Overview

In This Chapter

Describing interactive problems

Speaking the ActionScript language

Understanding the value of variables

Working with conditionals

For many serious Web developers, Flash's enhanced programming capabilities are the most important new feature of each product release. Just when you think they've added it all, the Macromedia Flash team manages to pull more rabbits out of the hat. Now, more than ever, elements inside Flash movies can be dynamic, have properties calculated on the fly, and respond to user input. Movies can communicate with server-side applications and scripts by sending and receiving processed and raw data. What does this mean for your movies? It means you have the capability to produce truly advanced movies (such as online secure banking applications, product configurators, hotel reservation systems, Flash asteroids, a multiplayer role playing adventure game, or a navigational interface with a memory of the user's moves, just to name a few). It also means that Flash can be used to produce complex Web applications, such as database-driven e-commerce product catalogs, without the need for proprietary server-side applications.

While many of the individual actions have not changed in Flash 8, the structure of ActionScript programming continues to evolve around the ActionScript 2.0 version specification. ActionScript 2.0 is also known as AS2, and we use this abbreviation throughout the book. AS2 programming, introduced in Flash MX 2004, jumped Flash coding to a whole new level — one that adheres more closely to ECMAScript Edition 4-compliant standards. The Actions panel, now in its fourth version, only becomes more efficient at helping you code. Components continue to use the ActionScript 2.0 model, using complex event handling, and make it simpler for you to add interface elements and integrate data into your Flash projects. Flash 8 continues to push the advancement of Rich Internet Applications, or RIAs, which bring a new world of real-time data and ease of use to the Web. These topics, however, are far beyond the scope of motion tweens and animations. In this chapter, we'll introduce you to the programming structure of ActionScript and explain how to start using code within your Flash movies.