Flash MX 2004 Games : Art to ActionScript

Chapter 7: So what is a variable?
a frame action. As you experiment with code, you are encouraged to keep one layer of the timeline
for frame actions; do not place frame actions in any other layer. To add a frame action, follow
these simple steps:
1 Create the empty layer that you will use for frame actions. If the layer already exists then
skip this step and go on to stage 2.
2 Click on the timeline in the frame action layer at the
frame in which you want to add, or edit, the action.
Open the Action panel using ‘Window/Development Figure 7.3 Icon used to open
Panels/Action’, by pressing F9 or by selecting the arrow the Action panel
icon shown in Figure 7.3, which is found in the
Properties panel.
3 The panel shown in Figure 7.4 opens. The pane in the top left shows the many objects and
functions you can use. The pane in the bottom left gives an overview of your movie. For
the purposes of this chapter and to keep things as simple as possible click the small left arrow
on the divide between the left and right panes. This will close the left-hand panes.
4 Enter code simply by typing into the biggest pane. Remember every line of ActionScript
finishes with a semi-colon.
Figure 7.4 Entering ActionScript for a frame action
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