MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-FLASH Service manual

Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript Language Reference

Trademarks
1 Step RoboPDF, ActiveEdit, ActiveTest, Authorware, Blue Sky Software, Blue Sky, Breeze, Breezo, Captivate, Central,
ColdFusion, Contribute, Database Explorer, Director, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, FlashCast, FlashHelp, Flash Lite,
FlashPaper, Flash Video Endocer, Flex, Flex Builder, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite, JRun, MacRecorder,
Macromedia, MXML, RoboEngine, RoboHelp, RoboInfo, RoboPDF, Roundtrip, Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, SoundEdit,
Studio MX, UltraDev, and WebHelp 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.
Third-Party Information
This guide contains links to third-party websites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not
responsible for the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party website mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your
own risk. Macromedia provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia
endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites.
Speech compression and decompression technology licensed from Nellymoser, Inc. (www.nellymoser.com).
Sorenson™ Spark™ video compression and decompression technology licensed from
Sorenson Media, Inc.
Opera ® browser Copyright © 1995-2002 Opera Software ASA and its suppliers. All rights reserved.
Macromedia Flash 8 video is powered by On2 TrueMotion video technology. © 1992-2005 On2 Technologies, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. http://www.on2.com.
Visual SourceSafe is a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Copyright © 2005 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced,
translated, or converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without written approval from
Macromedia, Inc. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the owner or authorized user of a valid copy of the software with which
this manual was provided may print out one copy of this manual from an electronic version of this manual for the sole
purpose of such owner or authorized user learning to use such software, provided that no part of this manual may be
printed out, reproduced, distributed, resold, or transmitted for any other purposes, including, without limitation,
commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this documentation or providing paid-for support services.
Acknowledgments
Project Management: Mary Leigh Burke
Writing: Guy Haas, Denise Green, Mike Krisher
Managing Editor: Rosana Francescato
Editing: Linda Adler, Geta Carlson, Evelyn Eldridge
Production Management: Patrice O’Neill, Kristin Conradi, Yuko Yagi
Media Design and Production: Adam Barnett, Aaron Begley, Paul Benkman. John Francis, Geeta Karmarkar, Masayo Noda,
Paul Rangel, Arena Reed, Mario Reynoso
Special thanks to Lisa Friendly, Bonnie Loo, Erick Vera, the beta testers, and the entire Flash Lite engineering and QA teams.
First Edition: September 2005
Macromedia, Inc.
601 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

3
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Sample entry for most ActionScript elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Samples folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Typographical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 1: Flash Lite Global Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
call() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
chr(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
duplicateMovieClip() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
eval () . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
getProperty(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
getTimer() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
getURL() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
gotoAndPlay() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
gotoAndStop() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
ifFrameLoaded() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
int() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
length() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
loadMovie() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
loadMovieNum() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
loadVariables() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
loadVariablesNum(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
mbchr(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
mblength() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
mbord(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
mbsubstring() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
nextFrame(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
nextScene(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Number() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
on() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
ord() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
play() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
prevFrame() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
prevScene(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
random() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
removeMovieClip() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

4Contents
set() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
setProperty() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
stop() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
stopAllSounds(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
String() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
substring(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
tellTarget() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
toggleHighQuality() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
trace() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
unloadMovie() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
unloadMovieNum() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 2: Flash Lite Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
/ (Forward slash) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
_alpha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
_currentframe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
_focusrect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
_framesloaded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
_height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
_highquality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
_level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
maxscroll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
_name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
_rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
scroll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
_target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
_totalframes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
_visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
_width. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
_x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
_xscale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
_y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
_yscale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter 3: Flash Lite Statements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
continue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
do..while . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
else if . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
if . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
switch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
while . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Contents 5
Chapter 4: Flash Lite Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
add (string concatenation). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
+= (addition assignment). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
= (assignment). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
/* (block comment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
, (comma). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
// (comment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
?: (conditional) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
–– (decrement). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
/ (divide) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
/= (division assignment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
. (dot). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
++ (increment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
&& (logical AND) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
! (logical NOT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
|| (logical OR). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
% (modulo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
%= (modulo assignment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
*= (multiplication assignment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
* (multiply) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
+ (numeric add). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
== (numeric equality) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
> (numeric greater than) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
>= (numeric greater than or equal to) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
<> (numeric inequality) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
< (numeric less than) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
<= (numeric less than or equal to) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
() (parentheses) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
" " (string delimiter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
eq (string equality) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
gt (string greater than) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
ge (string greater than or equal to). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
ne (string inequality) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
lt (string less than) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
le (string less than or equal to) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
– (subtract) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
-= (subtraction assignment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Chapter 5: Flash Lite Specific Language Elements . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Capabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
fscommand(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
fscommand2() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

