Apr 22, 2009
Flash 8 has delivered the ability to do simple searches for node names and attribute values in an XML file with its new XPathAPI class. Kris Hadlock shows how to use the XPathAPI in Flash 8 to simplify and give power to your XML parsing. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
Kris Hadlock explores the use of the ExternalInterface class in Flash 8. With ExternalInterface, you can build robust object-oriented Flash applications that can be connected to the outside world and tied to databases and other server-side processes. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
Flash has long lacked the ability to upload files, a standard function in programming languages. Kris Hadlock cheers the addition of the FileReference object in Flash 8; by combining a bit of ActionScript and PHP, it's now quite simple to create a Flash file-uploading GUI. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
All Web designers know that stylesheets create a consistent look throughout your web site and keep your code clean at the same time. However, when it comes to Flash, these useful tools are often overlooked. For example, did you know that with stylesheets you can deploy your Flash movie and later change styles without republishing the movie? This week in the Web Design Reference Guide, I show you how to create a simple stylesheet, load it using ActionScript 3, and use it to style dynamic text in a Flash movie. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
Animation is fundamental to Flash. It's the reason that Flash gained so much popularity in its early days. ActionScript 1 didn't have any animation support, but ActionScript 2 brought power to developers who wanted to add animation to dynamic content with the Tween object. However, ActionScript 2 had some limitations when creating externally-driven Flash movies through XML. With the introduction of ActionScript 3, animations can be driven by XML structures called Motion XML. In this week's Web Design Reference Guide, I'll show you how (relatively) easy it is to create reusable XML code for creating dynamic Flash movies. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
With all of the flexibility of liquid layouts in CSS, it's easy to see why full-screen Flash web sites are becoming more popular. A full-screen Flash web site is one that takes up 100% of the browser window, but doesn't scale according to the window size. This functionality is nothing new; it just hasn't become popular until recently. In this article, we'll take a look at how to create a simple full-screen Flash web site, starting from the files that are published through Flash. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
There are many little known features in ActionScript 3 that make life easier. The label statement is one of those gems that actually makes programming kind of fun. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
ActionScript 3 namespace definition keywords are extremely powerful and can really simplify your code. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
Loading external variables into Flash opens up a whole world of possibility. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
Parameters are an essential construct of a method, and the ability to type parameters is of the utmost importance. But what if you are not sure of the value type for a parameter? Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
ActionScript 3 offers a great solution to ensuring that your method parameters have values even when no values are passed. The solution is called default parameter values, which allow you to predefine default values for specific method parameters. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
In this sample chapter, author Kris Hadlock explains the differences between function arguments and the new ... (rest) keyword, attribute keywords such as public and private, and the new protected keyword, as well as how to define constants. Read the full article
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Apr 22, 2009
There are many necessary ActionScript tasks used to create common Flash functionality. With all... Read the full article
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Oct 6, 2009
Twitter usage is growing at a phenomenal rate—in just one year, Twitter grew by 1,382%. In January 2009, it received 4.5 million unique U.S. visitors. Recently Kris Hadlock wrote an article called Creating a Twitter Widget with Ajax, which explained how to bridge the gap between a local website and remote RSS feed using PHP and Ajax. This article addresses the same concept, but will be using Flash ActionScript 3.0 and PHP to create a handy Twitter widget for displaying your latest tweets on the Web. Read the full article
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