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Exploring the Flash Professional 9 ActionScript 3.0 Preview

Exploring the Flash Professional 9 ActionScript 3.0 Preview

The Adobe Flash Professional 9 ActionScript 3.0 Preview (“AS3 Preview” for short) is a preview of the next release of the Flash authoring tool. Formerly known as “Blaze,” it extends the capabilities of Flash Professional 8 and includes a small subset of the features that will be shipped with Flash 9, which is scheduled for release in 2007.

This preview includes support for ActionScript 3.0, which takes advantage of the new ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM) in Adobe Flash Player 9. This enhanced AVM allows ActionScript 3.0 code to execute an estimated 10 times faster than legacy ActionScript code. For more information about Adobe Flash Player 9, check out the Flash Player product page.

The Flash Professional 9 ActionScript 3.0 Preview allows you to compile FLA files that contain or import scripts written in the new ActionScript 3.0 language. It utilizes a brand new compiler to target Flash Player 9 and new ActionScript. Scripts attached to frames or associated with library symbols can be compiled to add interactivity to content created on the Stage.

This article walks you through creating a new shape using the drawing tools in Flash. After learning how to interact with the shape so it reacts to button clicks and mouse movement, you’ll see how to move the ActionScript from the main Timeline into an external file that you can link to symbols in the Library or to the main Flash document itself.

Needless to say, you’ll be suitably impressed.

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Sample files:

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