6Contents

7
Introduction
This manual describes the syntax and use of ActionScript elements as you use them to develop
applications for Flash Lite 1.0 and Flash Lite 1.1, collectively referred to as Flash Lite 1.x.
Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript is based on the version of ActionScript that was used in Flash 4. To
use examples in a script, copy the code example from this manual, and paste it into the Script
pane or into an external script file. The manual lists all ActionScript elements—operators,
keywords, statements, commands, properties, functions, classes, and methods.
Sample entry for most ActionScript
elements
The following sample entry explains the conventions used for all ActionScript elements.
Entry title
Entries are listed alphabetically within a chapter. The alphabetization ignores capitalization,
leading underscores, and so on.
Availability
Unless otherwise noted, the Availability section tells which versions of Flash Lite support
the element.
Usage
This section provides correct syntax for using the ActionScript element in your code. The
required portion of the syntax is in code font. Both the code that you provide and data type
information are in italicized code font. Data types can be distinguished from code that
you provide by the colon (:) that always precedes data type information. Brackets ([]) indicate
optional parameters.

8Introduction
Operands
This section describes any parameters listed in the syntax.
Description
This section identifies the type of element (for example, operator, function, and so on), what
values if any that the element returns, and then describes how to use the element.
Example
This section provides a code sample demonstrating how to use the element.
See also
This section lists related ActionScript dictionary entries.
Samples folder
A set of sample files can be found in the /Samples and Tutorials/Samples/FlashLite/ directory
within the Flash 8 installation directory.
Typical paths to this folder are as follows:
■Windows: /Program Files/Macromedia/Flash 8/Samples and Tutorials/Samples/FlashLite/
■Macintosh: HD/Applications/Macromedia/Flash 8/Samples and Tutorials/Samples/
FlashLite/
The FlashLite folder contains a set of FLA files that are complete Flash Lite projects that have
working ActionScript code.
Typographical conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
■Italic font indicates a value that should be replaced (for example, in a folder path).
■Code font indicates ActionScript code.
■Code font italic indicates an ActionScript parameter.
■Bold font indicates a verbatim entry.
■Double quotation marks (" ") in code examples indicate delimited strings. However,
programmers can also use single quotation marks.

9
1
CHAPTER 1
Flash Lite Global Functions
This section describes the syntax and use of the Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 ActionScript
global functions. It includes the following functions:
Function Description
call() Executes the script in the called frame without moving the playhead
to that frame.
chr() Converts ASCII code numbers to characters.
duplicateMovieClip() Creates an instance of a movie clip while the SWF file plays.
eval () Accesses variables, properties, objects, or movie clips by name.
getProperty() Returns the value of the specified property for the specified
movie clip.
getTimer() Returns the number of milliseconds that elapsed since the SWF file
started playing.
getURL() Loads a document from a specific URL into a window or passes
variables to another application at a defined URL.
gotoAndPlay() Sends the playhead to the specified frame in a scene and begins
playing from that frame. If no scene is specified, the playhead moves
to the specified frame in the current scene.
gotoAndStop() Sends the playhead to the specified frame in a scene and stops it. If
no scene is specified, the playhead is sent to the frame in the
current scene.
ifFrameLoaded() Checks whether the contents of a specific frame are available locally.
int() Truncates a decimal number to an integer value.
length() Returns the number of characters of the specified string or
variable name.
loadMovie() Loads a SWF file into Flash Lite while the original SWF file plays.
loadMovieNum() Loads a SWF file into a level in Flash Lite while the originally loaded
SWF file plays.

10 Flash Lite Global Functions
loadVariables() Reads data from an external file, such as a text file or text generated
by a ColdFusion, CGI ASP, PHP, or Perl script, and sets the values
for variables in a Flash Lite level. This function can also update
variables in the active SWF file with new values.
loadVariablesNum() Reads data from an external file, such as a text file or text generated
by a ColdFusion, CGI, ASP, PHP, or Perl script, and sets the values
for variables in a Flash Lite level. This function can also update
variables in the active SWF file with new values.
mbchr() Converts an ASCII code number to a multibyte character.
mblength() Returns the length of the multibyte character string.
mbord() Converts the specified character to a multibyte number.
mbsubstring() Extracts a new multibyte character string from a multibyte
character string.
nextFrame() Sends the playhead to the next frame and stops it.
nextScene() Sends the playhead to Frame 1 of the next scene and stops it.
Number() Converts an expression to a number and returns a value.
on() Specifies the user event or keypress that triggers an event.
ord() Converts characters to ASCII code numbers.
play() Moves the playhead forward in the timeline.
prevFrame() Sends the playhead to the previous frame and stops it. If the current
frame is Frame 1, the playhead does not move.
prevScene() Sends the playhead to Frame 1 of the previous scene and stops it.
removeMovieClip() Deletes the specified movie clip that was originally created using
duplicateMovieClip().
set() Assigns a value to a variable.
setProperty() Changes a property value of a movie clip as the movie plays.
stop() Stops the SWF file that is currently playing.
stopAllSounds() Stops all sounds currently playing in a SWF file without stopping
the playhead.
String() Returns a string representation of the specified parameter.
substring() Extracts part of a string.
tellTarget() Applies the instructions specified in the statement(s) parameter to
the timeline specified in the target parameter.
Function Description