Categories
AS3 AS3 migration Flash

From AS2 to AS3 – Where did it go – random

This is one that I figured out pretty quick.

What has the ActionScript 2.0 Migration to say about this subject:

ActionScript 2.0  ActionScript 3.0  Comments
random() Math.random() Removed. Use Math.random() instead.

I could have seen that coming:

Deprecated since Flash Player 5. This function was deprecated in favor of Math.random().
Returns a random integer between 0 and one less than the integer specified in the value parameter.

Source: as2 help documentation.

I was still using it a in Flash 6 and higher, but now I have to change that habit.

And now we come to an annoying point: if you go to the as3 help documentation you only get an explanation but not a nice piece of example code. I don’t know why they changed that, but I don’t like it.

So this is the explanation from the as3 help for Math.random()

Returns a pseudo-random number n, where 0 <= n < 1. The number returned is calculated in an undisclosed manner, and pseudo-random because the calculation inevitably contains some element of non-randomness.

with some example code from as2 (functionality isn’t changed)

[as]
// The following example outputs 100 random integers between 4 and 11 (inclusively):
function randRange(min:Number, max:Number):Number {
var randomNum:Number = Math.floor(Math.random() * (max – min + 1)) + min;
return randomNum;
}
for (var i = 0; i < 100; i++) { var n:Number = randRange(4, 11) trace(n); } [/as] the way I using it was somewhat simpler then the example

AS 2

There are a couple of ways to do that in ActionScript 2:

Example #1
[as]random(10)+1; // to get a number between 1 and 10 (1 and 10 included)[/as]

AS 3

Lets try this in ActionScript 3:

Example #1
[as]Math.floor(Math.random()*10)+1; // to get a number between 1 and 10 (1 and 10 included)[/as]

Just make a snippet out of it, and you have never to search for this answer…

Categories
AS3 AS3 migration Flash

From AS2 to AS3 – Where did it go – attachSound

Where did attachSound go in AS3?

It’s almost the same as attachMovie (I already covered attachMovie: read attachMovie post)

I was never very good in sound, and I didn’t use it a lot in my applications/animations. That changed with my new job. But for the people that remember attachSound in AS2, this is how its done in AS3…

This post is only handy when you link sound from the library, both AS2 and AS3. Dynamically loaded sound (MP3) is another story.

What has the ActionScript 2.0 Migration to say about this subject:

ActionScript 2.0  ActionScript 3.0  Comments
attachSound() Method Removed Create an instance of a Sound subclass that is associated with sound data; for example, by using new Sound() instead.

And I say again: Removed… wtf? 😉

In AS2 it will work like this:

Categories
AS3 AS3 migration Flash

From AS2 to AS3 – Where did it go – swapDepths

Where did swapDepths () go in AS3?

This is what the ActionScript 2.0 Migration has to say about this:

ActionScript 2.0  ActionScript 3.0  Comments
swapDepths() Method Removed In ActionScript 3.0, you can achieve similar functionality by using the methods of the DisplayObjectContainer class, such as the addChildAt(), setChildIndex(), swapChildren(), and swapChildrenAt() methods.

Removed… bummer, so with what do I replace it with…

In AS2 you can use swapDepths() in two ways:

  • A Number that specifies the depth level where the movie clip is to be placed.
  • An instance name that specifies the movie clip instance whose depth is swapped with the movie clip for which the method is being applied. Both movie clips must have the same parent movie clip.

In the examples there are two movieClips: ‘circle_mc‘ and ‘square_mc‘. Movieclip square_mc is under circle_mc (z-index is lower then circle_mc). And the task is to get square_mc above circle_mc.

AS 2

There are a couple of ways to do that in ActionScript 2:

Example #1
Swap the depth of two movieclips which each other (square_mc will be placed on the depth of circle_mc, and the other way around)
this.square_mc.swapDepths(this.circle_mc);

Example #2
I consider this a hack, but one that works
this.square_mc.swapDepths(1000000);

Example #3
When you want to change the depth of something, this is usually to place it on top:
this.square_mc.swapDepths(this.getNextHighestDepth());

AS 3

Lets try this in ActionScript 3:

Example #1
this.swapChildren(square_mc, circle_mc);
Visit livedocs at the Adobe site for more information and example code
[as]
var square = this.getChildByName (‘square_mc’);
var circle = this.getChildByName (‘circle_mc’);

trace(this.getChildAt(0).name); // square_mc
trace(this.getChildAt(1).name); // circle_mc

this.swapChildren(square as DisplayObject, circle as DisplayObject);

trace(this.getChildAt(0).name); // circle_mc
trace(this.getChildAt(1).name); // square_mc
[/as]

