How screens interact with ActionScript

Screens are similar to nested movie clips in the way that they interact with ActionScript. However, some differences exist.

Use the following guidelines for ActionScript with screens:

• When you select a screen in the Screen Outline pane and add ActionScript, the script is added directly to the screen as an object action (much as ActionScript is added directly to a movie clip). Use object actions for simple code (such as creating navigation between screens) and external ActionScript files for more complex code.

• For best results, organize the document structure and finalize screen names before adding ActionScript. If you rename a screen, the instance name is automatically changed, and you must update the instance names in any ActionScript code you write.

• To add a frame action to the Timeline for a screen, select the screen, open the Timeline (Window > Timeline), and select the first frame in the Timeline. Use an external ActionScript file, rather than a frame action, for complex code on a screen.

• You cannot view or manipulate the main Timeline for a screen-based document. However, you can target the main Timeline using _root in a target path.

• Each screen is automatically associated with ActionScript, based on its class. You can change the class to which that screen is assigned, and you can set some parameters for a screen in the Property inspector.

• To control screens with ActionScript, use the Screen class, Slide class, and Form class.

• To create interactivity, use components whenever possible. Put no more than 125 total component instances in a single FLA file.

• To create navigation between slides, use rootSlide. For example, to get the current slide, use rootSlide.currentSlide.

• Do not try to do slide navigation inside of on(reveal) or on(hide) handlers.

• Do not add an on(keydown) or on(keyup) event to ActionScript code controlling a screen.

  For more information on controlling screens with ActionScript, see “Screen class”, “Form class”, and “Slide class”, in the ActionScript 2.0 Components Language Reference.

  For information on the Object class and the onclipEvent() event handler, see Object and onClipEvent handler in ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference.

  To learn more about creating screen-based documents that use ActionScript, see "About organizing code for screens" in Using ActionScript 2.0 Components.