dispatchEvent » AS3 Bible

ActionScript 3.0 Bible Errata

Mims Wright — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:14:43 +0000

Much like the authors of the original Bible, we authors of the ActionScript 3.0 Bible have caught a lot of heat over discrepancies in our book. Unfortunately, working with several co-authors has its drawbacks and I am not able to take full responsibility for all of the content. If you find problems or are having trouble compiling your code, I encourage you to please visit the Wiley website to check for corrections and to fill out the errata form. The publisher will be better able to coordinate with the right people to fix any issues.

Please accept our apologies for the errors you’ve found so far.
Mims

Reader Question: Why isn’t event bubbling working

Mims Wright — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:24:18 +0000

A reader sent me this question. Thanks in advance to Michael:

i’m dispatching an event from a sprite after it fades in completely
dispatchEvent(new Event(Main.ENTER_SCREEN_COMPLETE));

i’m trying to listen for to this event but for some reason it doesn’t get picked up when the capturing parameter is set to false.. that is for bubbling and the target phase.

This works
container.addEventListener(Main.ENTER_SCREEN_COMPLETE, screenTweenComplete, true, 0, true);

This does NOT work
container.addEventListener(Main.ENTER_SCREEN_COMPLETE, screenTweenComplete, false, 0, true);

Where container, is an ancestor to everything on the screen. Essentially its the the stage.

Any clues why this is happening?

Answer after the jump.
(more…)

No children on the stage - a confusing Flash CS3 display list issue

Mims Wright — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:00:02 +0000

A reader wrote to me with an interesting Flash CS3 problem that had me stumped at first (mostly because I use FlexBuilder instead of Flash). I thought I’d post the answer here so we can all benefit from it.

The Problem

Ben H. writes…

I’ve been trying to get familiar with a “best practice” on [looping through the display list]. The trouble is, when I enter the following on the first frame of a blank .fla file:

trace("Number of Children in a blank SWF:"+stage.numChildren); trace("Child 1:" + stage.getChildAt(0));

I get this:

Number of Children in a blank SWF:1 Child 1:[object MainTimeline]

Now that may seem grand, but I’ve drawn several shapes and have a text field and named movieclip instances on stage as well – so why [does it only count one child?]

Solution after the jump.
(more…)

Building and Running AS3 Bible Examples

Roger Braunstein — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:23:02 +0000

I’ve received several emails from readers who have had trouble running code from the ActionScript 3.0 Bible. You can find a step-by-step guide to running example code in the Introduction to that book. We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, but friends, we are living in the HD age, and pictures are boring us to tears. Today’s sophisticated audience demands excitement, explosions, underwater scenes, bullet time, pole dances, and THX certified sound! So to provide a gripping emotional connection with my readers, I here provide video tutorials on how to build examples from the book (in under 5 minutes!). First, using Flash CS3, then using Flex Builder 3. Pow! Boom! Kachow!

See how to run example code using Flash | See how to run example code using Flex Builder