Just to preface: I haven't used Flash in a long long time, however, I am still aware of the environment.
Backstory: I created a small .fla to perform actions on a MovieClip on the stage (in my case, a health/HP bar). I made the health effect using a Document Class (HealthBar.as).
The question: What I'm trying to figure out now is how, in a totally separate .fla, to create multiple instances of these health bars and be able to access the methods in Document Class HealthBar.as from the Document Class in this new .fla
If I am doing this incorrectly in the first place, feel free to yell at me, and let me know how doing something like this SHOULD have been done.
Thanks for any help
You're halfway there with a document class. Now you just need to make it into a proper class in your com.domain.className (or drop the .as file into the same directory as your fla). While creating classfiles is trivial, online examples seem to muck it up, so here's Adobe's official demo (bleh).
That said, creating more healthbars basically looks like this...
Class
package {
public class HealthBar extends Sprite {
public function HealthBar() {
// constructor
trace("Healthbar created")
}
}
}
Document Code
import HealthBar;
for (var i:int = 0; i < 10; i++) {
var randomHealthBar:HealthBar = new HealthBar(); // <-- magic sauce
addChild(randomHealthBar);
}
// traces: "Healthbar created" 10 times
Shouldn't you be able to copy the movieclip from the healthbar .fla into your main .fla and then give it an actionscript linkage of HealthBar?
Then you should be able to call new HealthBar whenever you need one in your main file.
Related
So being new to AS3 but not development in general, during a recent project that I just started I hit an immediate snag where my normal method of OOD is causing errors in AS3.
I created a layer in Adobe Flash called code just to keep everything separate and in frame one under actions I used the following code to get started:
var GameContainerSize:int = 400;
class GameInfo {
var GameID:int;
var HomeTeam:String;
var VisitingTeam:String;
function GameInfo()
{
}
}
This simple code immediately causes an error though
Scene 1, Layer 'Code', Frame 1, Line 4 1131: Classes must not be nested.
And my best guess is this is because the timeline and all code on it exists within a class already. So what should I be doing if I want to develop this program using class objects, or is this even possible in flash?
You can't define classes on the timeline. Each timeline is exported as a class, var and function declarations become members of the class, and frame code is moved to its own frame functions which are called when the timeline reaches that frame. Thus the error is saying "you can't put a class in a class" because the timeline already is a class.
To define classes you must use external .as files with package blocks:
// GameInfo.as
package {
public class GameInfo {
public var GameID:int;
public var HomeTeam:String;
public var VisitingTeam:String;
public function GameInfo(){ }
}
}
In Flash Pro you can link a class to a timeline (document or symbols). Such a class must extend Sprite or MovieClip.
You can also refer to any of your classes from any frame script. For example, you could put on frame 1 of your main timeline:
var gameInfo:GameInfo = new GameInfo();
Typical OOP would involve using external .as class files for almost everything, with only minimal function calls on your timeline frames, like stop() at the end of a timeline or calling a custom function you've added to the class linked to the timeline.
I created a layer
That's not ideal. The problem is that it will not get you any closer to understanding the code, because it isn't code. It's a feature of the flash authoring environment. You might as well spend a day with the drawing tool drawing something.
to keep everything separate and in frame one under actions
Organisation is important, but layers aren't the way to go. As each class definition goes into its own external file, you have to create additional files anyway if you want to create more classes. And you want to create more classes because having only one is horrible object oriented design. Being consistent here is important. That's why people in the comments suggested to use a document class and have no code on any frames. All code is organised in classes. No exceptions1.
Having said all that, I highly advice against using Adobe Flash to learn As3. There's too much obfuscation going on behind the scenes. If you want to learn how to code As3, use a code editor. (or plain text editor + compiler if you prefer). Learning what settings dialog has to be adjusted in order to get what you want is not going to get you any closer to understanding OOD in As3.
I also see package, is this kind of like a namespace and does it need to be named, if not what is its purpose?
No, packages are packages and namespaces are namespaces. Apples and oranges.
