Chapter 13: Writing Actionscript With Script Assist; About Script Assist - MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-USING FLASH Use Manual

CHAPTER 13
Writing ActionScript with
Script Assist
ActionScript, the scripting language of Macromedia Flash, lets you add interactivity to a
movie. ActionScript provides elements, such as actions, operators, and objects, that you put
together in scripts that tell your movie what to do; you set up your movie so that events, such
as button clicks and key presses, trigger these scripts. For example, you can use ActionScript to
create navigation buttons for your movie.
For users who are new to ActionScript, or for those who want to add simple interactivity
without having to learn the ActionScript language and its syntax, you can opt to use Script
Assist to help you more easily add ActionScript to your Flash documents.
Script Assist is intended to help you format your scripts in such a way as to avoid the
syntax and logic errors a novice user might encounter when writing ActionScript.
However, to use Script Assist you must become familiar with ActionScript, and know
what methods, functions, and variables to use when creating your scripts. To learn about
ActionScript, and how to use it in Flash, see Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Flash.
This chapter contains the following sections:

About Script Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Using Script Assist to write ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .328
Creating a startDrag/stopDrag event using Script Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
About Script Assist
Script Assist lets you build scripts by selecting items from the Actions toolbox, the list on the
left side of the Actions panel. (You can also select actions from the Add (+) pop-up menu.)
The Actions toolbox separates items into categories such as actions, properties, and objects,
and also provides an index category that lists all items alphabetically. When you click an item
once, its description appears at the upper right of the panel. When you double-click an item,
it adds the item to the scrolling list on the right side of the panel in the Script pane.
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