ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

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Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Arrays as Objects

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Typically, we don’t use toString() explicitly; rather, it is invoked automatically when-

ever

arrayName is used in a string context. For example, when we write

trace(

arrayName), a list of comma-separated values appears in the Output window;

trace(

arrayName) is equivalent to trace(arrayName.toString()). The toString() method is

often helpful during debugging when we need a quick, unformatted look at the ele-

ments of an array. For example:

var sites = ["www.moock.org", "www.macromedia.com", "www.oreilly.com"];

// Display our array in a text field

debugOutput_txt.text = "The sites array is " + sites.toString();

trace("The sites array is " + sites.toString()); // Explicit use of toString( )

trace("The sites array is " + sites); // Implicit use of toString( )

The join() method covered in the previous section offers greater formatting flexibil-

ity than toString().

Arrays as Objects

Once you’ve read Chapter 12, you should recognize that arrays are a type of object,

specifically, instances of the Array class. As with other objects, Array objects can

have properties added to them. When we add named elements to an array, we’re

really just adding properties to an Array object. However, as we saw earlier, to use

the built-in methods of the Array class we must work with numbered ...