Packages are used to organize classes just like a structure of
folders is used to organize the .as fiels of those classes. In fact,
the package is pretty much exactly that folder structure, for example:
flash.display is for all display related classes
flash.events is for events
A namespace allows you to control access to members of a class. Namespaces are very rarely used in As3. Here's an article from grant skinner about namespaces. Personally, I never needed to use namespaces. If you are jsut getting started, you can very well ignore them for now.
That sounds perfect! except I cannot get it to launch on my Win10 machine. I may just end up outsourcing this at this ratio
flash develop is the alternative editor. It's free, fast and lightweight.
my normal method of OOD
You want to extend your definition of normal with
always explicitly specify the access control modifiers
member names start with small letters
public class GameInfo {
private var gameID:int;
private var homeTeam:String;
private var visitingTeam:String;
function GameInfo()
{
}
}
1admittedly, there are top level functions that are pretty much free floating functions without a class. If you want to do oop, this is not what you want. It's for the occasional independent utility function. Stick to classes for now.
So I had been messing around in AS3 for awhile and had done some basic starting flash game things, but then found out I could use air to make them for mobile platforms. So I tried copying over what I had worked on before, but I am running into issues.
Right now I am just trying to find out how to add an instance of a MovieClip to the stage. I have an image converted to a MovieClip with it's own class so I can manipulate it later (such as moving around) and I have this in my Main class:
class Main extends MovieClip
{
var space:Background; //Background is the MovieClip
function Main():void
{
space = new Background(stage);
stage.addChild(space);
}
}
But when I run the program, the image doesn't show up. It works that way when I just had a standard AS3 program and I don't understand why it would be different when I am trying to use AIR. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Put the word 'public' in front of 'class' in your first line.
Also remove the 'stage' from the first line in your constructor: make it space = new Background();
And do you really need 'stage' in the addChild statement? Unnecessarily verbose!
I can run this code through the AIR compiler (AIR SDK 3.8 or later):
package
{
import flash.display.MovieClip;
public class MAIN extends MovieClip
{
var space:Background;
public function MAIN()
{
space = new Background();
stage.addChild(space);
}
}
}
With an image inside the Background class it shows up fine. My 'Background' is a library symbol linked for Actionscript. If your 'Background' is pure Actionscript are you adding a graphic to it?
Rajneesh Gaikwad had the answer, I didn't have my Main class as my Document class.
First of all I've just a couple hours experience with Flash and AS3 therefore, I'm sorry if it is a bit easy question.
What I want do to is a simple space war games to learn basics of AS3 and flash. Altough I dont know much things about layers, I think my game should contain two layers, one for background and the second one is for enemies spaceships and our spaceship.
I added a jpeg format file to library to use it as a background. (as you can see from the link :http://prntscr.com/2pe6zb and http://prntscr.com/2pe733 )
And I create a as3 documentFile which is called Arkaplan.as and content of it is:
package{
import flash .display.*;
public class Arkaplan extends MovieClip{
public function Arkaplan(){
var hero:backGround =new backGround();
addChild(hero);
}
}
}
However, I got an error which says that : "1180: Call to a possibly undefined method BackGround."
Is there anyone to help me to solve what is wrong ?
EDIT
When I changed the code above lilke :
package{
import flash .display.*;
public class Arkaplan extends MovieClip{
public function Arkaplan(){
var myBitmap:Bitmap = new Bitmap(new backGround(500, 500));
var myMovieclip:MovieClip=new MovieClip();
myMovieclip.addChild(myBitmap);
addChild(myMovieclip);
trace("deneme 1-2");
}
}
}
Problem is solved but I dont know why it runs correctly know ? To be able to use Bitmap Do I have to add it as a child to movieClip ?
Any time you use the word 'new' you are creating a new object. The word after new will be the name of a Class that Flash will try to locate. You must either have an external .as file that matches that name or have a library item set to 'export for ActionScript' with a Class name that matches that name.
You can access a library item's properties by right-clicking on it in the library and clicking 'properties'. With the 'advanced' option open, check the 'export for ActionScript' box and enter a Class name that matches the one you want to create.