Example #2
not possible anymore… if you want a detailed explanation visit dreaming in Flash blog, and read more about swapDepths() in AS3 (it’s explained with a image)

Example #3
To place a movieclip on the highest depth in actionscript2, we will use MovieClip.getNextHighestDepth,
but in AS3 that function is removed 🙁

In AS3 you need to use numChildren:
this.setChildIndex ( square_mc , this.numChildren - 1 );
Visit livedocs at the Adobe site for more information and example code

I realize that this is not a complete explanation… but I hope this is a starting point to find old function that you used in AS2

Categories
AS3 AS3 migration Flash

From AS2 to AS3 – Where did it go – attachMovie

Where did attachMovie go in AS3?

Once I started using attachMovie instead duplicateMovieClip my AS2 life became a lot easier.

What has the ActionScript 2.0 Migration to say about this subject:

ActionScript 2.0  ActionScript 3.0  Comments
attachMovie() Method Removed In ActionScript 3.0, use addChild() to add child display objects.

Removed… wtf? and you can read the documentation till you are old and gray, but you won’t find a answer there.

In AS2 I know 3 ways to attach a movie to the stage:

Categories
AS3 AS3 migration Flash Open source / Freeware

From AS2 to AS3 – Where did it go – setRGB

Update #1: It seems that .setRGB () has been deprecated in favor of the flash.geom.ColorTransform class. So a little as2 update.

In some cases I can’t help thinking that AS3 hasn’t made our live easier.
The same happened with the change that happened from the AS2 setRGB to AS3.

Specifies an RGB color for a Color object.

setRGB

This is what the ActionScript 2.0 Migration has to say about this:

ActionScript 2.0 ActionScript 3.0 Comments
setRGB() Method flash.geom.ColorTransform.color The RGB color value can be set by using the color accessor property of the ColorTransform class.

ActionScript 2 example code:
[as]
// AS2 Code
var my_color:Color = new Color(my_mc);
my_color.setRGB(0xFF0000); // my_mc turns red
[/as]

Another AS2 example because: “The Color class has been deprecated in favor of the flash.geom.ColorTransform class.”
[as]
// AS2 Code (The Color class has been deprecated in favor of the flash.geom.ColorTransform class.)
import flash.geom.ColorTransform;

var colorTrans:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
colorTrans.rgb = 0xFF0000;
var trans:Transform = new Transform( my_mc);
trans.colorTransform = colorTrans;[/as]

and the same code in ActionScript 3:
[as]
// AS3 code
import flash.geom.ColorTransform;

// Changes my_mc’s color to red.
var newColorTransform:ColorTransform = my_mc.transform.colorTransform;
newColorTransform.color = 0xff0000;
my_mc.transform.colorTransform = newColorTransform;
[/as]

More code to write, for something that I don’t use very much. The next time I need to change an Objects color I probably need to search the solution on the web…

No, I going to fix this in a neat little package:
Save this file into: ‘nl.matthijskamstra.utils’
[as]
/**
* Color (AS3), version 1.0
*
* Enter description here
*
*

*  ____                   _      ____ 
* |  __| _ __ ___    ___ | | __ |__  |
* | |   | '_ ` _ \  / __|| |/ /    | |
* | |   | | | | | || (__ |   <     | |
* | |__ |_| |_| |_| \___||_|\_\  __| |
* |____|                        |____|
* 
* 

*
* @class : Color
* @author : Matthijs C. Kamstra [mck]
* @version : 1.0 - class creation (AS3)
* @since : 11-5-2008 0:22
*
*/
package nl.matthijskamstra.utils {

import flash.display.*;
import flash.events.*;
import flash.geom.ColorTransform;

public class Color {

// Constants:
public static var CLASS_REF = nl.matthijskamstra.utils.Color;
public static var CLASS_NAME : String = "Color";
public static var LINKAGE_ID : String = "nl.matthijskamstra.utils.Color";

/**
* Constructor
*
* @usage import nl.matthijskamstra.utils.Color; // import
* var __Color:Color = new Color ( this );
* @param $targetObj a reference to a movie clip or object
*/
public function Color( $targetObj:DisplayObject=null, $colorValue:uint = 0xff3333) {
// trace ( LINKAGE_ID + ' class instantiated');
if ($targetObj == null) { return; }
var newColorTransform:ColorTransform = $targetObj.transform.colorTransform;
newColorTransform.color = $colorValue;
$targetObj.transform.colorTransform = newColorTransform;
}

//////////////////////////////////////// Static ///////////////////////////////////////

static public function setRGB( $targetObj:DisplayObject = null, $colorValue:uint = 0xff3333) {
return new Color ( $targetObj, $colorValue);
}

} // end class

} // end package
[/as]

And now I hope you will never have to look for it again
Happy AS3 😉

Categories
Flash Improvement Misc Urban papercraft

Separate RSS feeds Papercraft and Flash

Because I talk about two topics on my blog that have absolutely nothing to do with each other I created (well, WordPress provided it) two separate RSS feeds for Urban papercraft and Flash.

