Refactoring AS3 automatic game loop into controlled one - actionscript-3

Question

I need to take control of how my base game class updates:
package
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.KeyboardEvent;
public class Test extends Sprite
{
private var sprite:Sprite;
public function Test()
{
sprite = new Sprite();
sprite.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000, 1);
sprite.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, 20, 20);
sprite.graphics.endFill();
addChild(sprite);
this.stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP,
moveSprite);
this.stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN,
moveSprite);
}
private function moveSprite(keyEvent:KeyboardEvent):void
{
switch (keyEvent.keyCode)
{
case 37:
sprite.x--
break;
case 38:
sprite.y--;
break;
case 39:
sprite.x++
break;
case 40:
sprite.y++;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}
}
Here after every key press/release AS3 takes care of automatically drawing a sprite onto screen, but I need to do this manualy. Haw to get my hands on updating mechanism here? I need something like this - all time repeating game loop that is set to be updated/redrawn every time at its end. Are there any ideas how could I achieve this?
Thanks everyone for help.

Answer 1

You could convert this into a MovieClip which has a timeline, then update the animation as you wish on Event.ENTER_FRAME.
package
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.KeyboardEvent;
import flash.events.Event;
public class Test extends MovieClip
{
private var sprite:Sprite;
public function Test()
{
sprite = new Sprite();
sprite.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000, 1);
sprite.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, 20, 20);
sprite.graphics.endFill();
addChild(sprite);
this.stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP,
moveSprite);
this.stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN,
moveSprite);
this.stage.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,
moveSpriteRight);
}
private function moveSprite(keyEvent:KeyboardEvent):void
{
switch (keyEvent.keyCode)
{
case 37:
sprite.x--
break;
case 38:
sprite.y--;
break;
case 39:
sprite.x++
break;
case 40:
sprite.y++;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
private function moveSpriteRight(e:Event):void
{
sprite.x++;
}
}
}

Answer 2

You can also use a Timer loop for these sorts of things:
package
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.utils.Timer;
import flash.events.TimerEvent;
public class Game
{
private var _timerTickRate : int = 500; //milliseconds
private var _timer : Timer;
public function Game()
{
init();
}
private function init() : void
{
_timer = new Timer( _timerTickRate );
_timer.addEventListener( TimerEvent.TIMER, onTimerTick );
_timer.start(); //to stop, call _timer.stop() and remove this listener
}
private function onTimerTick( event : TimerEvent ) : void
{
//do game loop stuff here.
}
}
}