Macromedia Flash MX 2004 demystified / Shawn Pucknell, Brian Hogg, Craig Swann.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Provides information on various topics which include accessing external data sources, publishing in various formats, and creating elegant and effective ActionScripts. This book also covers topics such as Action Script 2.0 commands and standards, support for rich media, Timeline Effects and Behaviors, and more.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. 3)
• Part I The Basics
• Chapter 1 Welcome to Flash MX 2004 (p. 13)
• Why Flash Is So Pervasive (p. 14)
• Choosing Between Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004 (p. 16)
• New Features in Flash 2004 (p. 17)
• New Features in Flash MX Professional 2004 (p. 20)
• Chapter 2 Overview of the Interface and Tools (p. 23)
• Saving, Versioning, and Compacting (p. 24)
• The Start Page (p. 25)
• Getting Started with Basic Tools (p. 26)
• The Property Inspector (p. 31)
• Moving on to More Tools (p. 34)
• Customizing Your Toolbar (p. 55)
• Points to Remember (p. 56)
• Chapter 3 The Library, Symbols, and the Timeline (p. 59)
• Panels (p. 60)
• The Timeline (p. 61)
• Layers (p. 70)
• Symbols (p. 74)
• The Library (p. 88)
• Shared Libraries (p. 92)
• Points to Remember (p. 95)
• Chapter 4 Exploring Views and Panels (p. 97)
• Views (p. 98)
• The Document Properties Dialog Box (p. 103)
• The Info Panel (p. 104)
• The Align Panel (p. 105)
• Working with Color in Flash (p. 107)
• The Fill Transform Tool (p. 112)
• The Movie Explorer (p. 113)
• The Scene Panel (p. 118)
• The History Panel (p. 119)
• The Help Panel (p. 121)
• Panel Sets (p. 122)
• Points to Remember (p. 123)
• Chapter 5 Importing (p. 125)
• How to Import Assets into Flash (p. 126)
• Points to Remember (p. 138)
• Chapter 6 Animation, Effects, and Masking (p. 141)
• Traditional Animation Basics (Cel-Based Animation) (p. 142)
• Animation: Motion Capabilities and Methods in Flash (p. 146)
• Masking (p. 166)
• Timeline Effects (p. 170)
• Points to Remember (p. 179)
• Chapter 7 Behaviors (p. 183)
• How Do Behaviors Work? (p. 184)
• Points to Remember (p. 197)
• Part II ActionScript
• Chapter 8 Introduction to ActionScript (p. 201)
• What Is ActionScript? (p. 202)
• The Actions Panel (p. 203)
• Basic ActionScript (p. 209)
• Your First Actions (p. 213)
• Adding Buttons with ActionScript (p. 218)
• The All-Powerful Movie Clip (p. 220)
• Points to Remember (p. 228)
• Chapter 9 ActionScript Basics: Data and Statements (p. 231)
• Variables (p. 232)
• Data Types (p. 235)
• Operators (p. 241)
• Statements (p. 248)
• The x and y Coordinate System (p. 254)
• Points to Remember (p. 263)
• Chapter 10 ActionScript: Functions, Events, and Objects (p. 265)
• Interacting with Movies (p. 266)
• Events and Event Handlers (p. 270)
• Built-In Classes (p. 273)
• Dynamic Masks (p. 292)
• Dynamically Creating and Loading Movie Clips (p. 293)
• Shared Objects (p. 301)
• Depth Sorting (p. 305)
• Points to Remember (p. 312)
• Chapter 11 Animation and Drawing with ActionScript: The Drawing API (p. 315)
• An Introduction to the Drawing API (p. 316)
• Points to Remember (p. 344)
• Chapter 12 Components (p. 347)
• What Are Components? (p. 348)
• Using Preexisting Components (p. 349)
• Customizing Components (p. 370)
• Points to Remember (p. 388)
• Part III Elements
• Chapter 13 Text (p. 393)
• Modifying Text Fields with ActionScript (p. 394)
• HTML in Text (p. 395)
• Scrolling Text (p. 405)
