Foundation ActionScript for Flash MX 2004

by Sham Bhangal

Overview

Flash guru Sham Bhangal brings us the third edition of everybody's favorite beginner-level Flash scripting book: Foundation ActionScript. With the release of Flash MX 2004, scripting in Flash has moved from being a desirable asset to an essential skill in the world of web design and development. ActionScript is, quite simply, the key to real power in Flash. Flash is now both a design tool and a development tool, and ActionScript can easily scare designers.

This book is for anyone who has ever looked in awe at a cutting-edge Flash site, then taken a look at some code, and run in the other direction. Learning ActionScript with friends of ED will not turn you into a boring programmer, it will turn you into someone who finally has the power to achieve what they want with their web design, and can liberate their creative urges.

This book will take you from knowing nothing about ActionScript to a firm knowledge that will allow you to exercise a previously unimaginable amount of power over your Flash movies. It does this with fully-worked examples throughout, and a case study that will leave you with a cutting-edge Flash site by the end of the book.

The book is practically oriented, and assumes no previous knowledge of coding, making sure that the you can actually use ActionScript to build a working website via real and detailed examples and case studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590593059
Publisher:	Apress
Publication date:	04/22/2004
Series:	Foundation
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 2nd ed.
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	7.52(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

Sham Bhangal has worked on books in new media for five years, during which time he has authored and co-authored numerous friends of ED books, including critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling titles like Foundation Flash, New Masters of Flash, Flash MX Upgrade Essentials, Flash MX Most Wanted, and the Flash MX Designer's ActionScript Reference. He has considerable working experience with Macromedia and Adobe products, as well as other general web design technologies (such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.). In addition to speaking appearances at FlashForward, the biggest Macromedia Flash developer conference, Sham has also been a beta tester for Macromedia and Discreet products for a number of years.

Table of Contents

Interactive Flash.- Moving from timelines to code.- Movies that remember.- Movies that decide for themselves.- More power less script.- Movies that remember how to do things.- Objects.- Objects on the stage.- Making plans.- Modular ActionScript.- Sound.- Sprites.- Drawing API.- Working with Flash MX Professional 2004.- Appendix A: ActionScript Reference.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"By the end of the book, you should be comfortable with programming in ActionScript, even if you’ve never touched a line of code in your life, such is the eloquent way this tome is presented." - Practical Web Projects

"Aimed specifically at designers who may not be programming-minded but wish to create powerful online content. … the guide eases you into the language gently … . presented in an easy-to-follow manner and take you effortlessly through a range of techniques that are ideal for programming games … . By the end of the book, you should be comfortable with programming in ActionScript, even if you’ve never touched a line of code in your life, such is the eloquent way this tome is presented." (Practical Web Projects, May, 2005)

From the Publisher

The Barnes & Noble Review
Nobody wants to learn ActionScript to become a programmer: You want to learn it to do more powerful, more effective, more creative Flash work. That’s Sham Bhangal’s perspective in Foundation ActionScript for Flash MX 2004 -- never coding for its own sake, always in the context of real Flash design. You’ll learn through a start-to-finish case study, one that covers everything from controlling movies on the stage to slick color transition event handling.

The new ActionScript 2.0’s more powerful than ever. One big thing that’s new is object-oriented programming -- and Bhanghal explains that about as simply as possible, tying it directly to Flash techniques you already know. A bonus: this book’s a friendly, fun read -- really. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

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