Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Design > Adobe Creative Suite

Like this article? We recommend

Building an Application with Components

Flash MX 2004 components can do more than single functions and look pretty on the page. You can create applications by combining them together.

The following exercise demonstrates how you can mix components to build a simple Menu Bar driven solution. To complete this exercise in its entirety, you need to be using Flash MX 2004 Professional.

The application you build is constructed completely with ActionScript; you don't add any content to the Stage. You see how this can give you unparalleled control over your components display.

  1. Let's begin. Create a new movie in Flash MX 2004. Save the movie as myComponents.fla.

  2. Before you begin creating your ActionScript code, you need to add some elements to the Library. The Library has a feature in it called Linkage that allows you to add a special name to a Library item. The Linkage name can then be called by ActionScript. All components have default Linkage names, which happen to be the names of the components. Drag onto the Stage the Alert, Button, DateChooser, Label, MenuBar, TextArea, and Window components. Adding a component to the Stage adds the component to your Library. You don't actually need the components on the Stage, so you can delete them immediately. If you open your Library, you see that all the components you dragged onto the Stage are still there.

  3. Movie clips can also have Linkage names that can be called from your ActionScript. From the Library panel, select the New Symbol icon in the bottom-left corner. Select the movie clip behavior and name the clip sample. Select the Advanced button to expand the Symbol Properties window. Select the Export for ActionScript check box. Add the identifier name sample and click OK. This creates a new movie clip called Sample with a Linkage of sample. Flash MX 2004 is now in Edit mode for the sample movie clip. Select the Text tool and type Sample onscreen. Reposition the text to 10,10.

  4. Move back to the main movie. You should still not have anything on the Stage. In the Timeline, you have a default layer called Layer 1. Select Frame 1 of this layer and open the Actions Panel. All the ActionScript is now added to this layer.

  5. The first thing you need to do in ActionScript is import the class properties of each of the components you added to the Library. You have several types of components (controls, containers, and managers). You need to double-check with the Help files to make sure you are referencing the correct component type when you use additional components. You can import the components in the Library with the following ActionScript:

  6. import mx.controls.Alert;
    import mx.controls.Button;
    import mx.controls.MenuBar;
    import mx.containers.Window;
    import mx.managers.PopUpManager;
    import mx.controls.TextArea;
    import mx.controls.Label;
    import mx.controls.DateChooser;
  7. Now that the components are imported, you can begin to control them. Start by dynamically creating a MenuBar component:

  8. createClassObject(MenuBar, "myMenuBar", 2);
    myMenuBar.move(0, 0);
    myMenuBar.setSize(550, 22);

    createClassObject identifies which component you are using, the unique name you are giving the component, and the level on the Stage where the component will be positioned. After a name has been given to a component, you can reference the component with ActionScript as if it were a named movie clip. Here, you can see that the component is using the new move property that repositions an object along the X and Y axes. The setSize method resizes the MenuBar component.

  9. Preview your movie and you see a menu. Now, you need to add some menu titles. The MenuBar is called myMenuBar. Using the MenuBar addMenu property, you can add additional menu title titles to myMenuBar with the following ActionScript:

  10. var menuItemFile = myMenuBar.addMenu("File");
    var menuItemEdit = myMenuBar.addMenu("Edit");
    var menuItemSpecial = myMenuBar.addMenu("Welcome Message");
    var menuItemWindow = myMenuBar.addMenu("Window");
    var menuItemHelp = myMenuBar.addMenu("Help");
  11. A MenuBar is of no use if you can't add menu items to it. In the above ActionScript, you created a variable for each MenuBar title. By referencing the MenuBar title variables, you can create menu items:

