ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

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

410

|

Chapter 16: ActionScript Authoring Environment

Normally, variable initialization occurs in the source code of a movie clip. For exam-

ple, here we set up the variables used to control a fireworks effect:

// User-defined variables

this.numSparks = 10; // Number of spark clips in the explosion

this.randomDispersion = true; // Explosion style (true for random,

// false for uniform)

this.duration = 1300; // Length of explosion, in milliseconds

Modifying source code of this sort can be intimidating for nonprogrammers. But if

we build our code into a component, nonprogrammers can configure the fireworks

effect through a familiar application-style interface in the Property inspector.

Figure 16-2 shows a component interface equivalent to our variable-initialization

code.

In a component interface, each variable appears with its name and value clearly dis-

tinguished in separate rows and columns. Variable names cannot be edited, so

there’s no chance of inadvertent typographical errors breaking the system. Each vari-

able also has its own verbose name explaining more plainly what it does. Finally,

variables with a limited set of legal values (such as

randomDispersion) can be assigned

via drop-down menus.

For nonprogrammers, the interface shown in Figure 16-2 is certainly more approach-

able than ...