Flash MX 2004 Games : Art to ActionScript

Chapter 9: Using loops
Creating simple components
Although you are taking the time to learn how to write code, not everyone likes to get his or her
hands dirty. Now you know about variables, condition statements and repeat loops, you are well
on your way to becoming a Flash expert. But suppose you want to let others share your code.
They would want to use your code in the simplest way possible, ideally just by dragging a movie
clip out of the library and placing it on the stage. The drag and drop option would not give them
any control over the behaviour of the movie clip, however. They would prefer to set up initial
conditions using the minimum of fuss. Take a look at ‘Examples\Chapter09\Fireworks.fla’.
Figure 9.4 Developing the Fireworks project
If you right-click on the star and select the Parameters tab in the Component Properties panel,
you should see the window in Figure 9.4. This window lets the developer set the initial value for
variables in the Component. In this example the variables are ‘gravity’, ‘starTotal’, ‘subStarTotal’,
‘explodeDur’ and ‘recreateTime’. We will look at how the code works later, but for now try
altering the values for ‘starTotal’ and ‘subStarTotal’ and then running the code using Ctrl + Enter.
As you vary the values, the movie runs differently. The movie itself shows a simulation of a
firework, with the number of stars in the firework being set using the ‘starTotal’ clip parameter.
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