< Day Day Up > Using Component Methods As should be obvious by now, both the UIObject and UIComponent classes have methods that are inherited by all component instances. In addition, different component types have methods that are unique to themselves. For brevity, we'll only mention a few examples here before moving on to the exercise for this section. Common Methods The following methods are common to all component instances: move(x, y) moves a component instance to the specified x and y coordinates. For example: myButton_pb.move(100, 200); setSize(width, height) resizes a component instance to the specified width and height values. For example: myButton_pb.setSize(250, 150); getFocus() returns a value of the current object that has focus. For example, var myVariable:String = myButton_pb.getFocus(); assigns myVariable a string value representing the name of the component instance that currently has focus. setFocus() sets the focus to a particular component instance. For example, myButton_pb.setFocus() gives focus to the myButton_pb instance. NOTE For more information on what focus means and how it's used, see "Using the FocusManager Component" later in this lesson. There are other methods that are inherited by all instances, but these are the most common. Component-Specific Methods While most components have methods specific to themselves, most of these methods are used to do one of the following: • Add something to a component instance, such as a piece of data or a graphic • Get (return) information about a component instance; for example, what item is currently selected in a combobox • Tell (set) the component instance to do something, such as scroll up or down, or highlight a specific piece of data • Sort the component's data in a specific manner NOTE There are too many component-specific methods to list here. For a complete listing of the methods of a component class, look up its entry in the ActionScript dictionary. Component-specific methods can be found under each component listing in the Actions Toolbox section of the Actions panel. In the following exercise, we'll use component methods to dynamically insert, delete, and manipulate the data within our List component as well as to dynamically insert icon graphics. In addition, we'll use component methods to control and communicate with several other component instances. 1. Open Components3.fla. In the preceding exercise, we set up the framework for using component events via Listener objects; however, we didn't script our Listener objects to do anything when events were triggered. In this exercise, we'll insert scripts that cause the application to perform an action when these events occur. 2. With the Actions panel open and Frame 1 selected, insert the following script just below inputURL_tiListener.focusIn = function () {: 3. 4. deleteURL_pb.enabled = false; 5. 6. openURL_pb.enabled = false; 7. 8. windowOption.enabled = false; 9. 10. enableWindowGraphics(false); 11. 12. addURL_pb.enabled = true; 13. In the preceding exercise, we registered the inputURL_tiListener object to listen for the focusIn event in relation to the inputURL_ti component instance. The script we've just inserted tells the Listener object what to do when this event occurs in relation to that instance. When the user clicks inside the inputURL_ti instance (gives it focus), this script will execute. The purpose of this script is to reset various elements to their initial state. The deleteURL_pb and openURL_pb Button instances are disabled, the radio buttons within the windowOption group are disabled, the enableWindowGraphics() function is called (making the graphics associated with the radio buttons transparent), and the addURL_pb instance is enabled. We're resetting these various elements to their initial states. Other scripts we'll add shortly will change these states as the user interacts with the application; this script places these elements into the appropriate state for inputting a new URL. This will become clearer as we progress. It's important to understand that the addURL_pb button is enabled (as shown in the last line of the script) when the inputURL_ti instance is given focus for inputting a new URL. This occurs because the two instances work in tandem. When typing a URL, the user adds it to the list by clicking the addURL_pb button, requiring that instance to be enabled. We'll script the functionality that adds the URL in a moment, but first let's take a look at some of the items in the library that play an important role in one of the following steps. 3. Choose Window > Library to open the Library panel. You'll find two folders within the library that contain movie elements, as well as four additional movie clips not contained within a folder. These movie clips represent icon graphics. Here's how they'll be used by our application. When the user enters a URL containing www, not only will that URL be added to the listURL_lb instance, but our application will be scripted to detect that a www address has been entered. The appropriate icon graphic will be shown next to the URL in the list, which in this case would be the movie clip named symbolWWW. If the user enters a URL containing ftp, the symbolFTP movie clip will be used. Entering mailto causes symbolMail to be used. If none of the aforementioned URL types is entered, our app will assume that an errant URL has been added and the symbolNone movie clip will be shown next to that URL. This functionality is made possible as the result of the capability of List component instances to dynamically attach icon graphics, which are nothing more than movie clips that have been given linkage identifier names. Let's look at how one of these movie clips is set up. 4. Right-click (Control-click on a Macintosh) the symbolWWW movie clip in the library and choose Linkage from the menu that appears. This opens the Linkage Properties dialog box, which shows that this movie clip has been given a linkage name of symbolWWW. (Yes, it's the same name as the movie clip itself; it was done this way for simplicity.) The remaining three movie clips have also been given identifier names representative of their movie clip names. Giving movie clips identifier names allows us to dynamically insert them into our project as it plays, something we'll script next. 5. Click OK to close the Linkage Properties dialog box. With the Actions panel open, insert the following script just below addURL_pbListener.click = function () {: 6. 7. listURL_lb.enabled = true; 8. 9. listURL_lb.addItemAt (0, inputURL_ti.text); 10. 11. listURL_lb.selectedIndex = 0; 12. 13. listURL_lb.iconFunction = function (item:Object):String { 14. 15. var tempString:String = item.label; 16. 17. if (tempString.indexOf ("www.") >= 0) { 18. 19. return "symbolWWW"; 20. 21. } else if (tempString.indexOf ("mailto:") >= 0) { 22. 23. return "symbolMail"; 24. 25. } else if (tempString.indexOf ("ftp.") >= 0) { 26. 27. return "symbolFTP"; 28. 29. } else { 30. 31. return "symbolNone"; 32. 33. } 34. 35. }; 36. 