User manual MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING ACTIONSCRIPT IN FLASH

[. . . ] Using ActionScript in Flash Trademarks Add Life to the Web, Afterburner, Aftershock, Andromedia, Allaire, Animation PowerPack, Aria, Attain, Authorware, Authorware Star, Backstage, Bright Tiger, Clustercats, ColdFusion, Contribute, Design In Motion, Director, Dream Templates, Dreamweaver, Drumbeat 2000, EDJE, EJIPT, Extreme 3D, Fireworks, Flash, Flash Lite, Flex, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite, JFusion, JRun, Kawa, Know Your Site, Knowledge Objects, Knowledge Stream, Knowledge Track, LikeMinds, Lingo, Live Effects, MacRecorder Logo and Design, Macromedia, Macromedia Action!, Macromedia Breeze, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia M Logo and Design, Macromedia Spectra, Macromedia xRes Logo and Design, MacroModel, Made with Macromedia, Made with Macromedia Logo and Design, MAGIC Logo and Design, Mediamaker, Movie Critic, Open Sesame!, Roundtrip, Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, Sitespring, SoundEdit, Titlemaker, UltraDev, Web Design 101, what the web can be, and Xtra are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words, or phrases mentioned within this publication may be trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally. [. . . ] If you change the value of a variable on the Variables tab, you can see the change reflected in the SWF file while it runs. For example, to test collision detection in a game, you can enter the variable value to position a ball in the correct location next to a wall. The Locals tab in the Debugger shows the names and values of any local variables that are available in the line of ActionScript where the SWF file is currently stopped, at a breakpoint or anywhere else within a user-defined function. To display a variable: 1. Select the movie clip containing the variable from the display list. To display global variables, select the _global clip in the display list. 2. Click the Variables tab. The display list updates automatically as the SWF file plays. If a movie clip is removed from the SWF file at a specific frame, that movie clip, along with its variable and variable name, is also removed from the display list in the Debugger. However, if you mark a variable for the Watch list (see "Using the Watch list" on page 158), the variable is removed from the Variables tab, but can still be viewed in the Watch tab. To modify a variable value: · Double-click the value, and enter a new value. www. macromedia. com", false). Note: To write the value of an expression to the Output panel in test mode, use the trace statement. See "Using the trace statement" on page 165. The value cannot be an expression. For example, you can use "Hello", 3523, or "http:// and you cannot use x + 2 or eval("name:" +i). The value can be a string (any value surrounded by quotation marks [""]), a number, or a Boolean value (true or Debugging your scripts 157 Using the Watch list To monitor a set of critical variables in a manageable way, you can mark variables to appear in the Watch list. The Watch list shows the absolute path to the variable and the value. You can also enter a new variable value in the Watch list the same way as in the Variables tab. The Watch list can show only variables and properties that can be accessed by using an absolute target path, such as _global, _root. If you add a local variable to the Watch list, its value appears only when Flash Player is stopped at a line of ActionScript where that variable is in scope. All other variables appear while the SWF file is playing. If the Debugger can't find the value of the variable, the value is listed as undefined. The Watch list can show only variables, not properties or functions. Variables marked for the Watch list and variables in the Watch list To add variables to the Watch list: Do one of the following: · On the Variables or Locals tab, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) a selected variable and then select Watch from the context menu. A blue dot appears next to the variable. · On the Watch tab, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) and select Add from the context menu. Double-click in the name column, and enter the target path to the variable name in the field. To remove variables from the Watch list: · On the Watch tab, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) and select Remove from the context menu. Displaying movie clip properties and changing editable properties The Debugger's Properties tab shows all the property values of any movie clip on the Stage. You can change a value and see its effect in the SWF file while it runs. [. . . ] In almost all cases, the function call operator (()) can be used instead of the call() method. The function call operator creates code that is concise and readable. The call() method is primarily useful when the this parameter of the function invocation needs to be explicitly controlled. Normally, if a function is invoked as a method of an object, within the body of the function, this is set to myObject, as shown in the following example: myObject. myMethod(1, 2, 3); In some situations, you might want this to point somewhere else; for instance, if a function must be invoked as a method of an object but is not actually stored as a method of that object, as shown in the following example: myObject. myMethod. call(myOtherObject, 1, 2, 3); You can pass the value null for the thisObject parameter to invoke a function as a regular function and not as a method of an object. [. . . ]