Flash CS4 All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Working Off the Timeline with Symbol and Component Classes

In This Chapter

• Working off the Timeline

• Writing programs in ActionScript files

• Inserting comments in code

• Using clip code

• Creating a class

• Using a symbol button in a class

• Addressing classes and instances on the Stage

• Using user interface (UI) component classes

• Constructing list events

Designers and developers have long been accustomed to the idea of using clip art in their work. Clip art includes ready-made drawings and photographs that can be used copyright-free in everything from printed flyers to images used in Flash applications.

You don't have to be an artist or a designer to use clip art, but you have to have a sense of design in terms of where to place it. (Yes, you can create ugly designs if you put clip art in the wrong surroundings!) Likewise, using code, you can cut and paste chunks of ActionScript code like clip art, but rather than artwork, it's just code. That's all we mean by clip code — it's just a chunk of code that you can cut and paste and that does something. To get started working with ActionScript 3.0 off the Timeline, you may have to think of some of the codes as clip code: You may not understand all of it at first, but if you know where to put it, it can accomplish just what you want. Coding "off the Timeline" means that you write ActionScript in separate (ActionScript) files rather than in the Actions ...