Where do i start from?

[fayimora]

Hello guys, am a good java developer but want to venture into flash and the likes. I have heard so many things and now am confused. There is flash, AS and flex. I dnt knw which is which. All i want to be able to do is develop applications(cross platform applications) for systems like i do in java. Also i want to be able to develop some mobile applications to run on majority fones. Lastly i want to be able to develop games and movie clips.

I have started reading the AS documentation but i want to knw if am on the right path. What am i supposed to learn and in what order? Thanks for your reply in advance. Also it would help if anyone could explain the use of flash, AS and Flex.

[fayimora]

hellooooooo here

[Nig 13]

Well, I'm not experienced in developing games for mobiles or other stuff, only Flash games for the internet. So, if you want to make Flash Games like, all those scattered around the world wide web, then I suggest you try Adobe Flash

Also, I think Adobe AIR is what you want, nonetheless, here's a description of what it is, which I found:

Adobe AIR is a cross-platform runtime environment for building rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, or Ajax, that can be deployed as a desktop application (so called Browserless).

Also, here is something else I found, difference between confusing Adobe application names:

Flash - An interactive content development tool that has lots of vector drawing and animation capabilities, can incorporate interactive elements programmed in ActionScript, and publishes to SWF files.

Flash Player - A browser plugin that runs SWF files.

Flex - A framework for developing rich internet applications by programming in ActionScript and laying out UI in MXML.

Flex SDK - A set of freely downloadable compilers for ActionScript and MXML that generate SWF files.

Flash Builder (formerly Flex Builder) - An IDE sold by Adobe for programming ActionScript code.

Flash Develop - An open source IDE for programming ActionScript.

What do you mean by movie clips? Movieclips as in an object in Flash or Movie Clips as in short clips of motion picture?

[fayimora]

Wow you have answered most of my questions..Well I now know what to do to develop internet applications. What are the things I can build with flash, i mean apart from games

[Nig 13]

Well, you can build Advertisements (which I DON'T recommend you do :P), you can make animations (flash uses vectors, which is awesome), you can make menus for your website, or a whole website completely in Flash, you can make Web Templates and sell them (here is a good site which does it), you can make quizzes, surveys, etc., you can make interactive lessons (if you're a teacher or want to educate others), you can also interact Flash with PHP and XML - so, you can make ALOT with Flash, creativity is your only limit

[fayimora]

Cool was wondering, how do you build sites with flash.. I mean how?. What connects to the database or is there some AS involved somewhere .lol seriously am eager to learn it. So where do I start from to be good in flash.. What do i start learning? Any tutorials?

[Nig 13]

Well, do you have Flash yet? If you do, you should start by learning the program's tool, like:

layers
scenes
symbols:
- graphics
- buttons
- movieclips

and then, some basic coding like stop(); and gotoAndPlay(); and simple button codes to get started. HERE are some great Flash tutorials, but it depends on which version you want to learn - Actionscript 2.0 or Actionscript 3.0 (I personally use AS2)!

It's not easy, but if you're really into it, and practice everyday and learn something new everyday, you'll become a Flash Expert, and then you can make professional stuff, like the ones I stated above

Making a Flash Website is fairly easy, if you want a simple website, that is. I don't have experience in connecting to database, but Flash Website contains mostly graphics, animations and buttons. For your text, you create a XML file, and store the information in there, and then you call it in Flash. This way, you can edit the XML file to edit your content in your website - you just need to learn the Basics of Flash

I hope you choose to learn Actionscript 2.0, and ask questions in the Actionscript 2.0 forum, so that I may help you =)

[fayimora]

hehehhee hmmm I have started learning some actionscript but its 3..what exactly is the difference? Also you forgot the link to the tutorial

[Nig 13]

I don't know, have never tried, nor do I want :P
But I've seen of countless of times in other forums, and from what I see, things that are really easy in Actionscript 2, have become really advanced in Actionscript 3, but I've also heard that Actionscript 3 is better and when it comes to games, runs 10x faster, though, with both you can make almost the same things

lol, choose whatever you want, but I'm just saying that AS2 has easier codes

Like, for example, this code in AS2:

onEnterFrame = function(){
   stuff to be executed goes here;
};

is this long code in AS3:

objectName.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, Handler);
 
function Handler(evt:Event):void {
     stuff to be executed goes here;
}

[fayimora]

lol ok i understand.. I would be learning flex as well as flash but you still forgot to drop me the tutorial links

[Nig 13]

lol, I see the links in my post. But, HERE, again :P

[arkitx]

Welcome fayimora, you are more on-track than many of here practicing on ActionScript like me. Java is similar to ActionScript 2 ECMAScript – 4. Java is running on JVM and Adobe has created Flash Player, you might think AVM (Adobe Virtual Machine) as you already familiar with JVM. There is many IDE and Compiler to write ActionScript and Compile with them. Among them many are open source but Adobe is the pioneer in this field. You can write code in similar or same IDE as you are using for Java. But there has many interesting things in Flash and Flex IDE. Both are built to deploy .swf file which is the file that runs in Flash Player. MovieClip might new to you as you are into Java, but this is quite simple to understand. If you use Flash IDE, which is TimeLine base IDE when produce .fla, you can get some graphic tools to draw vector graphics. To give functionality of that graphics you have to convert that into symbols, which can be a Graphic Symbol, a Button Symbol or MovieClip Symbol. After converting the graphic into MovieClip the graphic will go inside of that symbol. And when you edit the MovieClip you will find the same TimeLine inside of it. Sometimes other language’s developer gets confused of this but this is quite simple thing. You can write code in TimeLine Frame, inside of each MovieClip or in External Class file which is in .as extension. Flash IDE has its own Script Editor inside of it. Means, you can write class using the internal ActionScript Editor, from New>File>ActionScript File.
To run this class you have to depend on a .fla file. Without that Flash cannot execute your code. The class files needs to link with the fla to perform. You can also linked class with MovieClip Symbols. When Flash generate .swf file by compiling the fla, it compiles all the linked classes to produce .swf file. And those class files are no longer needs to run the swf.
I will recommend to go for AS2 first then to AS3, and Flash CS3 as an Entry Level. Similarly you can use Flex which is an Integrated IDE of many technologies. And Flex IDE is built on Eclipse. Flex has no tools to create graphics and also it has no TimeLine like flash. Don’t mix with these two IDE, they has their own purpose, but they both can make interactive things like games, applications, website, mobile applications, mobile games, animations, advertisement and much more.

AS2 class structure is similar to Java class:

class ClassName {

public function ClassName (){

}

}

I recommend reading some simple ActionScript books for basic introduction.

Have a nice journey….

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/ar...practices.html

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/ar...ionscript.html

http://www.flashperfection.com/tutor...ial-40841.html

http://www.wildform.com/support/tutorials/AS2Class/

http://www.flashscript.biz/MX2004/OO...l/lesson1.html


arkitx

[fayimora]

thanks a lot guys

[adobe-j]

AIR is a runtime that includes Flash Player plus support for HTML, JS, and other web technologies. Flash Pro and Flash Builder/Flex are 2 tools you can use to create content for playback/execution in AIR or Flash Player. Flash Pro takes a timeline based approach, though you can use the timeline and ActionScript as much or as little as you want in Flash. Flash Builder takes a more container-based approach, which many developers (as opposed to designers prefer) instead of the timeline approach.

Also, AS2 is a procedural language. AS3 is OOP. They are not cross compatible. Each flash file must use one or the other, but not both.