I am learning actionscript 3. And If I want to create packages and classes i have to create another .as extension file. In which i have to put the package/class code. Which is fine but annoying, and frustrating mainly because i don't understand why it has to be done this way.
Why would code like this:
package {
public class a{
function a(){ trace('Hey'); }
}
}
won't work in fla file, but will work in separate .as file in the same folder.
The timeline and frames are the properties of MovieClip class instance, so when writing code in frames you add it to the main-application-class, which is automatically created by Flash IDE. I.e. you are operating with single class, which is generated by the editor.
There is no way to declare packages and classes in frame-script. You also can not declare more than one externally visible definition (class or function) within one .as file. These are compiler limitations.
Note that you may declare functions, and create instances of other classes, manipulate with display-list objects in frame-scripts, so your abilities are not severely limited.
There is also a way, that works on timeline, to extend class behavior using Object's prototype property:
MovieClip.prototype.summ = function ():void {
trace ('this function extends movieclip class');
}
var instance:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
instance.summ(); // will trace this function extends movieclip class
Inside flash cs6 I have drawn a flash movieclip in which I set export settings as abc.Gameboard. Inside gameboard I have a bunch of pieces (symbol:Piece) which I export as abc.Piece - both base class set to MovieClip and with class files. The piece has frame labels like hit, over etc.. My problem is accessing the pieces in code so I can eg. gotoAndPlay("mine") - at the moment the event only fires once which is the last piece on the board.
I can set the frame action on this last piece but would like to figure out how to do same for each piece.
I add a gameboard to the stage like so
var gb:Gameboard = new Gameboard();
gb.name = "gb001";
contextView.addChild(gb);
Then
contextView.addEventListener(Event.ADDED, thingAdded);
private function thingAdded(event:Event):void
{
var type:String = event.target.toString();
switch(type)
{
// this runs only once - i want it to run for each piece that is inside the symbol
case "[object Piece]":
var p:MovieClip = event.target as Piece;
p.gotoAndPlay("mine");
break;
}
}
or if there's a better way that would be great.. this looks pretty clunky
Edit: Bit more info about how I'm trying to build the gameboard
Draw a collection of shapes in illustrator - mask it (Gameboard region). Import into Flash as Graphic. Convert graphic to several movie clip symbols (So JSFL can drill down and access masked pieces) - run JSFL script & create 00's of pieces. Then I set export settings on Piece and Gameboard and add Gameboard to the contextView.
I actually wrote an entire article about this once. The ADDED event should fire once for every DisplayObject that gets added. Are you sure that you're not using ADDED_TO_STAGE, which does not bubble? If you're using ADDED_TO_STAGE, then you need to set the useCapture flag to true to get it to fire for all children.
If you want to involve RobotLegs in the process, probably the better way is to simply create a "marker" Class for each specific button that you want to have behave in a different way, then register a mediator for each Class that will manage the behvior. Robotlegs already has the hooks built in to listen for ADDED_TO_STAGE and do this.
However, you could also consider using the Flash IDE for what it's for, which is putting stuff on stage. In that case, your GameBoard instance will be ready in the constructor of your main document Class for you to do whatever you want with it.
MPO is that logic that is outside Gameboard shouldn't know or care how it works internally, and honestly it probably shouldn't even be GameBoard's responsibility to handle simple stuff like button over states and things. That should be up to the button itself. If the buttons don't need to toggle or anything beyond what SimpleButton handles, you can just declare the button instances as Button in the library instead of MovieClip and get all that stuff for free instead of coding it yourself.
Part of being a good coder is in being able to figure out ways not to code everything.
in their Gameboard inside Piece? I want know exactly your Gameboard Structure.
If you're right. try this:
function thingAdded(e:Event):void
{
if(!e.target is Gameboard) return;
var mc:Gameboard = Gameboard(e.target);
var i:int = 0;
while(i<mc.numChildren)
{
if( mc.getChildAt(i) is Piece)
{
var piece:Piece = Piece(mc.getChildAt(i));
piece.gotoAndStop(2);
}
i++;
}
}
Here is my Sample code: Gameboard