Here's the situation:
Making an app in Flash CS6 that has 11 frames. Some frames have actions dependent to that frame and then there are some global actions. There are no external classes, everything is incorporated into one flash file.
Now I want to incorporate AdMob and found an offer that should work for me, but it calls for setting a document class linked to external AS file. Doing this messes up my timeline based actions.
I am more front-end that back-end when it comes to designing/programming. So, my question is: How can I incorporate this external admob actionscript into my flash document file without messing up my current scripts? Is there a way to remove it's package attributes and put it on the timeline?
Hope this description wasn't confusing.
Thanks!
Some brief about document class & classes & timeline :
Consider the whole stage as a movieclip. Now the document class would be a user defined, external class for the stage movieclip. When you don't specify the document class, flash uses a predefined one, which derives a plain movieclip class. The frames added from the IDE are converted as calls to addFrameScript and the script in the frames are scheduled to run at an interval as per the frame rate (timeline). Even the shapes you draw, images you add, everything goes in as code in the frame scripts of the stage movieclip.
Now if you add a movieclip onto the stage, the above process is repeated for it as well. You may set a class or derive from an existing class for any movieclip. The class will be initialized when the movieclip instance is created, Be it frame script or place the movieclip itself in the frame.
Now to your question.Any frame script can access the external class as well. So if you have an external class named AdMob in a file AdMob.as, lying next to the fla, you may call it anywhere, in any frame as:
new AdMob()
However you must take care of the package name & path. So if the package for AdMob is abc.bbc.AdMob then the location of the as file should be abc/bbc/AdMob.as
You may import the whole package as :
import abc.bbc.*;
Related
I want to create a re-usable Flash MovieClip (component maybe?) that can be dragged and dropped from the library onto the Flash IDE stage (for an example, a "stop all movieclips timer component").
I've created some attractive vector icon graphics for visual reference, so that when it's dragged onto the stage, the developer can visually see the component on the stage, similar to what Google does with it's DoubleClick components. It's not important for these icon graphics to be seen at runtime however, and I'd like their visual portions to not be compiled at runtime to save on filesize.
I'm often asked to create visually rich Flash units in extremely small file sizes. So basically I want my movieclip icon components to not add to filesize (except for the code portion), not compile and render visually but still have the code within them run.
How can I achieve this? Would creating them as components do anything for my issue? Is this even do-able?
Components are definitely the best way to achieve visually represented imported code, however it would be much easier, more compatible and more reliable to just use an imported code library...
Make a seperate .as file, put it in com/mycompany/animation in your swf folder (or use a global classpath), and add this code:
package com.mycompany.animation {
class MyTimerUtils {
public static function stopAllClipsAfterTime(ms){
setInterval(MyTimerUtils.stopAllClips, ms);
}
public static function stopAllClips(){
//etc
}
}
}
Then when you want to use it in a project, just put this code on frame 1 of your main timeline:
import code.mycompany.animation.MyTimerUtils;
MyTimerUtils.stopAllClipsAfterTime(3000); // 3 seconds
What could be easier? If another developer wants to know if a piece of code is implemented they need only look at the first few lines of code.
Hi I have made a tile based game using a tutorial from this site http://www.wildbunny.co.uk/blog/2011...m-game-part-1/ My game is complete but I want to add a preloader to it.
A little background for a hopefully better understanding.
FlashDevelop is where all of my as3 files and classes are and I can also test my game here and I works fine.
Flash CS6 is where I have only one scene "scene 1" with one frame on it, this frame has all of my tile based images ( movieClips ) and animations in squares, if I double click a movieClip ( for example "player" ) it will go inside and I have got lots of frames ( jumping, running etc ).
I can't test my game from here, It shows errors (scenes are NAN). I think that's normal not sure - maybe off topic anyway.
I have looked on the internet for a tutorial on preloaders suiting my situation but can't find any using flash with flashDevelop and AS3.
You create a brand new project "Actionscript 3 with preloader", FD will generate you a preloader class *.as file, and a main class file with a [frame] directive in it. Copy the preloader *.as file into your current project, copy the directive from new project's Main.as into your project's Main.as, change the package name if needed in both places (in preloader's getDefinitionByName() call and in the directive - fully qualified class names required), add whatever visuals you want to your preloader class, and you're set.
The directive in my case looked like this:
[Frame(factoryClass="Geologist.Preloader")]
The package is Geologist, and the startup() function of the preloader was like this:
private function startup():void
{
var mainClass:Class = getDefinitionByName("Geologist.Main") as Class;
var theStage:Stage = this.stage;
theStage.addChild(new mainClass() as DisplayObject);
theStage.removeChild(this);
}
I need to create a single SWF with no external files, so I'm trying to add an internal preloader to my Flash project which has [embed] assets. I know [embed] causes problems with preloaders because it puts the assets on frame 1. I have tried the solutions recommended in these posts, where you set the document class to your preloader class:
Preloader for SWF with embed bytearray
How to create Preloader in AS3
I can get it to work, but ONLY if I comment out any lines of code that involve the stage, otherwise I get an "Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference." Those lines are essential though, so does anyone know how to fix those errors with the stage?
