Still don't get how to have a class ref timeline...

>>For instance I do a lot of remoting with Coldfusion. I would love to make
>>a
remoting class where most of the code is reusable. However when a call to
remoting returns an array of information to place it in the list box that is
located in the mainPageMC.resultList you can't easily. It just seems to me
you
interact one way with a class. The class doesn't interact back with the main
timeline.
<<

In class terms I'd do like Andrei1 said, and use events/listeners. In your
remoting class you call your service and get the array back. When it comes
back properly you fire an event and anything listening knows the data is
ready. Your listBox then just gets the data from the class. This makes it
easy for other things to use the data. You just need to think of the
structure a little differently than you are used to.

>> I always found that since 99% of my work was all custom websites and apps
>> that
if I were making classes I wouldn't reuse them much anyways. So I just
placed
all my custom code into different code layers to organize it. It was very
neat
and easy to work with
<<

I think most everyones work is custom sites and apps... Say for instance you
have need to scroll text a lot. You might make a scroller class, that just
takes references to the scroll objects, and a text field. That way your
scroller code can work with any custom elements, and can easily be used in
other projects, or be edited by other people. Everytime you want to use a
scroller you don't have to open the last project and copy/paste code... you
can just do something like: var myScroller = new
com.crock.CustScroller(upArrow, dnArrow, track, slider, textField); and
you're done... If you're a smaller shop, or a one man show the whole 'other
people can work on it' may mean nothing to you. However once you get a code
library built up it can make building apps much quicker and less error
prone.

--
Dave -
www.offroadfire.com
Head Developer
http://www.blurredistinction.com
Adobe Community Expert
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/

Thanks a lot for all of your help. So if you (any of you) were building a project that were to be a simple website say five pages with a "background swf" and each "page" it's own swf, what's the standard for your architecture. Obviously most of the classes would be loaded in the background swf and most of your "global" variables would be created there as well to be used throughout all movies, correct?

Do you guys use the add child method to "building" your stages? If so how do you design it? Build everything so it looks nice and then note it's location and then remove it from the stage and then build it with add child?

I want to do things the "standard" way because I believe adobe will keep adapting its applications this way. It also makes me more valuable as my company grows and when working with others on a project.

I always found that since 99% of my work was all custom websites and apps that if I were making classes I wouldn't reuse them much anyways. So I just placed all my custom code into different code layers to organize it. It was very neat and easy to work with. But with everything being right in the root it made things very easy.

Thanks, again.

"However if you weren't a class user in AS 2.0 the jump is very hard to 3.0."

I agree. But I don't think it's that much different to becoming a class user in as 2.0. Perhaps in some ways it may be easier as there are more strict approaches that give you more compiler errors when you make mistakes. In other ways it may be more difficult as you also need to get used to the differences in the way the avm works/Display list etc.

I am self taught also. The way I learnt quickest (making the 'jump' to as3 after learning class based programming in as2) was getting involved and contributing to an as3 opensource project (actually it is a flex project... but that's just as3 if you forget about the stuff the compiler does with mxml etc). It's a great way to learn because you have team support, common goals and open discussion etc. I realize not everyone has the time to do that though. I'm just letting you know that it helped me learn as3, as well as a start into design patterns and also to start to get my head around flex. I mention it because not everyone might think of doing that to learn.

I think the "as3 is too" hard/difficult/verbose comments are not new. I still see people making the change though - but it is a choice. And I'm sure there are people who choose not too as well. I think that's fine as as2 is still 100% supported in the player (and is still vital for targetting some devices in any case). I suspect that at some point, it will become inevitable that you'll need to commit to the change though.

As an aside, learning class programming in actionscript also made a huge difference to me with my serverside scripting as well. I now use classes routinely in my php work whereas I had limited and basic php scripts before. If you look at the structure of a coldfusion app with directories and component definitions, there is likely to be some similarities there as well even if the keywords are different and it's tag based.

I would say half of what you need to 'learn' is not the ability to code classes - the rules behind doing that is relatively easy, it's the thinking that goes into it beforehand - how you architect your application so it does all work well together. And that's where some design pattern books etc might help as well, although outside of that its just observing how others approach a particular 'problem type' or trying different approaches yourself (I would say I still do this a lot).

