Runtime shared libraries enable ActionScript programmers to separate the design and development aspects of their project. The designer can work on the graphics in the shared library, while the programmer codes the functionality elsewhere. This can be useful for small projects, but it is essential for larger projects that can become unwieldy if your assets are not properly organized. This tutorial will walk you through setting up a runtime shared library and loading it into a simple project. Read more »

In Flash, you can manipulate your SWF’s alignment and scale mode using the native ‘stage.scaleMode’ and ‘stage.align’ properties, but what happens when you need to align/scale individual display objects in your movie? ActionScript doesn’t provide any built-in functionality for that, so I created a few custom layout classes to handle aligning and scaling arbitrary display objects. I present these to you here, in hopes that it will save you some time writing your own layout utilities, or at least provide a starting point for your custom applications. Read more »

The Flint Particle System has a vast assortment of built-in behaviors. Most of the time, you can accomplish your desired effect with these behaviors, but if you want to build something truly unique, you’re going to have to create your own customized behaviors. This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating custom Action/Initializer classes, using InitializerGroups to create different types of particles with a single Emitter, interacting with particles through keyboard input, and leveraging the advanced features of the Flint Particle System. Read more »

Problem: Create a SWC library from your existing AS3 code. A SWC library is a pre-compiled file of classes and (optionally) graphical assets. They are useful for creating themes (see Creating Themes), distributing an application without distributing its source code, or for creating a compressed copy of your code library. As an example, the Flare library ships with a pre-compiled SWC that contains the entire library in one SWC file. If you’re worried about efficiency, compiling against a SWC library works exactly the same as compiling from source: only classes that you actually use are included in your final SWF. If you have a reusable code base that you want to compile into a single file, SWC’s are for you.

Solution: Flex Ant tasks. Read more »