You haven't posted your code or your fla, so all I can do is share what works for me.
First, I wouldn't use Embed. Instead, use a swc. I have found that Embed can be unreliable as far as actually getting the entire asset in there (at least when publishing with Flash Builder + Flash Pro, which is my workflow).
Once you have your assets in a swc, try the following steps:
Set your export frame to Frame 10 (or any frame other than 1--I like frame 10 because then you can read the label that says "Preloader")
Put your actual content on frame 11. You can structure this a lot of ways. Since I program to Interfaces, I give whatever is on frame 11 an instance name and then use a setter to determine that my "first thing" has been placed on stage. I can get away with this because my main Document Class just knows the definition of the Interface, not the full implementation of the Class, so the Class does not need to load for the main Document Class to work. You probably aren't truly using the timeline and probably didn't program to interfaces, so you'll probably just set the base class of the symbol that's on frame 11 to the main logic of whatever you're trying to do.
Put your preloader graphics in Frame 1. I'm not sure why your stage references are so important. I, personally, don't use any logic in the preloader. Instead, I use a spinner that spans frames 1-10 (plus the word "Loading...". The spinner just spins while the classes load. The embed frame acts as a temporary "stop" that just holds the timeline back until those classes have been loaded. Once the classes have been loaded, the timeline will act like you called play() on it. So it really can be that simple. If you need it to be more complicated, give one of your preloader graphics an instance name and set up a getter/setter pair for it, then use the setter to trigger your logic that accesses the stage. You are pretty much guaranteed to have a valid stage at that point.
Word of warning: if you did make use of the timelime, you will get strange results if you try to jump to a frame that isn't loaded yet, so make sure to check to see if a given frame is loaded if it's near the end of your main timeline and your main timeline is heavy with assets before calling goToAndPlay() or goToAndStop().
Some references that might help you further:
Preloaders vs as 3 (I'd recommend you read the entire series this is part of. This is an amazing series I wish I'd found 3 years ago)
Solving the Frame 2 Problem Presentation and code
Combining the Timeline with OOP The example code for that is here (long story)
As the title says, the file loads correctly but the loading screen only flashes up at the end.
The only thing being exported in frame 1 is the loader image, and that is extremely small.
Is it possible that there's a queue of things being loaded and the loader image is at the bottom of that queue? Since that was one of the last things added to the project
If your preloader only shows up after the file has loaded, this means that you still have other objects being linked onto Frame 1. Flash is very picky about this, and it's easy for things to be yanked onto Frame 1 regardless of your settings. When you compile, Flash builds a dependency graph to determine what items are needed on each frame. If it thinks an asset is needed earlier than the export frame setting, it will ignore the setting and push the asset onto that frame. In particular, any class that your document class directly references will be automatically yanked onto frame 1.
Checking "Generate size report" in File, Publish Settings, Flash can help you see how much data is being exported onto Frame 1. Here are some tips to ensure that everything is linked onto the proper frame:
In Publish Settings, Flash, ActionScript Settings, make sure that "Export frame for classes" is set to 2 or higher.
Ensure that library symbols say "Export on frame 2" in their linkage properties. Older versions of Flash may export them on frame 1, regardless of the class export frame. In this case, you'll have to do the oldschool method of unchecking the "Export on frame 1" option, and manually dragging these symbols onto the timeline on frame 2.
Do not directly reference classes from your document class or on the main timeline. The Document class and all the assets it references are always placed on frame 1. Anytime you do var f : MyClass; in your document class or on the root timeline, then you are referencing MyClass, and Flash will automatically yank it onto frame 1.
To avoid directly referencing your main app class in your preloader, you want to instantiate it indirectly, using something like this:
var gameClass : Class = flash.utils.getDefinitionByName("Game") as Class;
var game : Sprite = new gameClass();
In this case, your Preloader becomes the document class, and indirectly creates the Game class when the SWF has loaded. This avoids any direct references to Game and its content.
I can't find the line in the Adobe samples for a maze game where the actual .as code is included into the project. This is fundamental, since my own implementation is just using include "file name";, which isn't working. I also can't use import, since I then can't access the elements placed on the stage. Help, please? The files are available here http://download.macromedia.com/pub/developer/flash_as3_sample_game_1.zip
I tried to debug the code, but I can't even find the point where the constructor is called. The execution starts at "stop()" in frame 1 and then if you step into it, calls the enter frame event handler.
I guess Document Class is the thing you are looking for.
It is an entry point, the class which is instantiated once Flash Player loaded your SWF.