August 1, 2008 at 7:23 pm · 775 views · Filed under tutorial
Overview
Allowing users to use the keyboard as well as the mouse is a great way to incite interaction with your flash. This tutorial will show how to code it and what you can do with some keyboard events. This changed with actionscript 3, note this tutorial is AS3.
altKeY (Boolean) Indicates whether the Alt key is active (true) or inactive (false).
charCode (uint) Contains the character code value of the key pressed or released.
ctrlKey (Boolean) Indicates whether the Control key is active (true) or inactive (false).
keyCode (uint) The key code value of the key pressed or released. KeyboardEvent
keyLocation (uint) Indicates the location of the key on the keyboard. KeyboardEvent
shiftKey (Boolean) Indicates whether the Shift key modifier is active (true) or inactive (false).
Steps
import KeyboardEvent,
import flash.events.KeyboardEvent;
assign any keycodes
//keycodes
var left:uint = 37;
var up:uint = 38;
var right:uint = 39;
var down:uint = 40;
function keyDownListener(e:KeyboardEvent) {
trace(e.keyCode.toString());
}
or
function keyDownListener(e:KeyboardEvent) {
if (e.keyCode==left){
ship.x-=10;
ship.rotation = 90;
}
if (e.keyCode==up){
ship.y-=10;
ship.rotation = 180;
}
if (e.keyCode==right){
ship.x+=10;
ship.rotation = 270;
}
if (e.keyCode==down){
ship.y+=10;
ship.rotation = 0;
}
}
Example
Here we have a swf with the keyboard event listener on the stage, and feedback boxes to give us all we can know about the event. It will tell us about certain keys (alt, ctrl (cmd), and shift) with a Boolean, it will tell us the keyCode and the charCode. The keyCode is the number that is tied to the actual button pressed or key, and the charCode relates to the character represented by the button(s) pressed. So hitting ’s’ and then hitting ’shift + s’ will tell you different charCodes, ’s’ and ‘S’. but you’ll see that the s key has the same keyCode (you’ll also see the ’shift’ keyCode as well). If needed you can use the String.fromCharCode function to determine what the charCode for something is. The location on the keyboard is even reported, this helps distinguish between the left shift and the right shift and even the numbers across the qwerty and the numpad on the right of the screen.
July 15, 2008 at 6:54 pm · 348 views · Filed under personal
Ryan has announced a contest to investigate how Google is actually crawling swfs. He introduced the term “fleximagically searchable” to be included in external content, which is then loaded into the Flex swf. Hoping that google will read the external source file through the swf. Also testing how this shows up in the search results. Even though I think there a lot more to SEO than just letting Google crawl your site, there’s the pagerank and everything that Google uses in it’s top secret algorithm to determine search result position ranks.
Here’s the official rules:
It has to be a Flex application
“Fleximagically Searchable” must be dynamically loaded. It can’t be static text inside of your application. - But I don’t care how you load it, in fact that might make a difference in how Google ranks you.
The first link must be deep linked directly into where you load “Fleximagically Searchable” into your application. Feel free to use any deep linking methods out there.
Nothing in your code can dynamically load the phrase automatically. It has to be the result of a user interaction.
You must provide source code and be willing to talk about exactly what you did.
Multiple entries are allowed if you want to try different things.
They seem to be a bit vague in places, but we’ll see if Ryan decides to clarify anything.
More information: I’ve found that’s helpful at Peter Elst’s post. And Ryan explains Google and Flash’s relatoinship development here. Here and here is what Google has officially said. Here is the official press release from Adobe about their new
I’ll have a couple entries I’m sure… and I’ll be sure to post about those as well.
July 14, 2008 at 8:02 pm · 767 views · Filed under tutorial
Overview:
Often I’ve had some dynamically created movieclip and then wanted to reference it in my code. This is hard to do if it is named dynamically as well, such as with an incrementing variable. If you use one (or more) variable to name an instance in runtime, you can’t always know what it will be called.
There are two ways (that I know of) to reference these clips, one is the array operator [] and the other is using the eval() function is as2 (but I’ve noticed that as3 has removed the eval function, so I’d recommend getting used to array notation).
