Using Code Examples

Source files (including many that don't appear in the book) can be downloaded from the book's web site at http://www.flash-communications.net. Package names begin with the path com.oreilly.pfcs.

This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use the code in this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need to contact O'Reilly for permission unless you're reproducing a significant portion of the code. For example, writing a program that uses several chunks of code from this book does not require permission. Selling or distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O'Reilly books does require permission. Answering a question by citing this book and quoting example code does not require permission. Incorporating a significant amount of example code from this book into your product's documentation does require permission.

We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually includes the title, author, publisher, and ISBN. For example: "Programming Flash Communication Server, by Brian Lesser et al. Copyright 2005 O'Reilly Media, Inc., 0-596-00504-0."

If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the preceding permission, feel free to contact us at permissions@oreilly.com.

Getting the Code Examples Working

The most common reason for being unable to get a code example to work (assuming you haven't made any typos) is a failure to set up the Flash file according to the instructions. Reread the surrounding text and follow the steps carefully. Be sure to place the code where it belongs (usually in the first frame of a layer named Scripts or Actions or in an external .as or .asc file). When compiling AS 2.0 code, be sure you've set the compiler version to ActionScript 2.0 under File Publish Settings Flash ActionScript Version.

Any code example that accesses movie clips, buttons, or text fields via ActionScript won't work unless you set the item's instance name properly. To set the instance name for a movie clip, button, or text field, select it on stage and enter the instance name on the left side of the Properties panel (Window Properties) where you see the placeholder "<Instance Name>".

Another common source of problems is failure to set a symbol's linkage identifier properly, as is necessary when accessing Library symbols from ActionScript. To set the linkage identifier for a symbol, check the Export for ActionScript and Export in First Frame checkboxes in the Symbol Properties or Linkage Properties dialog box. (These are accessible by selecting a symbol in the Library (Window Library) and choosing either Properties or Linkage from the Library panel's pop-up Options menu.) Then enter the identifier in the field labeled Identifier (which isn't active until Export for ActionScript is checked).

Read the instructions carefully to make sure you haven't confused a movie clip instance name with a symbol linkage identifier.

If you still can't get it working, download the examples from the book's web site, contact O'Reilly book support, or check the book's errata page. If all else fails, get a tutorial book on Flash or ask an experienced Flasher for help.