37. inputURL_ti.text = ""; 38. Because this script is inserted within the click handler of the addURL_pbListener object, it gets executed when the addURL_pb instance is clicked. Let's look at how this script works. The first line enables the listURL_lb instance, just in case it has been disabled (such as when the application is initially opened). The next line of script uses the addItemAt() method, which is available to List component instances. This method adds an item (line of information) to the specified List component instance, which in this case is the one named listURL_lb. NOTE A disabled component cannot be manipulated by the user or via ActionScript. To understand how this method works, you need to understand that each item displayed in a List component instance is actually an object with two properties named label and data. The label property holds a value representing the text displayed for the item; the data property is a hidden value associated with that label. For example, if you had a List component that displayed computer parts, the label property could be used to hold a text description of the piece of hardware, while the associated data property could be used to hold the associated part number (hidden from the user) like this: label: Monitor data: Mon359a4 label: Keyboard data: Key4e94f and so on. If the user later selected one of these items from the list, you could use a script to retrieve either the label or data value of the selected item. The data item is the preferred choice because it contains more specific information; the label property is used mostly for readability. With this understanding, let's look at the syntax for using the addItemAt() method: nameOfListInstance.addItemAt(index, label, data); The index parameter indicates where in the list to add the new item, with 0 being the top of the list. The label parameter represents the text you want to display for the new item. The data parameter represents any hidden value you would like to associate with the new item. The data parameter is optional, and omitting it will cause the label and data properties of the newly added item to contain the same value. As you can see in the script we inserted, the method is set up to add a new item to index 0 (which, again, is the topmost position on the list), and the value assigned to the label property of this newly added item is the text currently displayed in the inputURL_ti instance (what the user has entered). Because we're not using the optional third parameter in the method call, the label and data properties contain the same value when the item is added to the list. NOTE Items shown in List component instances have index numbers (beginning with 0), indicating their position in the list. Thus, the first item in the list has an index of 0, the second has an index value of 1, and so on. The third line of the script assigns a value to the selectedIndex property of the listURL_lb instance. This will set and highlight the item at index 0, which will always be any newly added item. The next several lines of script set the iconFunction property of the listURL_lb instance. The value of this property specifies a function to execute when a new item is added to the list. This function is used to add an icon to the newly added item by returning a string value, representative of the identifier name of the icon to use (as discussed in Step 3). Let's look at how this function works. When this function is executed, it's passed an object that we've named item. This object has two properties named label and data. The values of these properties are the same as the label and data properties as defined in the addItemAt() method call we just discussed. If our method call looked similar to this: myList.addItemAt(0, "fruit", 47); the object passed to iconFunction would have a label property value of "fruit" and a data property value of 47. The value of one or both of these passed properties is used by the function to determine the name of the icon to attach. The function's first action creates a variable named tempString. This variable is assigned a value based on the label property of the object passed to the function. If the user is adding the URL www.derekfranklin.com, for example, tempString will be assigned that URL as its value. Next, a series of conditional statements is used to determine whether the value contained in tempString includes www., mailto:, ftp., or none of these. As a result, the function will return a string value representing the linkage identifier name of the movie clip in the library to use. The last line in the script clears the inputURL_ti instance of the URL the user has entered, allowing the user to quickly add another URL. Let's test our project. 6. Choose Control > Test Movie. When the application appears, click inside the inputURL_ti instance. Notice that the addURL_pb instance immediately becomes enabled, as scripted in Step 2. Enter a URL and click the Add button to enable the listURL_lb URL and add it to the list. The URL is highlighted, the appropriate icon is attached, and the inputURL_ti instance is cleared of text and ready for the next entry, as we scripted in Step 5. Let's return to the authoring environment to add a few more scripts. 7. Close the test movie to return to the authoring environment. With the Actions panel open and Frame 1 selected, insert the following script just below listURL_lbListener.focusIn = function () {: 8. 9. addURL_pb.enabled = false; 10. 11. deleteURL_pb.enabled = true; 12. 13. openURL_pb.enabled = true; 14. 15. windowOption.enabled = true; 16. 17. enableWindowGraphics(true); [...]... the application handles these activities Delete all the URLs from the list to see how the application reacts Component properties, events, and methods allow you to quickly create useful and responsive applications 12 Close the test movie to return to the authoring environment Save this file as Components4.fla In the sections that follow, we'll tweak the application's usability and appearance < Day Day... used in the following manner: getURL("http://www.derekfranklin.com", "_blank"); The first parameter specifies the URL to open; the second specifies the HTML target Our use of the getURL() action involves using two dynamic values in place of hard-coded values, as shown in this sample script The URL parameter of the getURL() action is determined by looking at the current value of the listURL_lb instance... script we added in Step 2 is executed, resulting in the Add button being enabled and the elements in the bottom half of the application becoming disabled This interactivity is all being managed through component events that make creating a responsive application simple and straightforward Let's return to the authoring environment to script the Delete and Open buttons and wrap up this exercise 9 Close . Up > Using Component Methods As should be obvious by now, both the UIObject and UIComponent classes have methods that are inherited by all component. these are the most common. Component- Specific Methods While most components have methods specific to themselves, most of these methods are used to do one