ActionScript is an object oriented programming language that is very similar to JavaScript.  It is used to add increased interactivity to your Flash movies. 

To write your own code using ActionScript, you will need to open the Actions Panel (Window > Actions) 

You will then see a panel where you can write your code.  You can add actions from the toolkit on the left, but there are no basic actions available as it is assumed that you know some basic ActionScript.

Within the Action Script panel there are a number of options to make writing ActionScript easier. 

You can easily find out what each of these does by holding your mouse over top of each one for a few seconds.

UI Components

User Interface components are a collection of movie clips that can be added to a movie to give it increased user interactivity, including such things as feedback forms and questionnaires.  It is easy to add the components to your movie, but it is a lot more complicated to add the code that is required for them to operate.  This will require a good knowledge of ActionScript.

Select Window > Components to view the available components.

To add a component, drag it onto the stage.  Click on the component to view its parameters in the Component Properties Inspector.

When you are adding ActionScript to a movie, it is easy to become confused and lose track of where you have added scripts and actions.  The Movie Explorer helps to keep tabs on everything you have added to your movie. From the menus choose Window > Movie Explorer

Examples

Here is actionscript example for you to explore: Animated Cursor

This page has been produced by Margaret Meijers.  Questions or feedback may be directed by email to mmeijers at ictmindtools.net

 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.
Attribution should include the statement: "This has been adapted from a resource originally created by Margaret Meijers at http://ictmindtools.net"