Custom RSS Links

Categories
AS3 AS3 migration Flash

From AS2 to AS3 – Where did it go – onRelease

Last year I started working with AS3, and after having some startup problems, I’ve made my first application in it (not online yet).
The strange thing is, I started a new project and when I had to make a button from a movieclip, I immediately wrote it in AS2… 🙁

That AS2 is embedded deep into my brain and probably more people have this problem.
So I started this series of post about the stuff that’s changed in from AS2 to AS3.

I will probably regurgitate what other people already wrote something about, but it’s my “travel” trough AS3 land.

onRelease

One of things I use in every application that I build is onRelease.

This is what the ActionScript 2.0 Migration has to say about this:

ActionScript 2.0 ActionScript 3.0 Comments
onRelease() EventHandler flash.display.InteractiveObject dispatches event: mouseUp Replaced in the new event model by a mouseUp event.

In AS2 I know 3 ways to use it:

Categories
AS3 Flash

AS3 – take one step at a time: step 1a

I’ve made a mistake, the code I original wrote doesn’t work (I’m glad nobody noticed it 😉 ). You can find the correct class here

My previous post is about my first step into ActionScript 3 (AS3) and in my case: trail and error is the best way to learn stuff.

But it takes some time to find out and sometimes it’s nice to have some help.

I found some help to fix this in the future : Patrick Mineault at 5 1/2 blog has created a AS2 to AS3 converter which you can test here and download here.

There is a web form to paste your code into and it will return your converted AS3 code (check it here).
There is also an command line exe in the zip file
I’m not very good at command line, so for your (and mine) convenience I will explain how to get the exe to work with a .BAT file (I work on a PC so the example only works on PC).

Download the zip file and extract it somewhere on your computer. In my case C:\tmp\convert
I’ve created to folders in the convert folder
C:\tmp\convert\input
C:\tmp\convert\output

and in the input folder I copied all the classes I’ve ever written.

Now create a file with a .BAT extension (in my case convert.bat) and it doesn’t matter where you put it, but I put it next to the convertas2as3.exe in C:\tmp\convert folder.

Open the file you just created and paste this in there:

pause
C:\tmp\convert\convertas2as3.exe -input "C:\tmp\convert\input" -output "C:\tmp\convert\output"

or adjust the path to the files you want to convert
save the file and open the .BAT file (in my case convert.bat) and all your classes you ever have written are converted to AS3…

Well as good as it get’s: it’s not 100 percent converted to AS3 but it helps you with most of your code, and helps you on your way to find the correct code.

example
take the code I translated in the previous post but now in a class file:

class nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile
{
	/**
	* Constructor 
	* To access and manipulate information about the boundaries of a SWF file.
	*/
	public function ConfigFile ()
	{
		// trace ("set flash to 'browser'-mode");
		_root._quality = "BEST";
		Stage.scaleMode = "noScale";
		Stage.showMenu = false;
		Stage.align = "TL";
	}
	/**
	* static function config.... same as above
	*
	* @usage   nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile.config ();
	*/
	static function config () : Void
	{
		var temp = new nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile ();
	}
}

and put it through the AS2 to AS3 online converter will become:

package  { 
class nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile
	import flash.ui.ContextMenu;
	import flash.display.Stage;
	{
		/**
		* Constructor 
		* To access and manipulate information about the boundaries of a SWF file.
		*/
		public function ConfigFile ()
		{
			// trace ("set flash to 'browser'-mode");
			_root._quality = "BEST";
			Stage.scaleMode = "noScale";
			Stage.showDefaultContextMenu = false;
			stage.align = "TL";
		}
		/**
		* static function config.... same as above
		*
		* @usage   nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile.config ();
		*/
		static public function config () : void
		{
			var temp = new nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile ();
		}
	}
	
}

this will not work without errors but will help you convert your AS2 code to AS3

package nl.matthijskamstra.config {

	import flash.display.MovieClip;	
	import flash.display.Stage;
	import flash.display.StageQuality;

	public class ConfigFile extends MovieClip {
		/**
		* Constructor 
		* To access and manipulate information about the boundaries of a SWF file.
		*/
		public function ConfigFile () {
			trace ('ConfigFile ')
			stage.quality = StageQuality.BEST;
			stage.scaleMode = "noScale";
			stage.showDefaultContextMenu = false;
			stage.align = "TL";
		}
		/**
		* static function config.... same as above
		*
		* @usage   nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile.config ();
		*/
		static public function config () : void
		{
			var temp = new nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile ();
		}		
	}

