful directed graphs on the web?

christonabike — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:52:17 -0800

How do I take a graph that looks like this and display it in a web friendly format? Oh, and there's 300,000 of them. The graph linked is a screenshot of a postscript file generated by the "dot" portion of Graphviz. Essentially, I have a bunch of flat text files describing directed graphs (i.e. which nodes are linked to which and what color the links/nodes should be). I need to display these directed graphs on the internet. The nodes on the graph need to be clickable, as well.

Ideally, the processing to turn the text file into the graph would also be done on the client side, but this isn't necessary. The graphs don't need to be capable of being manipulated, but that would be cool as well. The best idea I've got so far is to use Flash/ActionScript and do something similar to this, but I've never actually used flash so I have no idea if it will scale well or can even actually do what I want it to.

Actionscript community site?

malphigian — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:45:10 -0800

Mailing list, forum, or other community for advanced actionscript coders? Most of what I do professionally is flash actionscript coding. Pretty advanced, AS3 stuff. Occasionally I have questions that aren't answered by the usual docs and books, and I'd love to have a place to ask other people like me.

Back in the day there was the flash coders mailing list, but that appears to be dead. Does anyone know of a community site of any sort that is dedicated to discussing actionscript coding with a good signal to noise ratio?

So far Flashkit's forums are the best I've found, but I just have this suspicion I'm missing some obvious place where all the cool kids are hanging out. Thanks in advance for any advice.

How can I seamlessly loop video in flash cs3? And how can I put titles in flvplayback menu?

austinlee — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:13:20 -0800

How can I make a seamless FLV Video loop using flash cs3? Also! How can I put a title in the playback bar? I'd like to be able to loop back video playback seamlessly on my website. I was able to get the video to loop but there seems to be a slight delay during the loop. Is there any way to fix this?

Here is a link to the example.

LOOP

Right now I am using the FLVplayback component with this actionscript.

import fl.video.VideoEvent;

player.addEventListener(VideoEvent.COMPLETE, playAgain);
function playAgain(evt:VideoEvent):void {

player.seek(0);
player.play();
}

I was also wondering if anyone knew how I could put a title in the menu bar. There will probably be a few videos so I am hoping for a way that is easily changed.

Thanks!

Actionscript help, please!

Mayor Curley — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:19:23 -0800

I'm trying to make a flash file scale to the width of a div. Friends, Romans, Actionscript People, how do I make this happen? Simple diagram here. Basically, I want to know what actionscript I need to add to the file, and changes I might need to make to the swfobject info to make this happen.

The swf has a set height (which I want) and currently has a set width, (but I want to change that). Right now it stays the same size as the stage it was built on. I want it to expand to fit the div it's in. My actionscript is for poop, obviously. Thanks for your help.

i gotta get digivideowebificated!

univac — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:39:08 -0800

I'm trying to get the local webcam to stream to the stage on Flash CS3 actionscript3. When I run it, I get a blank screen and no errors. Any help at all would be appreciated. Here is my code so far: import flash.system.SecurityPanel; Security.showSettings(SecurityPanel.CAMERA); var cam:Camera = Camera.getCamera(name); var vid:Video = new Video(); vid.attachCamera(cam); stage.addChild(vid); Thanks! Posted for a friend. I don't really know what any of this means.

Help me forward to new page at end of Flash video

aaronetc — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 08:42:28 -0800

How do I get Flash to play a FLV and then go to particular URL when it's done? I'm working on a project where people view a Flash video (just an FLV file with no skin or anything else) and then get forwarded to another page when it's done. I need them to see the whole video, so I can't just put a text link for the next page. I don't know Flash especially well, and the code that I've found online keeps giving me demands for an onClipEvent handler. Ideas?

What's the easiest way to print out a large web site?

grumblebee — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 09:31:04 -0800

Help me destroy the rain forest: I'm want to print out a huge manual that only exists as a web site. What (free? cheap?) app exists that will allow me to suck the entire site into a PDF or some other sort of printable document? I'm Mac based but can scare up a PC if necessary. I'm an Actionscript programmer that works with a team of people who are fifteen or more years younger than me. They're all cool with reading manuals online. I can't do that. I'm too old school. I need a physical book that I can carry with me and that I can keep next to my computer, flip through and mark up.

