Object-Oriented Programming

in ActionScript 3.0

Peter Elst – Multi-Mania 2007

What’s new?
• DisplayList API
• DOM3 Event Model
• ECMAScript for XML (E4X)
• Runtime error checking
• Regular Expressions
• Method closures
Everything is a class
ActionScript 2.0

var mc:MovieClip =
this.createEmptyMovieClip
("mc",this.getNextHighestDepth());

ActionScript 3.0

var mc:MovieClip = new MovieClip();

ActionScript 2.0

var myMC:MovieClip = this.attachMovie

("mc","myMC",this.getNextHighestDepth());

ActionScript 3.0

var myMC:MC = new MC();

this.addChild(myMC);
<?xml version="1.0">
<addressbook>
<contact name="John">
<email>john@abc.com</email>
</contact>
<contact name="Wayne">
<email>wayne@xyz.org</email>
</contact>
</addressbook>
ActionScript 2.0

myXML.firstChild.childNodes[0].
firstChild.nodeValue

ActionScript 3.0

myXML..contact.(@name=="John").email
ActionScript 2.0

import mx.utils.Delegate;
myButton.addEventListener("click",
Delegate.create(this, onButtonClick));

ActionScript 3.0

myButton.addEventListener
(MouseEvent.CLICK, onButtonClick);
How do you code it?
• Flash CS3
• Flex Builder 2
• Flex SDK (free!)
• Open Source Editors (FlashDevelop, ...)
OOP concepts
Inheritance

• Allows classes to extend existing methods

and properties of its superclass
• Requires override keyword to override
methods or properties from superclass
• Final class modifier prevents it from being
further sub-classed
package com.peterelst.multimania {
public class Animal {
public function describe():String {
return "I'm an animal";
}
}
}
package com.peterelst.multimania {
import com.peterelst.multimania.Animal;
public class Dog extends Animal {
override public function describe():String {
return "I'm a dog";
}
public function speak():String {
return "woof!";
}
}
}
Inheritance vs composition

• Composition does not extend a class but

instantiates it at runtime
• Inheritance used for is a relationship,
composition for a has a relationship
• Composition gives control over the creation
and destruction of the back-end class
package com.peterelst.multimania {
public class Person {
private var face:Face;
public function Person() {
this.face = new Face();
}
public function smile():void {
this.face.smile();
}
}
}
Encapsulation

• Allows you to protect the inner workings of

a class through the use of access modifiers
• Provide an API to interact with your class
through getter/setter methods
• public - accessible everywhere
private - only accessible within class
protected - within class and derivative classes
internal - accessible within same package
package com.peterelst.multimania {
public class Person {
private var _name:String;
public function get name():String {
return this._name;
}
public function set name(val:String):void {
this._name = val;
}
}
}

var myPerson:Person = new Person();

myPerson.name = "Peter";
Polymorphism

• Allows different classes to respond to same

method names with its own implementation
• Common method names make classes
interchangeable at runtime
• Polymorphism can be enforced through
implementing a common interface
import com.peterelst.multimania.*;

function animalTalk(instance:Animal):void {
trace(instance.describe());
}

animalTalk(new Dog());
animalTalk(new Cat());
Interfaces

• Allows you to specify a set of methods that

classes are required to implement
• Classes can implement multiple interfaces,
interfaces can extend each-other
• Interfaces can be seen as contracts to be
developed against, great for frameworks
Design Patterns
Observer pattern

• Allows objects to subscribe for updates to a

class implementing the Observer pattern
• Event model similar to what you find in the
flash.events.EventDispatcher class
• Provides loose coupling between dispatching
and listening classes
package com.peterelst.multimania {
public class Observer {
private var _subscribers:Array = new Array();
public function subscribe(obj:Object):void {
_subscribers.push(obj);
}
public function unsubscribe(obj:Object):void {
for(var i:uint=0; i< _subscribers.length; i++) {
if(_subscribers[i] == obj) _subscribers.splice(i,1);
}
}
private function notify() {
for(var i:uint=0; i<_subscribers.length; i++) {
_subscribers[i].update();
}
}
}
}
Singleton pattern

