ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

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Chapter 13: Movie Clips

authoring tool. Components typically are developed by advanced programmers to

distribute as self-contained program modules, such as a pull-down menu or slider

bar. Components also provide an easy way for less-experienced Flash authors to cus-

tomize a movie clip’s behavior without knowing how the code of the clip works.

We’ll cover components in detail in Chapter 14 and Chapter 16. Flash MX comes

with a collection of ready-made interface components known as the Flash UI Com-

ponents. To access the Flash UI Components, choose Window

➝ Components.

Process Clips

A process clip is a movie clip used not for content but simply to execute a block of

code repeatedly. Process clips can be built with an onEnterFrame() event handler or

with a timeline loop, as we saw in Chapter 8 under “Timeline and Clip Event Loops.”

As of Flash MX, the functionality of process clips can be partially replaced by the

setInterval() function, which executes a function or method periodically. Timed code

should be implemented with setInterval(), whereas code synched specifically with

the frame rate should be implemented with a process clip. See the Language Refer-

ence for a discussion of setInterval().

Script Clips

Like a process clip, a script clip is an empty movie clip used not for content ...