Steps:
Create the object dynamically (or with a variable) (_root.myClip.duplicateMovieClip (”myClip”+i, i);)
Reference it with either array notation or with eval. (thisOne = _root["myClip"+i];) or (eval(”myClip” + i))
Example:
I create some movie clips dynamically using a for loop and name them all incrementally with a variable (myClip+i). But then i want to refer to some of them later, specifically. I don’t know what they are named though. They are all myClip1 myClip2 myClip3 and so on. I can use array notation to reference these (or eval). I’ve found it’s easiest to create a reference to the name once and then use it to refer to the clip I want. I imagined a scenario that when you click a mc you would want a different one to be moved. So clicking myClip3 moves myClip4 and so on. I’ve made it wrap so that 5 moves 1… They change the _y property of the next to match the one that’s clicked. Clicking the refresh button will loop through all the clips and (this time using eval) randomize the y coordinate.
this.createEmptyMovieClip("outer_mc", 1); // create a mc called outer_mc
outer_mc.createEmptyMovieClip("inner_mc", 1); // create a mc called inner_mc inside outer_mc
// 3 different ways of targeting inner_mc
trace(outer_mc.inner_mc);
trace(outer_mc["inner_mc"]);
trace(this["outer_mc"]["inner_mc"]);
// all output _level0.outer_mc.inner_mc
TheCanadian@Kirupa states it nicely: The Problem
How can I reference objects using a variable? This is commonly a problem with dynamically created buttons:
The Answer
This is probably the question that gets asked the most. Referencing an object with a variable is done using something called associative array referencing or array notation. The fundamental concept behind this is that:
Are the same thing. Associative array referencing follows the pattern of scope["prop"] where scope is the object which contains the property and prop is the name of the property you wish to reference. Save appearance, array notation works in exactly the same way as dot notation.
Going back to the original, problematic, example, the correct code would look like this:
The button string is concatenated (joined) with the i variable, forming a new reference with each iteration of the loop. First button0, then button1, et cetera.
That’s the quick, but some of you may think that that’s the same notation that is used with instances of the Array class. While that is true, the converse is actually more correct: Array instances use that notation.
Arrays are exactly the same as generic Objects, the only difference is that they have a collection of methods to deal with their properties. And because they require a need for organization, they typically only use numerical properties. Given the array myArray = ["a", "b", "c"], you could theoretically reference the indices using myArray.0, myArray.1 and myArray.2. The reason that we must use array notation is because the compiler doesn’t allow the reference of numerical properties with dot notation.
June 25, 2008 at 10:20 pm · 249 views · Filed under portfolio, work
StomperNet now has a site map. Only it’s much bigger than just a site map, we’re calling it Stomper Universe! It contains all the pieces parts that make up StomperNet. It links to different sites, video series, tools, and more by giving a 3D interactive space to inspect the thumbnails and click through to the sites! It will help visitors navigate easily to all areas of StomperNet, whether they are new to them or old favorites.
The Scrutinizer is a web browser, based upon the Adobe AIR toolkit and the WebKit browser, that offers a simulation of the human visual system. Specifically, it illustrates the distinction between foveal and peripheral vision in visual acuity and color perception. Using this simulation, you can get a better idea of how users interact with your site design. We explain this, and some of the succes we’ve had, in a 30 minute video called Click Fu. It’s also a great tool for observing users interacting with your pages. By slowing them down, the Scrutinizer makes it easier for you to figure out what information the user is consuming and what actions they are considering. Learn about other ways to use the tool at our Top Ten list.
How it Works
The Scrutinizer browser applies a visual filter to where the mouse is located, simulating foveal vision centered around the mouse. For parts of the screen far away from themouse, the display deteriorates into lower resolution, both in detail and color. You can use the browser to get a better understanding of the low level mechanics of how users interact with your site design. Attempting to accomplish a key task on your site using the Scrutinizer can be very enlightening. Watching a user unfamiliar with your site attempt a key task with the Scrutinizer is even better at revealing how your site design affects the way the user extracts meaning from your presentation. Learn more in the Click Fu video, covering practical examples of improved e-commerce, or the 52 second ” Your Vision is an Illusion“, presenting a dramatic illustration of foveal vision. Finally, check out using the Scrutinizer for a findability challenge on Amazon.com.
Loading ...