Moving from Flash AS2 to Flash AS3: Button Press
Lately, I’ve begun dedicating my time towards learning Actionscript 3.0. I’ve been told that Actionscript 3.0 is a bit tricky, but very powerful once you get the hang of it. However, when I came across a simple button press, I realized this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.
The simple button press is probably one of the most used features for Flash users. With Actionscript 3.0, this has changed quite a bit. This is why this tutorial will directly focus on just that.
Getting Started with AS3: Button Press
The AS3 code below will show you how to add interactivity to a button using ActionScript 3.0. It will also give you a glimpse of how the structure of ActionScript 3.0 has changed the face of ActionScript…for the better.
AS3 Code
//imports the necessary AS events
import flash.events.Event
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
//attaching mouse events to the button on stage
rssButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, rssClick);
rssButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, rssMouseOut);
rssButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, rssMouseOver);
rssButton.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onEnterFrames);
//Properly declaring variable
var box_color_play:Number;
//On mouse clicked function
function rssClick(event:MouseEvent):void {
eventNotice.text = "MOUSE CLICKED";
}
//On mouse out function
function rssMouseOut(event:MouseEvent):void {
eventNotice.text = "MOUSE OUT";
box_color_play = 0;
}
//On mouse over function
function rssMouseOver(event:MouseEvent):void {
eventNotice.text = "MOUSE OVER";
box_color_play = 1;
}
//Function in place used for on ENTER_FRAME event animation
function onEnterFrames(event:Event)
{
if ((rssButton.box_color.currentFrame != rssButton.box_color.totalFrames) || (rssButton.box_color.currentFrame != 0)) {
if (box_color_play == 1) {
rssButton.box_color.nextFrame();
}
if (box_color_play == 0) {
rssButton.box_color.prevFrame();
}
}
};
Additional Resources:
Video Tutorial brought to you by Justin Everett-Church
The tutorial will go into depth on how to go about creating an interactive button inside of Adobe Flash using Actionscript 3.0.
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15 Comments
jed
03.25.2008
exactly what i was looking for.
thx
solo1artist
03.25.2008
No problem.
simon
11.22.2008
in as3 wat is the code for gotoAndPlay and nextFrame because i can’t use the bone and 3d tool in as2
pls help me
Tom
12.01.2008
Switching to AS3 today. Yep first thing I ran into.
Angel
12.02.2008
That’s cool! I plan to continue this series of “Moving From AS2 to AS3″ very soon.
Taher
01.07.2009
God bless you!
Jez
01.25.2009
This is nearly exactly what I am looking for.
I need a button to link to a URL is this possible with this file?
our help is much appreciated.
Thanks.
Angel
01.25.2009
@Jez: Yeah, this example uses that exact functionality.
sangjolie
02.04.2009
thanks….btw how about multi button? if I have more than 1 button?
Jan
02.05.2009
Great button and tutorial. One question, do new buttons not show the hand when you hover over them? anyway to get the hand back?
thanks
Jan
02.05.2009
Never mind my last question. I figured it out.
// if you want a hand cursor
rssButton.buttonMode = true;
rssButton.useHandCursor = true;
Angel
02.05.2009
Yeah, that is something that needs to turned on if desired.
PoteN
08.01.2009
Thanks for the post and thanks Jan! Saved me a lot of time.
Ronald
09.11.2010
This is truly excellent tutorial of a Mouse Button rollover, click, etc. I had an excellent time creating button out of this!
srigiri
10.24.2010
Thanks for the post Jan Appreciated your help…
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