| I know what I want my program to do, but where do I start?  | If you find yourself completely stymied about how to approach a problem in ActionScript (or any programming language), you may not have broken down the problem into small enough component problems yet. Define sub-problems and sub-sub-problems. When you hit tasks that you can accomplish with a few lines of code, you're on your way. |
A related approach is to attempt to solve a greatly simplified version of the problem you're really interested in. Then approach your goal by successive approximations. Okay, I've centralized all my ActionScript. Now, how do I keep it in the Actions panel while I'm working on graphics in other frames ? Normally, when you click on a frame, the Actions panel displays whatever ActionScript is in that frame ”even if that's no ActionScript at all. Then you have to go back and click in the frame that does have ActionScript in it. Annoying. There is a solution: the Pin Active Script button. It's the button with the push pin symbol on it in the lower-left corner of the Actions panel. (Refer to Figure 19.1.) While your script is in the Actions panel, click on the Pin Active Script button. Your ActionScript is "pinned" in the Actions panel and will stay there, no matter what frame you are in, until you click the button again to " unpin " the ActionScript.  | In previous versions of Flash, you could pin only one script at a time. In Flash MX 2004, you can pin multiple scripts simultaneously . Tabs appear along the bottom of the Script pane. Click a tab to see the associated pinned script. |
When you pin a script, the pin icon changes so the head is facing toward you. Click the changed icon to unpin the script. I'm converting an old Flash project to use the AS2. But it's just not working! What's wrong? Most probably, Flash MX 2004 recognized an older FLA and automatically configured the Publish Settings to AS1, and perhaps also for an older version of the Flash Player. The solution: Choose File, Publish Settings. On the Flash tab, select Flash Player 7 in the Version combo box, and ActionScript 2.0 in the ActionScript version combo box. | 