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…