Skip to Content
ActionScript: The Definitive Guide
book

ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

by Colin Moock
May 2001
Intermediate to advanced
720 pages
23h 24m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Name

trace( ) Global Function — display a value in the Output window

Availability

Flash 4 and later

Synopsis

trace(value)

Arguments

value

The expression to be resolved and then displayed in the Output window. If the resolved value of value is not a string, it is converted to a string before being sent to the Output window, according to the rules described in Table 3.2.

Description

The trace( ) function is a debugging tool used only within the Test Movie mode of the Flash authoring environment. Though unassuming in nature, trace( ) is actually one of the fundamental components of ActionScript programming; it allows us to check the value of a variable or expression at any point during the playback of a movie.

Usage

Unfortunately trace( ) can be quite slow. Turn off tracing under File Publish Settings Flash using the Omit Trace Actions option.

Example

trace(firstName);                // Output the value of firstName 
trace(myClip);                   // Output the path to myClip
trace(myClip._x)                 // Output the x coordinate of myClip
trace("hello" + " there");       // Resolve then output the expression

See Also

Chapter 19

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Actionscript Cookbook

Actionscript Cookbook

Joey Lott

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 1565928520Catalog PageErrata