  12. menuItemFile.addMenuItem({label:"Detection", 
    instanceName:"traceInstance"});
    menuItemFile.addMenuItem({label:"Another Detection", 
    instanceName:"testInstance"});
    menuItemEdit.addMenuItem({label:"Open A Calendar", 
    instanceName:"openCalInstance"});
    menuItemEdit.addMenuItem({label:"Close A Calendar", 
    instanceName:"closeCalInstance"});
    menuItemSpecial.addMenuItem({label:"Welcome", 
    instanceName:"welcomeInstance"});
    menuItemWindow.addMenuItem({label:"What's New", 
    instanceName:"whatIsNewInstance"});
    menuItemWindow.addMenuItem({label:"About Us", 
    instanceName:"aboutInstance"});
    menuItemWindow.addMenuItem({label:"Got to the Web", 
    instanceName:"webInstance"});
    menuItemHelp.addMenuItem({label:"Help", instanceName:"helpInstance"});
    menuItemHelp.addMenuItem({label:"ActionsScript Help", 
    instanceName:"scriptInstance"});
  13. At this point, you can preview your movie and select menu items. They don't do much at this point. To make your MenuBar interactive, you need to use the Listener object. A Listener works with a movie clip, such as component, to track certain types of events. There are two parts to a Listener. You need to define a Listener object and what it will do when the listener is triggered. Next, you need to associate the listener with a movie clip or component. The following ActionScript creates both the Listener object and then attaches it to the MenuBar.

  14. var fileListen = new Object();
    fileListen.change = function(evt) {
      var menu = evt.menu;
      var item = evt.menuItem;
      switch (item) {
      case menu.traceInstance :
       trace(item);
       trace("this tested true");
       break;
      case menu.testInstance :
       trace(item);
       trace("this also worked");
       break;
      case menu.openCalInstance :
       createClassObject(DateChooser, "myCalendar", 3);
       flightCalendar.move(50, 50);
       break;
      case menu.closeCalInstance :
       destroyObject("myCalendar");
       break;
      case menu.welcomeInstance :
       createClassObject(TextArea, "welcomeTextArea", 3);
       welcomeTextArea.move(50, 50);
       welcomeTextArea.setSize(340, 110);
       welcomeTextArea.html = true;
       welcomeTextArea.text = " <font face=\"Arial, Helvetica, sans-
    serif\" color=\"#999999\">Welcome to the <b>Flash</b> MenuBar 
    Control.</font>";
       createClassObject(Button, "myWelcomeButton", 4);
       myWelcomeButton.label = "Close";
       myWelcomeButton.move(170, 170);
       myWelcomeListener = new Object();
       myWelcomeListener.click = function() {
         destroyObject("welcomeTextArea");
         destroyObject("myWelcomeButton");
       };
       myWelcomeButton.addEventListener("click", myWelcomeListener);
       break;
      case menu.whatIsNewInstance :
       myWindow = PopUpManager.createPopUp(_root, Window, true, 
    {title:"What's New", contentPath:"sample", closeButton:true});
       myWindow.setSize(340, 110);
       myWindow.move(50, 50);
       myWindowListener = new Object();
       myWindowListener.click = function() {
         myWindow.deletePopUp();
       };
       myWindow.addEventListener("click", myWindowListener);
       break;
      case menu.aboutInstance :
       aboutWindow = PopUpManager.createPopUp(_root, Window, true, 
    {title:"About Us", contentPath:"sample", closeButton:true});
       aboutWindow.setSize(340, 110);
       aboutWindow.move(50, 50);
       aboutWindow.setStyle("borderStyle", "inset");
       aboutWindow.setStyle("themeColor", "haloOrange");
       aboutWindowListener = new Object();
       aboutWindowListener.click = function() {
         aboutWindow.deletePopUp();
       };
       aboutWindow.addEventListener("click", aboutWindowListener);
       break;
      case menu.webInstance :
       getURL("http://www.news.com", "_new");
       break;
      case menu.helpInstance :
       Alert.show("There is no help at the moment");
       break;
      case menu.scriptInstance :
       var myAlert = Alert.show("There is no ActionScript Help", "Sorry, 
    no help", Alert.OK | Alert.CANCEL);
       myAlert.setStyle("borderStyle", "inset");
       myAlert.setStyle("themeColor", "haloOrange");
       myAlert.setSize(340, 110);
       break;
      default :
       trace("no case tested true");
      }
    };
    //
    // Attach listeners to menuBar buttons
    //
    menuItemFile.addEventListener("change", fileListen);
    menuItemEdit.addEventListener("change", fileListen);
    menuItemSpecial.addEventListener("change", fileListen);
    menuItemWindow.addEventListener("change", fileListen);
    menuItemHelp.addEventListener("change", fileListen);
  15. There's a lot happening here, so I will break it down. To begin with, you need to create a new Listener object named fileListen. The change action is being associated with the listener, which lets you check when something changes. You then create a function that looks to find the name of the MenuBar item. When a name is identified, a series of actions can be associated.

