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Flash Basics
About Flash files
The primary Flash file type, FLA files, contain three basic types of
information that comprise a Flash document. These include the following:
Media objects
are the various graphic, text, sound and video objects that
comprise the content of your Flash document. By importing or creating
these elements in Flash and then arranging them on the Stage and in the
Timeline, you define what the viewer of your document will see and when
they will see it.
The Timeline
is the place in Flash where you tell Flash when specific media
objects should appear on the Stage. The Timeline is like a spreadsheet that
progresses from left to right, with the columns representing time. The rows
represent layers, with the content in higher layers appearing above lower
layers' contents on the Stage.
ActionScript code
is the programming code you can add to Flash
documents to make them respond to user interactions and to more finely
control the behavior of your Flash documents. Much can be accomplished
in Flash without ActionScript, but using ActionScript offers many more
possibilities.
Flash can be used to work with a variety of file types. Each type has a
separate purpose. The following list describes each file type and its uses:
FLA files are the primary files you work with in Flash. These are the
files that contain the basic media, timeline, and script information for a
Flash document.
SWF files are the compressed versions of FLA files. These files are the
ones you display in a web page.
AS files are ActionScript files. You can use these files if you prefer to
keep some or all of your ActionScript code outside of your FLA files.
These can be helpful for code organization and for projects that have
multiple people working on different parts of the Flash content.
SWC files contain the reusable Flash components. Each SWC file
contains a compiled movie clip, ActionScript code, and any other assets
that the component requires.
ASC files are files used to store ActionScript that will be executed on a
computer running Flash Communication Server. These files provide
the ability to implement server-side logic that works in conjunction
with ActionScript in a SWF file.
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