4.2. Differences Between Flash ActionScript and Server-Side ActionScript

Since Flash 5, client-side ActionScript has been based on the ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers Association) standards, as is JavaScript. The standard language is named ECMAScript and is defined in ECMA-262 available at: http://www.ecma-international.org. Client-side Flash ActionScript has never completely conformed to the ECMAScript standard because Macromedia developed the language with its unique needs and backward compatibility in mind. Client-side ActionScript has also evolved over time. The earlier implementation supported in Flash MX (and still supported in Flash MX 2004) has been retroactively dubbed ActionScript 1.0. The latest implementationsupported in Flash MX 2004 and closer to ECMA compliance than earlier implementationsis named ActionScript 2.0. For more information on the differences between Flash ActionScript 1.0 and ECMAScript, see Appendix D in ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly). For details on ActionScript 2.0 and how it diverges from the ECMA standards, see Essential ActionScript 2.0, also from O'Reilly.

Contrary to client-side ActionScript, Server-Side ActionScript conforms to the ECMAScript standard because Macromedia used the Mozilla Spidermonkey JavaScript 1.5 interpreter in FlashCom. More information on it and JavaScript 1.5 are available here:

http://www.mozilla.org/js

This section outlines the differences that you should watch out for between client-side ActionScript and Server-Side ActionScript.

4.2.1. Case-Sensitivity

Server-Side ActionScript is always case-sensitive, while client-side ActionScript may not be. In Flash 5 and Flash MX, most ActionScript is not case-sensitive. For example, in Flash MX, myVariable and MyVariable refer to the same variable. In server-side scripts, they do not.

Many developers continue to be confused by the case-sensitivity rules in Flash MX 2004, which depend in part on the version (SWF format) and ActionScript version (compiler version) chosen under File Publish Settings Flash. Realize first that we are talking about two different issues for client-side ActionScript: compile-time case-sensitivity and runtime case-sensitivity. The ActionScript 1.0 compiler is not case-sensitive, whereas the ActionScript 2.0 compiler is. However, runtime case-sensitivity is a function of the version of the SWF format to which you export, not the ActionScript version used at compile time nor the version of the Flash Player plugin in which the file is played.

Runtime case-sensitivity is summarized in Table 4-1, reproduced from Colin Moock's Essential ActionScript 2.0. Note that ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0 are both case-sensitive when exported in Flash Player 7-format .swf files and played in Flash Player 7. In other runtime cases, code is case-insensitive subject to the exceptions cited in the footnotes to the table.

Table 4-1. Runtime case-sensitivity support by language, file format, and Flash Player version

Movie compiled as either ActionScript 1.0 or 2.0 and	Played in Flash Player 6	Played in Flash Player 7
Flash Player 6-format .swf file	Case-insensitivea	Case-insensitivea
Flash Player 7-format .swf file	Not supportedb	Case-sensitive

aIdentifiers (i.e., variable and property names), function names, frame labels, and symbols export IDs are case-insensitive in Flash Player 6-format .swf files. But reserved words such as if are case-sensitive, even in Flash Player 6.

bFlash Player 6 cannot play Flash Player 7-format .swf files.

Regardless of whether you are writing client-side ActionScript or SSAS, we strongly recommend maintaining consistent usage of upper- and lowercase in all your code to avoid problems.

If you are careful to always capitalize names in the same way and never use capitalization to distinguish between variable names or other identifiers, you shouldn't have any problems. However, in JavaScript it is a common practice to use capitalization to distinguish between the name of a constructor function and an instance of a class, as follows:

function User (  ) {
}
// The user variable holds an instance of the User class
user = new User( );

In Flash 5 and Flash MX, this would essentially disable the constructor, but in SSAS, the difference in capitalization means that User (the class) and user (a variable holding an instance of the class) are different entities. A common practice to avoid confusion is to append the word "Class" onto the constructor function name:

function UserClass (  ) {
}
user = new UserClass(  );

4.2.2. Working with Inheritance

Server-Side ActionScript does not support the formal definition of classes and interfaces supported by client-side ActionScript 2.0. SSAS supports prototype-based inheritance but is a little different from Flash ActionScript 1.0. Flash MX added the super operator to client-side ActionScript to make it easy to call the constructor function and methods of a superclass. Although super is not part of the ECMAScript version 3 language defined in ECMA-262, it is proposed for a future version of the standard. The super operator is not available in SSAS. However you can permit a subclass to access the constructor and methods of a superclass in a number of ways in SSAS. Example 4-1 shows one way to call the constructor and methods of a superclass in SSAS.

Example 4-1. Calling the constructor and methods of a superclass in SSAS

SuperClass = function (a) {
  this.a = a;
};

SuperClass.prototype.method = function ( ) {
  trace("SuperClass method called. a is: " + this.a);
};

SubClass = function (a, b) {
  SuperClass.apply(this, arguments);
  this.b = b;
};

SubClass.prototype = new SuperClass( );
SubClass.constructor = SubClass;

SubClass.prototype.method = function ( ) {
  trace("In Subclass method. a and b: " + this.a + ", " + this.b);
  SuperClass.prototype.method.apply(this, arguments);
};

subClass = new SubClass(1, 2);
subClass.method( );

An excellent discussion of object-oriented programming and prototype-based inheritance using JavaScript is available in JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition (O'Reilly) by David Flanagan. Flanagan's book is especially useful for server-side scripting as it covers JavaScript 1.5the exact same language as SSAS.