In terms of productivity, if you are writing a lot of class based code I would recommend using an external editor. I use FlashDevelop and its much quicker/easier to code a lot of things - that kind of offsets the 'as3 is too verbose' argument because there are a lot of smarts built in that accelerate coding - and it can work with flash itself to do the compiling.

This wasn't meant to be this long. Better stop there :)

For instance I do a lot of remoting with Coldfusion. I would love to make a remoting class where most of the code is reusable. However when a call to remoting returns an array of information to place it in the list box that is located in the mainPageMC.resultList you can't easily. It just seems to me you interact one way with a class. The class doesn't interact back with the main timeline.

Maybe my self taught way of programming in Flash is incorrect. I have four AS 3.0 books and they all show creating classes to do anything. It doesn't seem user friendly or fast programming. Sure it may be faster for the client but I've never had a problem with file size or speed, it's always been my company's strength with Flash.

I understand everything you guys have said, however I build many applications where you just have variables on the root timeline that are storing variables. You also have movie clips that need to react to some other movie clips, not always at the end of the frames.

If you're making a movie clip do something in a class and after or during you're in a class function and you want another movie clip on the stage to do something, it's not easy. It's all this loading of class re initializing a class, a pain...

I want to use something simple without 100 lines of code to just make something work. AS 3.0 has turned to nothing but awkward coding.

I wouldn't say that the "root" syntax was bad programming. It paid my bills for 5 years and I've done some really nice things with Flash. However if you weren't a class user in AS 2.0 the jump is very hard to 3.0.

In the simple example I gave, what doesn't make sense? You can make a simple
movie to test - stick the .as file and the .fla in the same folder - make a
mc with an instance name of ball_mc and test.

You pass in a reference to ball_mc in the constructor, assign it to a
local - control variable, and then use that in the moveX method.


If you wanted to do it the listener way that Andrei1 mentioned, something
like this should get you started:

package
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.Event;

public class Testing extends Sprite
{
public static const XMOVE:String = "xm";

function Testing() {}

public function moveX()
{
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, emoveX);
}

private function emoveX(e:Event)
{
dispatchEvent(new Event(Testing.XMOVE));
}
}
}


Then in Flash:

var mt = new Testing();
mt.moveX();

mt.addEventListener(Testing.XMOVE, doxmove);

function doxmove(e:Event){
ball_mc.x += 2;
}


You make a new instance of the Testing class, and call the moveX method,
which in turn starts calling the class' emoveX method at each enter frame.
In emoveX a new event is dispatched...and in Flash a listener is added to
call the local doxmove method, which does the actual moving... This is
likely not the most efficient way, but I'm still coming to grips with as3
myself.

--
Dave -
www.offroadfire.com
Head Developer
http://www.blurredistinction.com
Adobe Community Expert
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/

Still doesn't make sense to me? It doesn't matter how I want to control it. I want to know how to "target" or "reference" a variable or a movie clip from inside a class that has been loaded on the main timeline.

I did say 'easiest'. Maybe you can provide a simple example...

--
Dave -
www.offroadfire.com
Head Developer
http://www.blurredistinction.com
Adobe Community Expert
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/

You did not describe how want to control an object on the timeline from withing the class but, conceptually, I am not sure it is such a good idea to pass reference to the CONTROLLED object (or even timeline). It makes your class too dependent on its position in display list. For instance if you move this class a level deeper you will have to reprogram all the references.

With that said, I think it is a much better and more flexible architecture if your class broadcasts what it is doing via events and other objects (timeline or whatever) listen to these events and do whatever is needed.

You wouldn't need addChild() because the ball would already be on the
display list... I think your easiest method would just be to pass in a
reference to the object you want to control. You could do that in the
constructor, or in your control method, it's up to you.

Testing.as:

package
{
public class Testing
{
private var control:*

function Testing(targ:*) {
control = targ;
}

public function moveX():void {
control.x += 10;
}
}
}


in Flash:

var mt = new Testing(ball_mc);
mt.moveX();


--
Dave -
www.offroadfire.com
Head Developer
http://www.blurredistinction.com
Adobe Community Expert
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/