	
}

The config class that works!
package nl.matthijskamstra.config {
	
	import flash.display.MovieClip;	
	import flash.display.StageQuality;

	public class ConfigFile extends MovieClip {
		
		// Constants:
		public static var CLASS_REF = nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile;
		public static var CLASS_NAME : String = "ConfigFile";
		public static var LINKAGE_ID : String = "nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile";
		
		/**
		* Constructor
		* 
		* @usage   	import nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile; // import
		*			var __ConfigFile__ : ConfigFile = new ConfigFile ( this );
		* @param	$target_mc		a reference to a movie clip or object
		*/
		public function ConfigFile( $target_mc:MovieClip = null ) {
			// trace ( '+ ' + LINKAGE_ID + ' class instantiated');
			$target_mc.stage.quality = StageQuality.BEST;
			$target_mc.stage.scaleMode = "noScale";
			$target_mc.stage.showDefaultContextMenu = false;
			$target_mc.stage.align = "TL";
		}
		
		/**
		* static function config.... same as above
		*
		* @usage  	nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile.config(this);
		* 			ConfigFile.config (this);
		* @param	$target_mc		a reference to a movie clip or object	
		*/
		static public function config ($target_mc:MovieClip ) : void {
			var __config = new nl.matthijskamstra.config.ConfigFile ($target_mc);
		}
		
	} // end class
	
} // end package

I’m sorry for adding to the confusion which happens when you learn ActionScript 3!
The Stage class is a difficult change from AS2 to AS3, when I have some time I will explain.

Categories
AS3 Flash

AS3 – take one step at a time: step 1

I finally started programming with ActionScript 3 (AS3); I know, I not a early adopter… 😉

And the first steps in AS3 are as uncomfortable as the first time I started OOP programming … or when I started moved from AS1 to AS2…

Since I started working for NOISE 5 months ago and moved to Amsterdam, I haven’t had time to do learn AS3.
That luckily has changed 🙂 and I started learning the basics.

And the first obstacle I ran into was something very simple: I always use a basic document (FLA) with default library items, some layers I always use and some ActionScript code to align the stage:

_root._quality = "BEST";
Stage.scaleMode = "noScale";
Stage.showMenu = false;
Stage.align = "TL";
stop ();

I have this also in a class (AS2), so I thought it would be useful to rewrite this class in AS3.
and I wanted to use this in my new as3 files too… (remember that this is the first thing a tried)

First you need to create a document class:

Document Class
And in my case my document class was: ‘Main’


package  {

	public class Main {
		
		public function Main() {
			trace ('Main')			
		}
		
	}
	
}

(package generated by FlashDevelop)

Code didn’t pass; I got a Compiler Error:
5000: The class 'Main' must subclass 'flash.display.MovieClip' since it is linked to a library symbol of that type.


package  {

	public class Main extends MovieClip {
		
		public function Main() {
			trace ('Main')			
		}
		
	}
	
}

I got some new errors:

  1. 1017: The definition of base class MovieClip was not found.
  2. 5000: The class ‘Main’ must subclass ‘flash.display.MovieClip’ since it is linked to a library symbol of that type.

So I added import flash.display.MovieClip;


package  {

	import flash.display.MovieClip;
	
	public class Main extends MovieClip {
		
		public function Main() {
			trace ('Main')
		}
		
	}
	
}

Ahhh and now we can get the stage to work with my ‘old code’, let’s paste it into the new document:


package  {

	import flash.display.MovieClip;
	
	public class Main extends MovieClip {
		
		public function Main() {
			trace ('Main')
			_root._quality = "BEST";
			Stage.scaleMode = "noScale";
			Stage.showMenu = false;
			Stage.align = "TL";
			
		}
		
	}
	
}

Auw: both _root and Stage doesn’t excited no more: I got an migration error


package  {

	import flash.display.MovieClip;	
	import flash.display.Stage;
	import flash.display.StageQuality;
	
	public class Main extends MovieClip {
		
		public function Main() {
			trace ('Main')
			stage.quality = StageQuality.BEST;
			stage.scaleMode = "noScale";
			stage.showDefaultContextMenu = false;
			stage.align = "TL";
		}
		
	}
	
}

And at last it works…
The only thing now to do, is to put it in the correct package.