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Flash 5 Actionscript Studio

TITLE: Flash 5 Actionscript Studio PUBLISHER: Friends of Ed ISBN: 1-903450-35-7 PAGES: 683 b/w CD: No AUTHORS: David Beard, Michael Bedar, Sham Bhangal, Richard Chu, John Davey, Justin Everett-Church, Jamie McDonald, Jose R. Rodriguez, Adam Wolff Get it now at Amazon.com

A couple of years ago the whole idea of a Flash programming book would have sounded ludicrous, never mind one that's almost seven hundred pages thick. In this current market though, if you're a Flasher who doesn't know Actionscript then you are virtually unemployable.

'Flash 5 Actionscript Studio' fits into tier 2 of the Friends of Ed learning structure. Newbies enter the fray with the 'Foundation' series, which walks you through the basics of operating the program. After this you move up to the 'Studio' series where you learn advanced skills and best practices.

Finally a select few graduate to the 'New Masters' series, the latest of which (New Masters Flash Annual 2002) was released at the end of June.

This book is divided up into three broad sections: 1. Cores Skills, 2. Specialization and 3. Case Studies.

Section 1: Core Skills
The core skills section kicks off with a potted history of Actionscript and an introduction to the new interface (edit modes, the debugger etc.). After a short section comparing traditional Flash keyframe animation with its programmatical equivalent we're into the real nitty-gritty.

Key concepts like dot notation and object oriented programming are covered early, and any user coming to Flash from a programming background will usually pick it up pretty quickly. The irony with Flash 4 was that its movie handling was always object oriented but its programming language wasn't so users migrating from version 4 generally have a harder time with the syntax.

Next we're introduced to classes, objects, properties and methods and in 'Classic Actionscript Structures' you learn about functions, smart clips, event handlers and loops. Each of the pre-defined objects is explained fully and is accompanied by a working code example. I found the examples to be well written and relevant and unlike a lot of earlier Flash books they don't mix old and new syntax - this is all strictly Flash 5 flava.

The last part of the Core Skills section is a very welcome treatise on Project Structure. Since the introduction of LoadMovie in version 4 there has been a veritable explosion of sites built entirely in Flash. As these sites have become more and more adventurous (by pure necessity) there has been a need to understand modular site architecture. The important points made here are backed up by a real world case study.

Section 2: Specialization
The Specialization section presents a number of chapters on advanced Actionscript including interface design, sound, 3D, games, XML and Generator.

The UI design section kicks us off with a reminder of usability issues and a tutorial on building menus from simple SmartClips.

Next up is the sound chapter in which we build a mixing desk and explore the sound object. This includes useful tips on effects and transforms and related topics such as shared libraries.

Methods of implementing 3D are discussed next. Several ways of faking it are explored first before we build a real time 3D engine. As a useful learning tool to introduce the concept of matrices we build a matrix calculator in Flash.

In the games chapter we plan and build a simple Lunar Lander game. The emphasis is on process. Analyse the problem. Creatie a list of required functions. Then write them.

The XML tutorial is one of the most comprehensive and insightful tutorials I have yet read on the Flash implementation of XML.

Not only are we taught how to use it but David Beard puts it in context by explaining why to use it. With careful use of generic Javascript and XML he shows how you can create dynamic Flash pages from external script files. The beauty being that the person writing the script files doesn't need to know how the Flash works.

A quick rattle through Generator (offline and online) and then we end on a lovely chapter called 'Creativity in Practice'. Essentially it is an introduction to project management, collaborative working and information architecture. This is very much in keeping with the 'Studio' series of books. Commercial Flash design is less of a solitary experience these days and this is a good introduction to the real world.

Section 3: Case Studies
The third section explores two case studies in detail. Both of the studies bring all the concepts from the preceding chapters together.

Rather than bundle a CD, Friends of Ed have opted to make all the code examples available for download from their website. Â£40 sounds like a lot for book but at almost 700 pages you get a lot of bang for your buck. I'd pick it up for David Beard's XML tutorial alone.