Summary

Components have really grown up since their ancestors first appeared in Flash 5 as Smart Clips. Components should bridge the separation between programmer and nonprogrammer. A real programmer can create a sophisticated component that can enable the nonprogrammer to use sophisticated features in her projects without learning all the ActionScript necessary. Realize that the components that ship with Flash are just a taste of what's possible. You can find many more at the Flash Exchange site (www.macromedia.com/exchange/flash) as well as at other sites listed in Appendix B, "Resources."

This hour you have learned how to populate components manually (by using the Parameters tab in the Properties panel) as well as populate components by using ActionScript. In addition, you have learned how to use on() events or addEventListener to make components trigger your own custom code.

This hour you have seen details of the ComboBox, Button, and RadioButton components. There are many more components, but these are a good start. This hour you have also learned the basic scripts for changing the styles of components.