How to keep AS3 code simple - actionscript-3

This is my original pseudo code:
function1();
function1():void{
//do something
after mouseclick do function2
}
function2():void{
//do something
after animationfinish do function3
}
etc..
Can I get it into something like this?:
function1();
after mouseclick do function2()
after animationfinish do function3()
What is an easy way to get listeners on the top level?

If I understand your question correctly, when function1 is called you want to addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function2);
Are you using Actiosncript to animate or Keyframes?
I know with TweenMax you can add a function to call at the end of the tween. If using fl.Transtions.Tween you can listen for TweenEvent.MOTION_FINISH and then call function3. I don't mess much with the timeline in Flash, since I feel more in control with coding it, but I know you can add code at the last frame of an animation to call function3.
If I am completely missing you question feel free to clarify what exactly you are seeking.

If i good understand - You like to create functions chain .
I depends what You like to do , problem is in many possibilities.
For call few functions i use this class :
https://github.com/turbosqel/as3SupportLib/blob/master/as3SupportLib/src/turbosqel/utils/CountCall.as
You can also use deeper and more elastic way and add next callbacks to function :
var func:Function = function():void { // declare new function
... function body // your class actions
for each(var call:Function in arguments.callee){ // get functions
call(); // call function
}
}
func["someFunction"] = someFunction; // add function as dynamic value
func["otherFunction"] = anotherFunctionToCall; // add another function
func(); // call function

Related

How to make a click run two functions in actionscript 3?

I was wondering if it was possible to call two different functions from one mouse event, like click. I figured it might just be something like:
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function1 && function2);
Unfortunately that doesn't work. Do i need to call a new function that contains those two?
For example
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function3);
function function3(){
function1();
function2();
}
The latter seems very inefficient so i assume there is a way to do it like the prior.
You can either do that or register two Click event handlers, or you could write the function inline (inside the addEventListener) such as
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.Click, function(e:Event):void {
function2();
function3();
}):

AS3 functions replacing

I used to work on AS2 and make games, and now I wanna learn AS3 and have all its nice features (using Flash CS IDE). Now I m trying to rewrite a function to discard it.
function something():void{
//do something
}
function something():void{}
like this. please help or just give some alternatives, thanks.
What you're trying to do is very illogical - a function should be defined once and exist always. Not only that, but it should definitely always behave the same way, especially considering AS3 does not support overloading.
AS3 introduces the OOP paradigm for you to use - this further emphasises the above - you should create classes which define a fixed collection of properties and methods. This way, the intent of each class in your application is clear, and what you expect something to be able to do won't change.
If you absolutely must be able to delete functions, you can assign them to a dynamic object and remove or redefine them with the delete keyword:
var methods:Object = {
something: function():void
{
trace('Still here.');
}
};
methods.something(); // Still here.
delete methods.something;
methods.something(); // TypeError: something is not a function.
methods.something = function():void
{
// Define new function.
}
Or assign an anonymous function to a variable of type Function, from which point you can set the reference to null:
var something:Function = function():void
{
trace("Still here.");
}
something(); // Still here.
something = null;
something(); // TypeError: value is not a function.
something = function():void
{
// Define new function.
}

in AS3, removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME) is not working