  16. The first two case values in the Switch statement print a response to the Output window using the Trace statement:

  17. case menu.traceInstance :
       trace(item);
       trace("this tested true");
       break;
    case menu.testInstance :
       trace(item);
       trace("this also worked");
       break;
  18. If you preview your movie, you see that these two statements print the item definition (you see that Flash uses XML statements to define the location of the MenuBar item).

  19. Additional components can be opened and closed from the MenuBar. The following ActionScript calls the DateChooser component, gives it the name myCalendar, and places it into level 3 on the stage.

  20.   case menu.openCalInstance :
       createClassObject(DateChooser, "myCalendar", 3);
       flightCalendar.move(50, 50);
       break;
  21. A component can also be closed through using the destroyObject property, which is done with the following ActionScript:

  22.   case menu.closeCalInstance :
       destroyObject("myCalendar");
       break;
  23. To make things more interesting (or more complex), you can have the MenuBar call additional components, populate the components with content, and have the new components close themselves. That can be seen with the following ActionScript that dynamically creates a TextArea component, populates the TextArea with a HTML-formatted text message, and adds a Button component. When the Button is selected, both the Button and TextArea are destroyed.

  24.   case menu.welcomeInstance :
       createClassObject(TextArea, "welcomeTextArea", 3);
       welcomeTextArea.move(50, 50);
       welcomeTextArea.setSize(340, 110);
       welcomeTextArea.html = true;
       welcomeTextArea.text = " <font face=\"Arial, Helvetica, 
     sans-serif\" color=\"#999999\">Welcome to the <b>Flash</b> 
    MenuBar Control.</font>";
       createClassObject(Button, "myWelcomeButton", 4);
       myWelcomeButton.label = "Close";
       myWelcomeButton.move(170, 170);
       myWelcomeListener = new Object();
       myWelcomeListener.click = function() {
         destroyObject("welcomeTextArea");
         destroyObject("myWelcomeButton");
       };
       myWelcomeButton.addEventListener("click", myWelcomeListener);
       break;
  25. The Window component, which inherits the PopUp Manager component to the Library, can also be added to the ActionScript. Here, you see that you are adding the sample movie clip you created to populate the dynamic Window component:

  26.   case menu.whatIsNewInstance :
       myWindow = PopUpManager.createPopUp(_root, Window, true, 
    {title:"What's New", contentPath:"sample", closeButton:true});
       myWindow.setSize(340, 110);
       myWindow.move(50, 50);
       myWindowListener = new Object();
       myWindowListener.click = function() {
         myWindow.deletePopUp();
       };
       myWindow.addEventListener("click", myWindowListener);
       break;
      case menu.aboutInstance :
       aboutWindow = PopUpManager.createPopUp(_root, Window, true, 
    {title:"About Us", contentPath:"sample", closeButton:true});
       aboutWindow.setSize(340, 110);
       aboutWindow.move(50, 50);
       aboutWindow.setStyle("borderStyle", "inset");
       aboutWindow.setStyle("themeColor", "haloOrange");
       aboutWindowListener = new Object();
       aboutWindowListener.click = function() {
         aboutWindow.deletePopUp();
       };
       aboutWindow.addEventListener("click", aboutWindowListener);
       break;
  27. Traditional ActionScript commands, such as getURL, can also be added to the MenuBar listener. The following statement is perfectly legal:

  28.   case menu.webInstance :
       getURL("http://www.news.com", "_new");
       break;
  29. Finally, you can add Alert components with different styles and content:

  30.   case menu.helpInstance :
       Alert.show("There is no help at the moment");
       break;
      case menu.scriptInstance :
      var myAlert = Alert.show("There is no ActionScript Help",
     "Sorry, no help", Alert.OK | Alert.CANCEL);
       myAlert.setStyle("borderStyle", "inset");
       myAlert.setStyle("themeColor", "haloOrange");
       myAlert.setSize(340, 110);
       break;
  31. The listeners at the end of your ActionScript track which menu item you select. This in turn triggers an event.

  32. Preview your movie. You now have the foundation for a fully functional application.

As you can see from this article, components are extremely useful. The uses keep on increasing. Today, Flash MX 2004 Professional ships with 33 components. Here, you have created an application with only eight components. Your final file size only 77Kb. You can find a lot of additional information on components within the Help panel for Flash MX 2004. Now you can construct applications and bind them together with ActionScript.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020