Standard Elements in the Book

Macromedia Flash 8 ActionScript: Training from the Source contains more than 60 separate projects, each designed to teach you a specific aspect of ActionScript. These projects are fun, useful, and practical examples of how ActionScript can be used in real-world situations. Each lesson begins with an overview of the lesson's content and learning objectives. Lessons are divided into individual tasks that help you learn and utilize various aspects of the lesson's topic.

This book is part of the Training from the Source series. It contains conceptual information, in-depth material, and step-by-step explanations. In addition, each lesson includes the following special features:

Italicized text: Text that should be entered by the reader as well as new vocabulary that is introduced and emphasized in each lesson appears in italicized text.

Code text: To help you easily identify ActionScript, XML, and HTML code within the book, the code has been styled in a special font that's unique from the rest of the text. Single lines of code that are longer than the margins of the page allow wrap to the next line. They are designated by the turnover character (¬) at the end of the broken line and are indented on the next line. For example:

   this.attachMovie("Example", "exampleClip",¬      this.getNextHighestDepth());

Menu commands and keyboard shortcuts: There are often multiple ways to perform the same task. The different options will be pointed out in each lesson. Menu commands are shown with angle brackets between the menu names and commands: Menu > Command > Subcommand. Keyboard shortcuts are shown with a plus sign between the names of keys to indicate that you should press the keys simultaneously; for example, Shift+Tab means that you should press the Shift and Tab keys at the same time.

Notes: Notes provide additional information pertaining to the task at hand.

Tips: Tips contain shortcuts for carrying out common tasks and discuss ways you can use the skills you're learning to solve common problems.

This course is developed to help you build your skills progressively as you work through each lesson. After you complete the entire course, you'll have a thorough knowledge of ActionScript, including its syntax, capabilities, and the logic behind the way to make it do what you want it to do. As a result, you'll have the skills necessary to create dynamic, highly interactive Flash content.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains all the files necessary to complete each lesson. Files for each lesson appear in a folder titled with the lesson number. It is strongly suggested that you create a folder on your hard drive and transfer all lesson files to that folder prior to beginning the course because you'll occasionally be asked to test your work using Flash's Test Movie command. This command creates a test file in the same directory as the Flash file that is being authored. If the authored file were opened from the CD, Flash would attempt to create the test movie on the CD. In almost all cases, this is impossible and will result in an error.

Each lesson folder contains two subfolders: Start and Completed. If the Lesson uses media files, a third subfolder named Assets is included in the lesson folder. The Assets folder contains any media required for projects in the lesson. The Start folder contains any initial Flash files needed for the lesson. The files you need are identified at the beginning of each lesson. The Completed folder contains completed files for each step in the project as well as intermediate files built in each exercise so that you can compare them to your own work or see where you're headed.

The directory structure of the lessons you will be working with is as follows:

The lessons in this book assume that the following statements are true:

• You're familiar with using menus, opening and saving files, and so on for either the Windows or Macintosh operating system.

• Flash Professional 8 is already installed on your machine.

• Your computer meets the system requirements listed in the "Minimum System Requirements" section.

• You're generally familiar with Flash's interface, movie and authoring concepts, creating and using movie elements, using the Timeline, using basic actions, and working with the Actions panel. If you're not comfortable with any of these tasks, be sure to check out other books from Adobe Press and Peachpit Press.