Miraz Tutorials

When working with Actionscript 3 in Flash CS3 one of the main things you will need to know is how to create a instance of a movie clip so that you can get it to follow the input instructions you will later add to it. This is a very key attribute that anyone learning AS3 that has got passed learning variables,strings,functions and so on, should really know about.

Most actionscript developers will most likely not put their items on the stage when creating their swf they prefer to leave all their objects in the library and use Actionscript to call them out onto the stage as and when they need them. So in this tutorial we are going to find out how to do this using Flash CS3.

To start off we will create a new fia file and rename it shape however the images may show a different name during this tutorial we still want to call the fla shape.fla just for the sake of being organised better.

Then what we need to do is draw out a square onto the stage or any shape you prefer

press F8 to convert the square to a Movieclip with the following settings

what i have done here is set the name of the square to shape as a Movieclip symbol so it inherits all the features of the MovieClip class then set a class name otherwise known as a instance name.

The class name has to be the same as what you will refer to this object as in Actionscript 3 as does the file name of the class but we will tough on that a little later. I also made sure that it is exported in the first frame

This message is basically telling you that there wasn’t a class called shape (assigned to the MovieClip class) before and that it will create one for your use now

Now because how flash cs3 is set up you link the item for actionscript at the time you convert the symbol so there’s no need to link later as in Flash pro 8

You then need to create a new only Actionscript 3 file so that’s not a fla file its a .as file and name it shape

you would then need to enter in the following code that is also explained to make the MovieClip appear on stage

A package is mainly there to organize the classes just like the literal meaning of a package would be to in case or keep an item safe. you will notice that Actionscript takes a lot of literal meanings int metaphors for its own advantage this is however a good thing for people learning actionscript 3 as it makes it easier to relate to therefor easier to learn  Packages are also structured according to the directories
in which they are located.

package {

This is where you are going down the to the bottom of the flash.display folders to find the MovieClip class importing it to make sure you can all its functionality

import flash.display.MovieClip;

This is where you are creating and naming the class (the class name must be the same as the file name eg shape.as). Then you extend class with that of the MovieClips functionality so that the shape inherits it all when set up on stage.

    public class shape extends MovieClip {

You then create the constructor function which will instantiate the shape note this must also have the same name as the file name and class name.
        public function shape() {

This is the gold first we create a variable that you can name anything you wish set it as a MovieClip then = it to a new MovieClip() each time its called by this or another class then addChild which basically adds a child of the shape from the library onto the stage
                            var shape:MovieClip = new MovieClip();

                            addChild(shape);

                }

     }

}               
                           
There we have it please do comment thank you

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