• Creating Dynamic Text Fields (p. 406)
• The Selection Object (p. 408)
• The TextFormat Class (p. 411)
• The Strings Panel (p. 415)
• Small Font Support (p. 420)
• Cascading Style Sheet Support (p. 421)
• Spell Checker (p. 424)
• The Find and Replace Panel (p. 426)
• Points to Remember (p. 431)
• Chapter 14 Images (p. 433)
• Bitmap and Vector Images (p. 434)
• Bitmap Images (p. 435)
• Vector Images (p. 443)
• Transforming Bitmap and Vector Artwork (p. 448)
• Groups (p. 450)
• Points to Remember (p. 451)
• Chapter 15 Audio (p. 453)
• Preparing Audio for Use in Flash (p. 454)
• Working with Audio in Flash (p. 454)
• Interactive Audio (p. 459)
• Controlling Pan via ActionScript (p. 464)
• Loading and Playing External MP3 Files (p. 466)
• Using the onSound Complete() Method (p. 475)
• Points to Remember (p. 483)
• Chapter 16 Video (p. 485)
• The Power of Video (p. 486)
• Video Integration Options (p. 486)
• Importing Video into Flash (p. 493)
• Creating FLV Files (p. 508)
• Points to Remember (p. 511)
• Part IV Extending Flash
• Chapter 17 Accessing External Data (p. 517)
• History of External Data in Flash (p. 518)
• Introduction to ActionScript Classes (p. 519)
• Extensible Markup Language (XML) (p. 525)
• External File Formats (p. 540)
• Dynamic Data Sources (p. 542)
• Points to Remember (p. 551)
• Chapter 18 Advanced Communication (p. 553)
• Flash Remoting Basics (p. 554)
• Flash Communication Server (p. 580)
• The NetConnection Debugger (p. 594)
• Points to Remember (p. 596)
• Part V Next Steps
• Chapter 19 Writing Code That Rocks: ActionScript Best Practices (p. 601)
• Variable Names (p. 602)
• Using Constants in Your Application (p. 603)
• Code Hinting (p. 603)
• Commenting Code (p. 604)
• Variable Scope (p. 606)
• General Guidelines (p. 608)
• Points to Remember (p. 623)
• Chapter 20 OOP for Flashers (p. 625)
• OOP in Theory (p. 626)
• Benefits of OOP (p. 629)
• OOP in Practice: Classes (p. 631)
• Inheritance: The extends Keyword (p. 639)
• Events with Objects (p. 642)
• More OOP Goodies (p. 645)
• Final Code for the UFO Project (p. 651)
• Points to Remember (p. 654)
• Chapter 21 Math for Flashers (p. 657)
• Physics and Math: How Much Is Needed? (p. 658)
• The Basics of Trigonometry (p. 659)
• Motion (p. 670)
• Mathematically Generated Images (p. 676)
• Points to Remember (p. 680)
• Chapter 22 3D in Flash (p. 683)
• Flash and 3D: Advantages and Limitations (p. 684)
• Prerendered 3D Graphics (p. 685)
• Real Time: Basics of 3D Programming (p. 688)
• Points to Remember (p. 710)
• Part VI Finishing
• Chapter 23 Publishing (p. 715)
• Testing Your Movie (p. 716)
• Publishing Your Movie (p. 720)
• Search Engines and Flash (p. 730)
• CD Tips, Tricks, and Issues (p. 740)
• Exporting Non-Flash Formats (p. 741)
• Points to Remember (p. 743)
• Chapter 24 Developing for Pocket Devices (p. 745)
• Background on Developing for Pocket PCs (p. 746)
• Developing Flash for Pocket PCs (p. 751)
• Points to Remember (p. 763)
• Chapter 25 Troubleshooting (p. 765)
• Using the trace() Method (p. 766)
• Using the Error Class and try...catch...finally Statements (p. 768)
• The Flash Debugger (p. 770)
• Points to Remember (p. 780)
• Chapter 26 Accessibility (p. 783)
• What Is Accessibility? (p. 784)
• Flash and Accessibility (p. 785)
• Points to Remember (p. 792)
• Chapter 27 The Flash Player (p. 795)
• Flash Player 7 Content in Earlier Players (p. 796)
• New Features of the Flash Player (p. 797)
• Points to Remember (p. 809)

Author notes provided by Syndetics