I have been dealing with this problem for days already. I am at my wits' end!
I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere on any of the forums, documentation, etc.
Everything looks fine at first run, or when I load a next level for the user to play. But if the user hits the ESC key to load a different level, the ENTER FRAME listener does not get removed and it duplicates all the triggers in it, showing the player going really fast, and all funky, because it builds on top of the previously instantiated ENTER FRAME listener.
I don't know if I have a problem of an anonymous function, or an unknown instance being referenced in my removeEvent... command... Bottom line, I give up and I need this working HELP!!!
Here's the code:
function initPlay():void
{
//code here determining what display object to add to the list and assign it to the currentLevel variable (a movieclip)
if(userIsLoadingOtherLevel){
removeEnterFrameListener();
addChild(currentLevel);
}
if(userIsGointToNextLevel)
addChild(currentLevel);
currentLevel.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onEnterFrame);
function onEnterFrame(event:Event):void
{
//collision detection, parallax scrolling, etc, etc is done here.
if(allCoinsCollected)
loadNextLevel();
if(ESCKeyPressed)
ESCKeyPressHandler();
}
function loadNextLevel():void
{
removeChild(currentLevel);
newLevelToLoad++
removeEnterFrameListener();
initPlay();
}
function ESCKeyPressHandler():void
{
removeChild(currentLevel);
initPlay();
}
function removeEnterFrameListener();
{
currentLevel.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,onEnterFrame)
trace("currentLevel.hasEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME) = "+currentLevel.hasEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME)); //outputs TRUE if called from loadNextLevel but FALSE if called from initPlay() !!!
}
}
I also tried to add and remove the eventListener to stage, MovieClip(Root), or nothing at all and the result is always the same.
I know that there may be other ways to design such a process, but please note I am not really flexible at the moment on doing this because the project is very long (about 4000 lines of code) and removing the ENTER FRAME this way, crazy or not should still work!!
THANK YOU in advance for anyone willing to help.
The problem appears to be the nested functions inside the initPlay() method.
Each time you call initPlay() you are defining new functions. Some of these nested functions call initPlay() themselves.
Functions are objects (memory references). So each time you call initPlay() you are making new references to new functions. So when you try to remove an event listener, you're only able to remove one of these event handlers (the one in the current scope of execution).
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this clearly, perhaps this example will help. I'll use numbers to represent the references to each function, and a simple scenario that is similar to yours:
function example():void
{
addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, mouseClickHandler);
function mouseClickHandler(event:Event):void
{
if (someCondition)
{
example();
}
else
{
removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, mouseClickHandler);
}
}
}
When we run this function the first time, a new function is defined within the scope of the example() function. Lets use the number 1 to represent the reference to this nested function. someCondition is true on the first time around, and so the example() function is called again.
On the second execution of the example() function, a new reference to the mouse event handler is created (#2). We also add the event listener again. At this point, there are two event handling functions in memory, and both will be executed when the event is dispatched.
Let's say that in the second invocation of example() that someCondition is false and now we want to remove the listener. When we call:
removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, mouseClickHandler);
It's referring to event handler #2. Event handler #1 still exists, and because it's hidden in the scope of the first invocation of example() it can't be removed here.
My simple example breaks down after this... but I hope it makes it clear why your event handlers shouldn't be nested inside a function. Admittedly, this is difficult to describe and even more so in a real world example like yours. But I'm pretty confident that this is the source of most, if not all, of the issues you describe.
Here's how I was able to get around this without changing the scope of the nested functions (although I agree that would be the preferred solution) by creating a boolean variable called "loadingNewGame" and changing it to true from outside the onEnterFrame (in fact, this assignment was done from initPlay() and then from onEnterframe I called removeEnterFrameListener() function. This did the trick.
here's the code in case anybody is interested:
// package, and other code here.
var loadingNewGame:Boolean = new Boolean(false);
function initPlay():void
{
//code here determining what display object to add to the list and assign
//it to the currentLevel variable (a movieclip)
if(userIsLoadingOtherLevel)
{
loadingNewGame = true;
removeEnterFrameListener();
addChild(currentLevel);
}
if(userIsGointToNextLevel)
addChild(currentLevel);
loadingNewGame:Boolean = false;
currentLevel.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onEnterFrame);
function onEnterFrame(event:Event):void
{
if(loadingNewGame)
removeChild(currentLevel);
//collision detection, parallax scrolling, etc, etc is done here.
if(allCoinsCollected)
loadNextLevel();
if(ESCKeyPressed)
ESCKeyPressHandler();
}
function loadNextLevel():void
{
removeChild(currentLevel);
newLevelToLoad++
removeEnterFrameListener();
initPlay();
}
function ESCKeyPressHandler():void
{
initPlay();
}
function removeEnterFrameListener();
{
currentLevel.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,onEnterFrame)
trace("currentLevel.hasEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME) = "+currentLevel.hasEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME));
//outputs true
}

Looping DisplayObject animation

I have multiple object doing random movement with random speed. i wanted to repeat the animation.
I tried to use onComplete to restart each object once the animation end, but how could I specifically target it to that object? Currently its overflow
private function lineAnimation (e:DisplayObject):void
{
TweenLite.to (e,randomTime, {x:randomX, onComplete: lineAnimation(e)});
}
When you set a callback for onComplete, you need to just pass the function itself. By setting onComplete: lineAnimation(e), it is executing lineAnimation again over and over. As you need to pass the parameter, you can use an anonymous function for the callback like so:
private function lineAnimation (e:DisplayObject):void
{
TweenLite.to(e, randomTime, {x:randomX, onComplete:function():void {lineAnimation(e)}});
}
Also since you are using TweenLite, you may want to check out TweenMax which has looping built-in so you can do something like so:
TweenMax.to(e, randomTime, {x:randomX, repeat:-1}); // -1 repeats indefinitely

