This tutorial has been excerpted from the book "Flash
for Interactive Simulation", by Jonathan Kaye and David Castillo,
to be published by Delmar Thomson Learning, November 2002.
Flash MX Components introduce a powerful new tool for the Flash developer,
expanding the application of Flash 5 SmartClips. This (long) tutorial walks
you through the creation of a simple isosceles triangle component. It will teach
you how to
Apply new ActionScript instructions, such as #initclip and registerClass,
to create a simple component with a custom icon, as well as using new methods
such as addProperty to insulate your code better, and _targetInstanceName,
Touch on the mechanism that allows component inheritance,
Make an enhanced (custom UI) property inspector (Step 11), and
Make a Live Preview movie (Step 12)
While it may be possible to complete these tutorials using the Normal mode
of the Actions panel, we highly recommend that you use the Expert mode for entering
actions.
Jonathan Kaye, PhD, is the President and CTO of Amethyst Research LLC, an award-winning interactive design and engineering firm specializing in the creation of online device simulations. He and David Castillo are the authors of "Flash for Interactive Simulation: How to Construct and Use Device Simulations", to be published by Delmar Thomson Learning in November, 2002 (the accompanying web site will be www.FlashSim.com).