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Chapter 7. Controlling Your Movie with ActionScript

In This Chapter

• Introducing ActionScript

• Adding actions to the Timeline

• Creating button controls

• Working with buttons in ActionScript

Whether you're creating a Web site, presentation, or game, a truly interactive experience is one in which your users can control the action. If you want to take your movies to the next level, ActionScript can help. Flash's built-in scripting language has come a long way and can do anything from controlling movie playback to creating complex games.

This chapter introduces you to ActionScript and shows you how to use it to create interactive elements, such as clickable buttons, in your movies.

Getting to Know ActionScript

ActionScript is a powerful scripting language that you can incorporate into your movies to control playback, navigation, and imported media, such as images, video, and audio. ActionScript is written as a series of commands (or actions) that are placed on the Timeline, buttons, movie clip, and external files using the Actions panel. Think of ActionScript as a set of instructions that you can give your movie to tell it how to behave and add abilities.

ActionScript is often used for timeline control so that your animations can be told when and where to stop, loop, play, or jump to other points along a Timeline. You can also make truly interactive movies by adding ActionScript to buttons on the stage so that your users can control the animation, too!

The Actions panel

All ActionScript throughout ...