Clearing eventListeners on a FileReference object

I have a strange issue! I am trying to remove an event listener on a FileReference object by calling a function, but it seems not to be removed, and I do not understand why.
Here is the code:
private function clearFileUploadListeners(file:FileReference, index:String):void {
var dispatchEvent:Function = function(event:Event):void {
dispatch(event.type, event, index);
};
file.removeEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, dispatchEvent);
var bool:Boolean = file.hasEventListener(Event.COMPLETE);
if (bool)
trace("ERROR");
}
When I run this code, the trace actually happens. I don't understand why this boolean returns true, when I just tried to remove the eventListener just above! I guess I am probably doing something really stupid because it seems like a strange error.
I hope someone can please help me on this issue.
EDIT:
I believe it has to do with the fact that the dispatchEvent function is defined inside another function when I add the listener:
private function upload(file:FileReference, index:String):void {
var dispatchEvent:Function = function(event:Event):void {
dispatch(event.type, event, index);
};
file.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, dispatchEvent);
}
The problem is that I need to access this "index" variable from the listener, and I can't set it as a global variable as each file has it's own index and it's a burden if I have to extend each event class to keep track of the index (Event, ProgressEvent, ..). I hope someone can please help me on this.
EDIT2:
I actually found a temporary solution, I am not sure if it is the best! I put my removeListener method actually inside the upload method, but made it a variable. As AS3 allows dynamic object, I attached this method to one of my object, and so I just call the reference to the method when necessary. The event is actually removed. Is this a good solution please?
Thank you very much,
Rudy
You're right, it has to do with the fact that you're defining a function inside another function, then using it to handle events.
Each time the function upload is called, it creates a new closure, and assigns a reference to it to the dispatchEvent variable, which is then passed to the addEventListener class. So each time upload is called, it is using a new, different closure in the call to addEventListener. Similarly, in the clearFileUploadListeners function, a new closure is being created on each call (which happens to have the same code each time, but isn't the same function object). The call to removeEventListener does nothing if the given callback has not been added as an event listener for the given event, which is the case here.
To solve your problem, you need to store a reference to the closure that you pass to the addEventListener function. This way, you can get a reference to the same closure that was added when you need to remove it later in clearFileUploadListeners.
You can try something along the lines of the following code (untested):
import flash.utils.Dictionary;
var callbackRegistry:* = new Dictionary();
private function upload(file:FileReference, index:String):void {
var dispatchEvent:Function = generateFileUploadCompleteCallback();
callbackRegistry[file] = dispatchEvent;
file.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, dispatchEvent);
}
private function clearFileUploadListeners(file:FileReference, index:String):void {
var dispatchEvent:Function = callbackRegistry[file];
callbackRegistry[file] = null;
file.removeEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, dispatchEvent);
var bool:Boolean = file.hasEventListener(Event.COMPLETE);
if (bool)
trace("ERROR");
else
trace("YAY, ALL OK!");
}
private function generateFileUploadCompleteCallback(index:String):Function {
return function(event:Event):void {
dispatch(event.type, event, index);
};
}
Two other things to note on this subject.
If you must utilize a native Event directly then you should pretty much always make sure and use these last three optional params :
myObject.addEventListener( Event.COMPLETE, myFunction, false, 0, true );
Check Grant Skinner's post on the subject here :
http://gskinner.com/blog/archives/2006/07/as3_weakly_refe.html
And the very best practice of all is to ALWAYS (seriously always) use Robert Penner's Signals (instead of custom events) and his NativeSignals (to wrap needed native Flash events).
Five times faster than Flash's native events.
Always safe with weak references.
Any number of typed payload(s) in each Signal.
Get the SWC here :
https://github.com/robertpenner/as3-signals
Signals were designed to solve the very problem you are having.
Imagine instead of creating an array and managing that to remove all listeners if you could just call :
signalBtnClicked.removeAll();
or
signalBtnClicked.addOnce( function( e : MouseEvent ) : void { /* do stuff */ } );
Knowing that the closure you just created will immediately be dereferenced once it is called and happily go night night when the GC makes its rounds.