Class #1 - Monday, May 12th, 2008


  1. Email note about this class #1 review page regarding your JOURNAL ENTRY for preview on Tuesday, but that is due on Wednesday.

  2. Here is the Flash Application that we did today in computer lab class session. Note: It has an extra feature to allow you to show and to hide the mouse pointer by clicking the mouse.

  3. Here is the code that we did in the ITT 138 Studio III computer lab today. You also have this on a handout.

    addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveWithMouse);
    
    Mouse.hide();
    
    function moveWithMouse(evt:Event) {
        theBall.x = mouseX; 
        theBall.y = mouseY; 
    }
    
  4. What are the three choices that you have for a text object in Flash? To see the
    input
    static       <------ Where did we set the choice from static
    dynamic                                            to dynamic?
                         Property Inspector panel.
    

  5. The following example shows the X value and the Y value of the red ball so we can see where it is on the stage. The stage is NOT the Flash default stage size of 550 by 400. Can you figure out what size it is?
    addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, followMouse);   <---- We named the function 
                                                              moveWithMouse, not
    function followMouse( evt : Event ) {                     followMouse.
        mouseX_txt.text = String(mouseX);      
        mouseY_txt.text = String(mouseY);     <---- we created X_txt and Y_txt,
    }                                                 where this example used
                                                      mouseX_txt and mouseY_txt.
    
    Note: Please IGNORE the BLUE Striker ball on the elastic rubber band! :-)

  6. Here is the code we had at the very end of class, after we created the two textboxes named x_txt and y_txt (or X_txt and Y_txt).
    addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveWithMouse);
    
    Mouse.hide();
    
    function moveWithMouse(evt:Event) {
        theBall.x = mouseX; 
        theBall.y = mouseY; 
    
        X_txt.text = String(mouseX);      X_txt is a TextBox created using
        Y_txt.text = String(mouseY);             the Flash toolbox Text tool.
    }                                     X_txt and Y_txt are instance names
    
    
  7. The mouse was patented in 1970 as an X-Y Position Indicator."
    On April 27, 1981, the first commercial computer mouse debuted as an 
        included component of the Xerox Star 8010 personal computer. So, 
        in many respects, April 27 is the "birthday" of the computer mouse.
    
    In many respects, that is, but not every—the mouse that shipped 
        with the Star 8010 was almost 20 years in the making. In fact, 
        several versions of working mice were in use before the first 
        commercial model ever went on sale.
    
    If you wanted to suggest an alternative birthday for the mouse, you 
        could make a strong argument for Nov. 17, 1970, when Douglas Engelbart 
        received U.S. Patent 3,541,541 for his design of an "X-Y Position 
        Indicator For A Display System." On paper, this is when the mouse 
        began its legally recognized life.
    
    1970: Mouse Patent and Douglas Engelbart and November 17th.

  8. The Cirplosion Game is related to today's class. We made a Circle that substitutes for and follows the X-Y Position indicator around on the stage. It doesn't do CircleXplosions, but its the first step on the journey to making a similar game to Cirplosion. Check out step two and step three and step four.

  9. Some of the terms and commands you used or heard about or saw demonstrated today:
       F6 insert a keyframe     F9 show the Actions Panel
       F8 convert to a symbol
    
       Convert what to a symbol?  Select and then Act.
    
       Property Inspector - shows properties of what?  
           Stage or Frame or ballSymbol instance or graphic Shape or Textbox?
           *** It depends on what is selected.  What did you last click?
    
       Export for ActionScript (when creating a symbol)
       Types of Symbols - Movie Clip or Button or Graphic - 3 choices
    
       addEventListener()                  mouseX                  mouseY
    
       Event.ENTER_FRAME
    
       function              left brace {              right brace }
       Event                 evt:Event                 semicolon ;
    
       Control+L to get to see Library panel
       Control+K to get the Alignment panel         Align to stage
    
       Edit a symbol
       Oval tool     Fill color      Stroke color (or no stroke)
    
       Instance name for an instance of a symbol
       Symbol name was ballSymbol in our lab
       Symbol name is ball on your handout
       The instance name we used in lab and on the handout you have 
           was theBall and ball2 was what we named a 2nd instance.
       We deleted ball2, the 2nd instance of ballSymbol.
    
       Timeline               fps (Frames Per Second) 12 or 60
    
       Where are you in Time?  Where are you in Space?  Time and Space.
       What frame number?   What layer?   FRAMES are TIME -  LAYERS are SPACE
    
       Control+Enter to Test your movie (to run your Flash application).
    
       Scrubbing with . to go forward on the timeline and , to go backward.
    
       F9 to hide or to show the Actions Panel
    
       Keyframes that are empty - hollow circle
       Keyframes that have some content - filled, black circle
    
       Motion Tween and a dropping, bouncing ball
       Ease in                    -         Ease out
       Ease in to the motion                Ease out of the motion
          Accelerate and gain speed            Decelerate and slow down
       Export for Actionscript
    
       Registration points    .  .  .
                              .  .  .  <----- center registration point
                              .  .  .
                                              upper left-hand corner is
                                              default registration point
                                              for a Symbol you create.
       X and Y and H and W properties for
                           an Oval or a Rectangle or any object, even
                                      a Textbox object.