Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004: Complete Guide and Reference to JavaScript F

Background:
With the release of Flash MX 2004, Macromedia has given us a brand-new Extensibility architecture layer, which lets us look under the hood of Flash and extend its functionality. With the extensibility tools, which include behaviors, custom-made tools and commands, the JavaScript API (or JSFL), and the XML-to-UI API, you can literally extend Flash to do things it cannot do out of the box. Things such as adding new custom commands to the menu and customizing the tool bar, adding brand new, custom created tools. The commands could be as simple as drawing a commonly used shape on the stage, or as complex as creating an entire new Flash movie from scratch.

These new features will not only allow users to share code and effects more easily within the community or a production environment, but will also allow developers to package up and reuse more within Flash than was ever possible before, increasing productivity and decreasing production times. We now have the ability to take our designs further than ever before—if you have an idea for a new feature, you can just create it yourself and “plug it in”. This is the future of Flash!

About the book:
Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004 covers the entire spectrum of the new extensibility architecture in Flash MX 2004. It includes in-depth tutorials on each new area—commands, tools, timeline effects, behaviors, use of the MMExecute command, executing Flash from the command line, and full coverage of XML to UI, which enables you to easily create custom user interfaces for your Flash Extensions. The final section of this book contains a comprehensive desktop reference to JavaScript Flash (JSFL), the new language that you’ll use to create your Flash extensions.

These new features allow you to share code and design effects more effectively within a community or a production environment, and they also enable you to package up and reuse code within Flash, with a view to increasing productivity and decreasing production times. Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004 will show you how to:

• Speed up repetitive tasks in Flash with custom commands
• Add new tools to the toolbar for drawing any kind of shape or object on the stage
• Create automated tweens for any object onstage with Timeline Effects
• Define scripted behaviors that can easily be applied to any object
• Use these advanced extensibility tools to make Flash perform better than ever!

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction to Flash Extensibility
Chapter 2: Custom Commands
Chapter 3: Custom Tools
Chapter 4: Timeline Effects
Chapter 5: XML to UI
Chapter 6: Behaviors
Chapter 7: WindowSWF and MMExecute
Chapter 8: Flash from the Command Line
JSFL Reference Section: 140 page syntax reference!