Actionscript grammar and my ultimate plan.

Hello all,

Let me get to the point quickly as I don't want to waste you time anymore than is required. Just keep in mind I am deeply greatful for any help give, I have searched many threads and tutorial sites for my solutions, and once I get to my planned destination, I wish to make an all inclusive tutorial for the programming handicapped like me.


And on to the project.

Like many (if not all) Flash newbies before me I have made the "getDate" analog clock using the _rotation property.

While I changed a lot of the code in the actionscripting. The knowledge is still of the copy and paste variety along with trial and error.

My first request: Can anyone point me in the direction of an online tutorial for actionscripting grammar? Something really basic covering the most redundant parts. there is about 30% of the coding I use I just don't understand, (I just know it works).

My 2nd request:

I am looking to make a stop-watch program imbedded into an analog clock which can run as an active desktop.

I am looking to be able to do the following:

>start as many as 9 runners at the same time but be able to stop them individually and display their times to the 10th of a second.

>start the 9 runners at different times and stop them at the same time

>Start the 9 runners at different times and stop at different times but have the ability of having them run at the same time (overlap)

>have split functions in each of the 9.

>maybe have the possibility of more than 9. for example "hold the shift key and press a number key to have alternates. (total of 18 runners)"

I want to do this by having two seperate actions both having to do with "getTime (date)" on a specific key press.

for example:

Code:

---

Key.SPACE.onKeyDown = function() {
        momentnow.getTime()
}
//ascii code for num key 1,  Am I missing something?
Key.49.onKeyDown = function() {
        moment1.getTime()
}
Key.50.onKeyDown = function() {
        moment2.getTime()
}
Key.51.onKeyDown = function() {
        moment3.getTime()
}
Key.52.onKeyDown = function() {
        moment4.getTime()
}
Key.53.onKeyDown = function() {
        moment5.getTime()
}
Key.54.onKeyDown = function() {
        moment6.getTime()
}

---

I would then display the diference between momen# and momentnow

I know I am missing something (probably a lot). But the idea is that when you hit the space bar it takes a snapshot in time from the system clock (how many milliseconds have passed since Jan 1 1970) then on the press of keys 1 - 9 (only 1-6 listed) it will get how many milliseconds have passed since 01/01/70 and when you hit that key.

I would then have a variable text window display the difference. (how much time passed between starting the clock and stopping it.

I would rather do it this way as I have fiddled around with some of the basic flash timers out there that use a "bead counter" by adding a value of 1 for every second that passes. This I have found is largely innacurate after about 2 minutes on some systems. Tying the values directly to the system clock seems to be the most accurate solution. This will also allow someone to shut down a computer then still have a relatively accurate calculation when they re-start it the next day. (I have to learn how I can save a flash variable to disk somewhere. I have looked under "saving scores" and such, (any direction on this would also be appreciated)

I have barrowed books from local libraries and skimmed through the "flash for idiots/dummies/the mathematically challenged" in our local B&N, but none of them explain the "why" something is working. If I knew the why and the grammar of actionscript I could probably stumble through it myself.

I don't really want someone to paste the code I need without a resource or explanation of why. Even in the actionscripting tutorials for beginners, they all seem to be written for people who can read actionscript already. I have done most of the tutorials in Flash MX, but most of them are "fill in the blank" and don't explain why they use "{}" instead of "[]" or "()". Nor do they explain the // designation, (but I got that it prevents any text behind it from becoming code.) Why is there an underscore in the beginning of "_rotation" ? etc. etc.

Thanks all in advance, and I know it's a lot to ask. I would take a link or a suggestion to a good basic manual on coding. Or some basic "it's not that complicated, this means this, and this means this." over a completed script.

This is a screen grab of my first clock (watch). Sorry, don't have a host who will let me up-load .swf files.

http://www.boomspeed.com/hamakua_boy/seamaster.jpg

I think you'd enjoy ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide by Colin Moock, it is by far the best and most comprehensive book on actionscript i've seen. It also has a massive function reference that shows the syntax and potential bugs along with practical examples for just about every function/object in actionscript.

To detect key presses you might create an object that "listens" for events triggered by the Key object, this object can then respond accordingly,

Code:

---

var kl = {};
// create a new object {} is a shorthand for new Object();
// define a method to be triggered when an onKeyDown event happens
kl.onKeyDown = function() {
        switch (Key.getCode()) { // what happens depends on which key was pressed
                case 32: // 32 = the space key was pressed
                        trace("space");
                break;
                case 49:
                        trace(1);
                break;
                case 50:
                        trace(2);
                break;
        }
};
// make the kl object a listener of the key object,
// (so each time the key object broadcasts a message saying
// a keyDown event happened the kl object will know about it
Key.addListener(kl);

---