Adobe has PDF versions of almost all their manuals -- EXCEPT for their AS 3.0 manual, which is the one I need. And no 3rd-parties have come to the rescue. It looks like O'Reilly is coming out with a pocket guide to the language, but I need something more comprehensive.

I own pretty much ever AS 3 book in print (plus all the cheatsheets), and they're useful, but none of them is an overall reference to the language. If that's what you want, everyone refers you to the online document. Normally, I would just bite the bullet and give in, but AS is my bread-and-butter. I need a manual I can curl up in bed with.

I'd like to print the whole mother out, take it to Kinkos and have them bind it for me. How?

if (a || (b and (c or d)) and (not e or (f and g and h))) then ???

grumblebee — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:24:44 -0800

Comp Sci: What's the best Design Pattern or structure for dealing with a complex relationship between many booleans? I'm working on an app that has a zillion configuration options. I need to deal with situations in which the user choses Option A and (Option B or Option C) but not (Option D and (Option E or F)). That sort of thing.

Using tons of if/then/else's is clearly wrong. It's totally confusing. The State Pattern seems like the right direction, but unless I misunderstand it, it's too simple. It assumes that an app is in State A, State B or State C. What about apps that are in States A and C? In other words, there are 50 options and any combination of them can be on/off.

What's the best way to manage this?

I'm an Actionscript Programmer, but I'm pretty comfortable translating concepts from C-family languages.

Does anyone know of a book that covers Flash CS3 from the ground up?

jeffmueller — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:16:04 -0800

Does anyone know of a book that covers Flash CS3 from the ground up? I need it all, from beginner stuff to Flex. I'm hoping to find a book that has a general introduction to Flash, a language reference for Actionscript, and a thorough review of Flex. This is asking for a lot. Perhaps what I need is a series of books? I've already visited the O'Reilly site. Their books are responsible for my career as a web developer. But I found their offerings to be either too advanced (they assume you have knowledge of Flash and jump straight into the latest stuff in CS3) or out of date.

Also, if this stuff is covered in detail on a particular website, I would be happy to ditch the dead trees in favor of something digital. So far, all I've found are sites for the seasoned Flash developer, and they're somewhat intimidating (the sites, not the developers).

Thanks, MeFi!

What's the best way to create a large, complex, flexible UML diagram?

grumblebee — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:54:45 -0800

I need to spec out a huge, complex application in UML. I'm looking for good tools/techniques to do this in a fluid situation, where there are a ton of classes and new ones will be added all the time. My team is going to write a gargantuan program. We need to spec it, and I'm expecting we'll spend two or three weeks on the spec, before writing a line of code. It's vital that the finished spec be clear, rational, utilitarian and scalable. I've gotten to that point before, on other projects, but never on one this large. And my way of getting there is to make many drafts of the spec.

During draft stages, I continually refine the spec by adding new classes, removing redundant ones, etc. So the entire UML chart needs to be revised maybe 50 times before it's done.

The only UML tools I've used are graphical-UI ones, where you have to draw little boxes and drag connectors between them. But the thought of doing that on this project makes me queasy. It would mean continually dragging tons of boxes around to make space for new ones.

Here's what I'd like:

-- a way to create the graph via XML or something similar. The XML could be fed into an application that would spit out a diagram.

-- the XML/outline/whatever is easy to modify, in terms of adding new classes, relationships, etc.

-- when done, we could PRINT the whole diagram as a giant chart which we could hang on the wall. I guess it would have to be on many sheets of paper that we'd tape together. But we'd really like to be able to view the entire model at once.

Does such an app exist? If not, I'm very open to analog approaches. Is there a good method of doing something like this with tons of index cards (one for each class) tacked to the wall or something?

I'm sure other teams have faced this problem. How have the solved it?

We're Mac and Linux based, but if the best solution is PC-only, we could go that way via parallels.

If it matters (and I'm not sure why it would), this will be a web app coded in Actionscript 3.0.

