Code Hinting

The Flash MX ActionScript Editor supports code hinting and code completion to help you script your applications. Table 12.2 provides a complete list of the Communication object suffixes that will automatically invoke the code hint and code completion tools. As a convenience, the entire scope of ActionScript suffixes are listed in the table.

These suffixes are not just useful for code hinting; use them for all your code to help self-document it. Understanding what type of data is stored within the variable will help you debug any application you create. Suffixes are added to the end of ActionScript variable names . For example, consider a variable name that might be used for a RecordSet object. The variable name myDatabaseData does not invoke code hints in the ActionScript Editor, but myDatabaseData_rs invokes the code hint for the object in both Flash MX and Dreamweaver MX (if you used Dreamweaver to edit Flash or server-side ActionScript).

Table 12.2. ActionScript Suffixes to Enable Code Hints

COMMUNICATION OBJECT CODE HINT SUFFIXES
Object Type		Suffix String	Var Example	Suffix String
Camera		_cam	NetServices	NetServices
Video		_video	NetStream	_ns
LocalConnection		_lc	RecordSet	_rs
Microphone		_mic	SharedObject	_so or SharedObject
NetConnection		_nc or _conn
REGULAR ACTIONSCRIPT CODE HINT SUFFIXES
Object Type	Suffix String		Var Example	Suffix String
MovieClip /	_mc		Date Object	_date
Communication UI component
Array	_array		Sound Object	_sound
String	_str		XML Object	_xml
Button	_btn		XML Socket Object	_xmlsocket
Text field (including input)	_txt		Color Object	_color
FLASH UI COMPONENTS CODE HINT SUFFIXES_CH
Object Type	Suffix String		Var Example	Suffix String
CheckBox Object	_ch		Scrollbar Object	_sb
PushButton Object	_pb		Checkbox Object	_cb
RadioButton Object	_rb		Scroll Pane Object	_sp
ListBox Object	_lb		globalStyleFormat	globalStyleFormat