as3 operator= /(object assign ) - actionscript-3

Question

I know that AS3 does not have pointer or reference. Every object is pass by reference already. (I supposed?)
What should I do if I want to do with pointer?
e.g. all object point to one target, I only need to change target's value, then all other object will access different value.

Answer 1

You can effectively get the same behavior by using a helper object to simulate a pointer -- in other words using it to carry the target reference. For instance:
public class PseudoPointer
{
private var obj:Object;
private var prop:String;
public function PseudoPointer(obj:Object, prop:String)
{
// Point to property with name 'prop' on object 'obj'.
this.obj = obj;
this.prop = prop;
}
public function get value():* {
return obj[prop];
}
public function set value(value:*):void {
obj[prop] = value;
}
}
Then you could do this -- assume there's a magicNumber property on an object named target:
var numberPtr = new PseudoPointer(target, "magicNumber");
myDynamicObjectA.numberPtr = numberPtr;
myDynamicObjectB.numberPtr = numberPtr;
myDynamicObjectC.numberPtr = numberPtr;
Now any object that has a reference to the pseudo-pointer can read and write the target property:
numberPtr.value = 42;

Answer 2

You could create a function and in which you give it the value and then subsequently assign it to all of those other variables.
Something like below:
var objectA:Number;
var objectB:Number;
...
function myFunction(newValue:Number):void
{
objectA = newValue;
objectB = newValue;
...
}

Answer 3

You could try setting a variable reference to a function. Then if you update that reference, it would return a different function.
var myFunc:Function;
function funcOne():int {
return 1;
}
function funcTwo():int {
return 2;
}
function getFunc():Function {
return myFunc;
}
myFunc = funcOne;
var myObjOne:Object = new Object();
myObjOne.objFunc = getFunc;
var myObjTwo:Object = new Object();
myObjTwo.objFunc = getFunc;
trace(myObjOne.objFunc.call().call()); // 1
trace(myObjTwo.objFunc.call().call()); // 1
myFunc = funcTwo;
trace(myObjOne.objFunc.call().call()); // 2
trace(myObjTwo.objFunc.call().call()); // 2
This allows any object to point at a single function and have what that returns be updateable for all of them simultaneously. It's not the prettiest code and it's not as type-safe as if ActionScript had delegates to enforce the signatures of what's set for myFunc, but it is still a pretty flexible model if you get creative with it.

Answer 4

Have those pointers point to something that contains the object or has the object as a property on it.
So
var myArr:Array = [new YourObject()];
var client1:ArrayClient = new ArrayClient();
client1.array = myArr;
var client2:ArrayClient = new ArrayClient();
client2.array = myArr;
myArr[0] = new YourObject();
//client1.array[0]==client2.array[0]==the new object
However, this seems to be a great way to get yourself into a lot of trouble really quickly. What's the use case?