• Allows a class to have just one instance

accessible through a static method
• Singleton classes provide a global point of
access to its instance
• ActionScript 3.0 does not allow a constructor
to be marked as private
package com.peterelst.multimania {
public class Singleton {
private static var _instance:Singleton;
private static var _allowInstance:Boolean;
public function Singleton() {
if(!_allowInstance) {
throw new Error("use Singleton.getInstance()");
}
}
public static function getInstance():Singleton {
if(_instance == null) {
_allowInstance = true;
_instance = new Singleton();
_allowInstance = false;
}
return _instance;
}
}
}
Decorator pattern

• Allows you to extend a class at runtime

using composition
• Typically a class instance gets passed to the
constructor of the Decorator class
• The flash.utils.Proxy class enables routing of
non-implemented methods to the decorated
class instance
flash.utils.Proxy

• ActionScript 3.0 approach to the __resolve

method in ActionScript 2.0
• Class needs to extend Proxy and use
flash_proxy namespace to override callProperty
• Class needs dynamic modifier to avoid compiler
errors for calling non-implemented methods
package com.peterelst.multimania {

import flash.utils.Proxy;
import flash.utils.flash_proxy;

public dynamic class Decorator extends Proxy {

private var _decorated:Object;
public function Decorator(obj:Object) {
_decorated = obj;
}
flash_proxy override function callProperty
(method:*, ...args):* {
return _decorated[method].apply(_decorated, args);
}
}

}
Model-View-Controller

• MVC is an architectural pattern, implements

Singleton, Observer and other patterns
• Allows you to separate data, view and
interaction of your application
• Decoupling data from view allows for easy
switching between different views
package com.peterelst.multimania {
public class Model extends Observer {
private static var _instance:Model;
private static var _allowInstance:Boolean;
public function Model() {
if(!_allowInstance) {
throw new Error("use getInstance()");
}
}
public static function getInstance():Singleton {
if(_instance == null) {
_allowInstance = true;
_instance = new Singleton();
_allowInstance = false;
}
return _instance;
}
public function registerView(view:Object):void {
super.subscribe(view);
}
}
}
package com.peterelst.multimania {
import flash.display.MovieClip;
public class View extends MovieClip {
private var _model:Object;
private var _controller:Object;
public function View(model:Object,controller:Object) {
_model = model;
_controller = controller;
_model.registerView(this);
}
public function update():void {
}
}
}
package com.peterelst.multimania {
public class Controller {
private var _model:Object;
public function Controller(model:Object) {
_model = model;
}
}
}
package com.peterelst.multimania {
import com.peterelst.multimania.*;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
public class Application extends MovieClip {
public function Application() {
var myModel:Model = new Model();
var myController:Controller =
new Controller(myModel);
var myView:View =
new View(myModel, myController);
addChild(myView);
}
}
}

Specify com.peterelst.multimania.Application class as the

Document class for the FLA
Not convinced yet?
FVNC

Open Source VNC client for Flash

Author: Darron Schall
License: GPL

www.osflash.org/fvnc
FC64

Commodore 64 Emulator
Author: Darron Schall - Claus Wahlers
License: GPL

www.osflash.org/fc64
FZip

AS3 class to extract zip files

Author: Claus Wahlers - Max Herkender
License: OSI - zlib/libpng

www.codeazur.com.br/lab/fzip
SMTP

AS3 class connecting to SMTP

Author: Thibault Imbert

www.bytearray.org/?p=27
NNTP

AS3 class connecting to NNTP

Author: Luar

www.luar.com.hk/blog/?p=647
Papervision3D

High performance 3D engine

Author: Carlos Ulloa, Ralph Hauwert, John Grden
License: MIT open source

www.osflash.org/papervision3d
Want to learn more?
Books
Advanced ActionScript 3.0 with Design Patterns
Essential ActionScript 3.0 (coming soon)
Object-Oriented ActionScript 3.0 (coming soon)

Websites
weblogs.macromedia.com/mxna
www.peterelst.com

Training
Lynda.com - ActionScript 3.0 in Flex Builder
TotalTraining.com - ActionScript 3 Essentials
Thanks!
info@peterelst.com