Prototype-based inheritance issues in Flash 5 and Flash MX and the various options for implementing inheritance without using super in Flash are discussed in detail here:

http://www.quantumwave.com/flash/inheritance.html

While the discussion centers around Flash, it is also a valuable resource for server-side scripting.

Many of the communication objects available cannot be subclassed using these sorts of techniques. For example, shared objects are not created by calling a constructor function. Instead, they are created via a static method such as SharedObject.getRemote( ) on the client or get( ) on the server. Often there are better ways to work with the communication classes than inheriting from them. See Chapter 15 for more details.

4.2.3. Single Execution Context

Client-side ActionScript provides a special _global object that provides a place to store global variables that exist outside the scope of the timeline. For example:

// Assume a _global object already exists.
_global.x = 3; // OK in client-side AS; however, error in SSAS.
trace (x);     // Will output: 3 in Flash MX and later.

In client-side ActionScript, if a variable is not found on the timeline and the _global object has a property of the same name, the _global object's property is accessed.

In SSAS there are no timelines. All server-side code executes in one global context that is associated with each application instance. So there is little point to providing a special _global object. You can create an object named _global, but it will not work as it does in client-side ActionScript. In general, you should avoid creating an object named _global in SSAS because it doesn't add anything and may create problems if you are using Flash Remoting (see Chapter 11).

When loaded into a main.asc file, the netservices.asc file creates a new _global object and assigns properties to it. The RecordSet.asc file also adds properties to the _global object. Furthermore, netservices.asc adds the unshift( ) and registerClass( ) methods to the Object class; since all classes inherit from Object, every object shows these methods when its properties are enumerated with a for-in loop. Chapter 11 contains additional information on dealing with these inconveniences. If you must use a _global object in SSAS, you should check whether it already exists before creating your own and be careful to avoid collisions with the _global properties defined in netservices.asc.

4.2.4. Accessing Undefined Variables

It is common to see tests for undefined variables in client-side ActionScript as follows:

if (xyz == undefined) {        // Don't do this on the server!
  trace("xyz is undefined.");
}

However, the preceding code will throw a reference error on the server because the variable xyz does not exist. To get around this, use the typeof operator, as follows:

if (typeof xyz == "undefined") {
  trace("xyz does not exist");
}

Using typeof is not necessary within the body of a function where the variable is local by virtue of being declared using var or passed in via the function's parameter list. The following is okay in SSAS as well as in client-side ActionScript:

var xyz;
if (xyz == undefined) {
  trace("xyz is undefined.");
}

And so is this:

someFunction = function (xyz) {
  if (xyz == undefined) {
    trace("xyz is undefined.");
  }
};

4.2.5. try/catch/finally Statements

If you look through the server-side communication components code in the scriptlib/components folder, you will see frequent use of try/catch statements. For example, the server-side FCChat component is guaranteed to be defined only once by placing the definition within a catch block:

try {var dummy = FCChat;} catch (e) { // #ifndef FCChat
  // The FCChat class is defined here...
}

The try/catch/finally statement is supported in client-side ActionScript 2.0, but AS 2.0 does not support runtime type and reference checking. For details on try/catch/finally in ActionScript 2.0, see the chapter on exception handling in Essential ActionScript 2.0. For a description of how to use try, catch, finally, throw, and Error objects in JavaScript (which also applies to SSAS), see JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition.

Using try/catch statements has the advantage that errors, including type and reference errors, that would otherwise stop the execution of server-side scripts can be caught and handled. We've already seen an example of a reference error (an error caused by trying to refer to a non-existent variable). A type error occurs if you attempt to access the property of an undefined or null object. The following short SSAS script causes execution to stop when a type error occurs. If you run it using the App Inspector (a testing utility introduced in "Admin Service, Administration Console, and App Inspector" in Chapter 1 and used later under "Testing and Debugging Server-Side Script Files"), you will see the error message "status has no properties" and the last trace( ) statement will never be executed:

status = null;
trace(status.property);  // Causes a type error
trace("Unreachable trace statement.");

On the other hand, wrapping the same code in a try block makes it possible to recover from the error:

try {
  status = null;
  trace(status.property);
  trace("Unreachable trace statement.");
}
catch (e) {
  trace("Error name and message: " + e.name + ", " + e.message);
}
finally {
  trace("No matter what,this statement will be executed.");
}
trace("Processing can continue here...");

If this simple script is run in the App Inspector, the following output appears:

Error name and message: TypeError, status has no properties
No matter what, this statement will be executed.
Processing can continue here...

While ActionScript 2.0 does have a try/catch/finally statement, it does not support runtime type or reference checking. The same script run in Flash MX 2004 produces the following output, because TRace(status.property); outputs "undefined" instead of throwing an error:

undefined
Unreachable trace statement.
No matter what, this statement will be executed.

4.2.6. #include and import Versus load( )

Server-Side ActionScript uses the load( ) function in place of the #include directive (common in client-side ActionScript 1.0) to load other ActionScript source files into another script. The load( ) method is described under "Using load( ) to Include Other Script Files" later in this chapter. The import statement is not supported in SSAS, and there is no concept of class files organized into packages as there are in ActionScript 2.0. Again, see Essential ActionScript 2.0 for a full discussion of client-side ActionScript classes and packages.