December 08th 2002 | Jacek Artymiak

ActionScripting in Flash MX

The introduction of Flash MX convinced many authors and publishers that ActionScript deserves a separate book. I am happy to report that "ActionScripting in Macromedia Flash MX" by Phillip Kerman is one of the best ActionScript titles on the market.

Title: ActionScripting in Flash MX
Author: Phillip Kerman
Pages: 702
CD: no
ISBN: 0-7357-1295-6
Publisher: New Riders

ActionScript has grown into a language whose descriptions no longer fit into thick general Flash books. One of the first (if not the first) authors to notice that trend was Colin Moock. "ActionScripting in Macromedia Flash MX" by Phillip Kerman is another brilliant book on this topic.

Unlike the books in the "... Magic" series, which are aimed at beginners and (as I see it) at Flash instructors looking for books for classroom use, "ActionScripting ..." belongs to the class of titles that I call "classics," i.e. I keep them on a nearby shelf, and use almost daily. And this is not because I'm thick as a plank of wood, but because the layout and the presentation of the material makes it very easy to find what I am are looking for.

Why am I so enthusiastic about this title? The reasons are numerous, some are subjective, like the book's readability or style, while others are fairly objective, like the depth and the breadth of the coverage of the material and the amount of practical advice. For example, when Phillip describes new Flash MX drawing functions, he also presents plenty of additional information on coordinates, shape transformations, gradients, and so on. All information relevant is almost always where it should be. When you read it, you can clearly see that Phillip went into a lot of trouble to collect, compile and present a lot of information that an ActionScript coder might ever need.

The book is divided into two parts: Foundation and Workshops. Part I is one of the best ActionScript tutorials you will find. It assumes that you know the basics of Flash MX, and if you are just starting with Flash MX, you might consider buying "Inside Flash MX" (by Jody Keating), which just happens to be one of the best general Flash MX books, to help you understand all of the rest of what Flash MX is. (Experimental art fans will probably be better off buying "Interactive Sketchbook" instead of Inside Flash MX, because it is a more 'artistic' introduction to Flash MX. I raved about it some time ago.)

Phillip begins Part I with a discussion of what is new in Flash MX. As is typical of this book, you not only get a detailed introduction, but also a bunch of tips on workplace customization. Next, the readers get a quick explanation of how a programmer sees ActionScript, what she/he does, and why. Then, Phillip teaches the readers how to program in ActionScript. It is a short programming course that explains what are statements, variables, loops, conditional constructs, data structures, syntax, and debugging and so on. Next, the author discusses Movie Clip objects, functions and string processing. After that it's time for interacting with the keyboard, arrays and objects (existing in ActionScript, and your own).

Once you master these intermediate subjects, Phillip takes us on the tour of extending ActionScript, components, and working with external data. And that's what you will find on the first 460 pages. "ActionScripting ..." would be a good book, if the author stopped at this point, but (fortunately for us) he didn't and gave us an excellent book.

The second part, Workshops, builds on the material presented in part I. Flash plug-in detection, custom cursors, sliders, and very interesting chapters on scripted masks, clickable areas, timers, timed animations, graphs, and a lot more.

Workshops are a great resource for both Flash users and Flash tutors, who are looking for interesting course material (just remember the copyright issues, in case of doubt, write to Phillip). All source files for projects and demo versions of the software described in this book are available on-line.

"ActionScripting ..." will no doubt suffer from comparisons with Colin Moock's classic, but it's author has nothing to fear. His book is very well done, contains a bags of tips, and plenty of solid information that all ActionScript coders need badly. Out of many Flash MX books, this one is the one that you will use over and over again. For less than $40, I consider it a bargain.

PS. Yes, "ActionScripting ..." is a strong competitor to Colin Moock's "ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition" and I would have a lot of trouble if someone asked me to choose between them. Get both! ;-)

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