Flash MX 2004 Games : Art to ActionScript

Chapter 7: So what is a variable?
Placing variables into objects
Sometimes it is useful to keep a block of variables together, and one way is to create an Object.
1 var Clown:Object = new Object();
2 var RingMaster:Object = new Object();
3 var Elephant:Object = new Object();
4
5 Clown.feet = 14;
6 RingMaster.feet = 10;
7 Elephant.feet = 21;
8
9 trace(Clown.feet);
10 trace(RingMaster.feet);
11 trace(Elephant.feet);
Listing 7.5
Listing 7.5 shows how we can create an object. This can be a placeholder for any data that we
choose. In this instance we create three objects and assign them to variables ‘Clown’, ‘RingMaster’
and ‘Elephant’. Then we set the feet size and finally we display this size using a ‘trace’ statement.
You can access an object’s variables by using the dot operator. You give the object’s name, a
dot and finally the variable name you wish to access.
Creating a new class
New with Flash MX 2004 is the ability to create new classes. Although these are easier to work
with if you have the professional version you can work with them with the standard version. For
the standard version you must work with a text editor to create the class files. In Flash MX 2004
Professional you can write them directly in the editor. The most important feature is to make
sure the class name and the name of the file match and that it is in same directory as your current
project file.
‘Examples/Chapter07/Performer.as’ is a class file. All class files have the extension ‘as’, short for
ActionScript.
1 class Performer {
2 var feet:Number;
3 var job:String;
4
5 //Constructor function
6 function Performer (myJob:String, myFeet:Number){
7 job = myJob;
8 feet = myFeet;
9 if (job==undefined) job = "Jack of all trades";
10 if (feet==undefined) feet = 9;
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