Actionscript development on OS X that doesn't suck?

Tlogmer — Mon, 14 May 2007 22:37:34 -0800

I'm developing in Actionscript 3, and I hate (hate, hate, hate) Flex Builder 2. What are some other good options for as3 development on OS X? Right now I've got an ad-hoc system going where I use the "include" statement in a frame inside the flash project (CS3) and just write the code in Textmate. (I ♥ textmate.) But it's a little cumbersome; I'd prefer not to use Flash CS3 at all.

I've tried downloading some guy's actionscript 3 bundle for textmate, but I can't get the compiling to work. (Downloaded the SDK, all that.) I've heard you can develop as3 in XCode, but I don't know exactly how.

how to best use MVC architecture in flex 2

drjimmy11 — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 14:54:54 -0800

trying to set up MVC (model view controller) architecture for a Flex 2 project myself and a colleague are starting a flex 2 project. we are both new to Flex, and not all that experienced in OOP.

Our question is about components: we have the overall application (the main mxml file) and then other components which are their own mxml files. One is the Controller and one is the DataModel.

From a code point of view, it seems we can only go down: ie, if we put both components in the top level app, we can give them id's and talk "down" to them, but the components cant go "up" and reference a function or variable in the main app.

So the question is, a) is there a way to go "up" and b) is it a good programming practice.

I am currently arguing that the Controller should be called in the Application, and the Data Model called inside the Controller, because the Controller needs access to the data. This way the Application can call Controller functions which access the data and return formatted data to the app. Does this make sense and, if not, how else do we architect it? We initially tried putting both components at the top (application) label, but couldn't get them to talk to each other.

hope that makes sense. thanks!

ActionScript book for an experienced programmer?

whir — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:19:18 -0800

Can someone recommend a good ActionScript book for an experienced programmer? I'm designing an ActionScript API that my work will provide to various Flash authors (generally our creative departments or external agencies) to help them integrate their movies into our web sites, and I'd like to get a book on ActionScript that's aimed at experienced programmers.

I did see this earlier AskMe recommendation for a book for non-coders, but I'd like something a little more technical than that. I've done lots of programming in a variety of languages, and I do already know the basics of ActionScript and Flash.

I guess what I'd like is something that'll give me an idea of some "best practices" type things - how to organize my code, weird traps to look out for in ActionScript, vagaries of the various player versions, etc.

What I don't want is something that will spend a lot of time talking about how a for loop works, foundational OOP, etc, or something that mostly focuses on the authoring side of Flash (animation, sound, graphic design, etc).

Oh, for what it's worth, this will be an ActionScript 2.0 API, since we need to support down to Flash 6. And if anyone has some particularly good websites that deal with these kinds of things, I'd welcome those, too (I've had a lot of trouble sorting the wheat from the chaff when it comes to sites about Flash).

Can Flash play back synced audio clips?

baylink — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 13:46:41 -0800

Can Flash/ActionScript play multiple audio clips simultaneously, while maintaining sync, over a timespan of, say, 4-7 minutes? Preferably while presenting only one set of playback controls (stop, play, pause, and maybe positioning) to the user? In a previous AskMe, what it turned out I was looking for was a way to use Flash to package up multiple audio clips (and maybe some MIDI) into a single SWF file which people could play online or download.

Weston pointed out MediaRain, which the LDS Church uses for their online hymnal, but the fact that they target music publishers, combined with the fact that they don't quote pricing, suggests that my fledgling chorus can't afford them.

My artistic director would rather we do something of our own, anyway...

From searching after posting the original question, I know we have some people around here who sound like they have some Flash creation experience (paging Grumblebee :-); anyone ever done this?

Secondarily, *can* I bundle all the media files inside the SWF? The portability aspect is just as important as the sync issues, for my target audience.

Passing Variables to Flash with URLs

kirkaracha — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 16:58:04 -0800

How can I change variables in a Flash movie based a URL parameter? I have some text in my Flash movie, and I want to change it based on a parameter in the URL. For example, if the URL ends with something like ?text=beer, I want the Flash movie to say "beer."