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How to Swap Depth using AS3 via setChildIndex

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:20:00 +0000

How to swap depth using AS3 via setChildIndex. This will fix the Warning: 1060: Migration issue: The method getNextHighestDepth is no longer supported. For reference, here is how depth management was done using AS2:

mc.onRollOver = function():Void
{
// move current movie clip forward to the next highest depth
this.swapDepths(this._parent.getNextHighestDepth());
}

Here's how to swap depth in Actionscript 3. Use the setChildIndex method to changes the position of an existing child in the display object container with the instances name "holder_mc". This affects the layering of child objects. This example used below attaches a movie clip from the library three times. That movie clip Linkage class is named "MyMC". Inside of that movie clip is a nested movie clip not a graphic shape. I made sure to use a nested movie clip so we could dynamically attach variable and target them later via the mouse event.

// loop through to create three mc's on stage
for (var i:int = 0; i <3; i++) {
var myColor:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
myColor.color = (Math.random() * 0xFFFFFF);
var mc:MovieClip = new MyMC();
mc.x = ((i * 80) + mc.width);
mc.y = 100;
mc.id = i;
mc.name = "b"+i;
mc.transform.colorTransform = myColor;
mc.buttonMode = true;
mc.addEventListener (MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, swapDepths);
holder_mc.addChild (mc);
}

function swapDepths (e:MouseEvent):void {
var mc:MovieClip;
mc = e.target.parent;
trace (mc.id);
holder_mc.setChildIndex (holder_mc.getChildByName("b"+mc.id), (holder_mc.numChildren - 1));
}

The most important part above is the setChildIndex referencing the current child by name (getChildByName) and finding the highest index number (numChildren-1) for placement.

PHP Lesson 1 – First PHP Script

admin — Mon, 02 May 2005 00:22:11 +0000

If you are new to PHP, this is for you. Here you will learn how to create and run a PHP web page for the first time. Introduction In this tutorial you will learn how to run a PHP script. Open a text editor application. Be sure to use a simple text editor, nothing like MS Word because a big text programs will add extra characters and bugs to your code. Advertisement In order to run PHP, you are going to need a web server with PHP installed. We recommend iPowerWeb.com for only $7.50 with Unlimited Disk Space, Subdomains, and Emails Accounts. Another requirement for running PHP scripts on a server is the extension file name format. By default you must use a ".php" extension on your PHP web page files. Other extensions that may work depending on you server are ".php3" and ".php4". O. K. Let's start on our first script. To begin a block of PHP statements we need to start it with a PHP open tag: or And now we end our code with a closer tag: ?> Lets create a new file and name it "first.php". Type the code below (or copy and past it) in to the file named "first.php" and upload it to your server: Now access the url page through the browser to see the out put. It should read: Hello World! Note that if you view the source html code from the browser application, all php code is hidden. It was all parsed (processed) before the browser application could view the page. Structure You can structure the PHP code all on one line if you prefer like this: You can also use the short start tag " You can also change the "print" function to "echo" or "return" functions and achieve the same results like this: or You can also combine HTML and PHP all in one page like this: newsourcemedia.com You can also use more then on line for the string of data like this: or Tryout some of these above samples. You can also change the statement inside the quotes if you like to see if all still goes well. Understanding the Code Let take a look at how the code works. We already know from above that "" are the start and end PHP tags. Next we used three deferent word: "print", "echo" and "return". These word commands are built-in PHP Functions that outputs data (you'll learn soon how to build your own functions). A Function is a command that performs an action and is modified by other data usually supplied to it. The data ( a collections of characters or a "string") is usually always placed inside single or double quotes. Most functions must have parentheses after their name like function( ). However the three functions we have use above are exempted from that role. Lastly, we used a semicolon ";". The semicolon tell PHP that this is the end of the line of code and to execute this line of code. Most programmers forget to end there code with the semicolon. You will find that most of the reasons for your codes not working properly is that you forgot as well. Summary In this tutorial you learned how to use a text editor to create a PHP script, how to name your PHP files, how to start and end blocks of code with start and end tags, how to output data to the browser with functions, and how to combine PHP and HTML codes. This is just the tip of the iceberg so be sure to click here to check out our other tutorials on PHP.

If you like our script, please rate it!

PHP Lesson 2 – Add Comments

admin — Mon, 02 May 2005 00:22:11 +0000

You will save a lot of time and money if you just remember to write comments as you write your codes. Trust me, you will forget which code goes where and what it does. We all forget. This is a how-to on how to organize your scripts with different types of Introduction In this tutorial you will learn how to organize your PHP script using comments. You may feel it’s unnecessary to write comments in your code; however, comments can save you a great deal of time and money plus help you and other programmers understand your code for future revisions. If you have not read part one, please do and if you are not working on a php server, we recommend SimpleHost.com for only $7.50 with Unlimited Disk Space, Subdomains, and Emails Accounts. PHP Comment Examples For a single line comment use "two forward slashes" (//) or a "hash sign" (#) like this: // This is a single line comment. # This is also a single line comment. Multiple line comments start with a forward slash with an asterisk (/*) and ends with an asterisk with a forward slash (*/) like this: /* This is a multiple line comment. Just remember that the asterisks are always placed on the inside of the combinations. */ Combining PHP with HTML Comment Tags PHP comments, as well as PHP codes are not viewable in the browser window, nor will you find them inside the browser's view HTML source code. In order to view comments in the browser's view HTML source code, you must create comments using HTML comment tags. An HTML Comment tag starts with a less-than sign, exclamation sign and a few dashes (). Here are examples of combining PHP with HTML comments: Note: In the code above I used three blocks of code. The beginning and last blocks were PHP and the middle block was an HTML Comment. You can also have PHP output the HTML comment like this: is Alex!”; ?> PHP will output this to the browser: My name is Alex! The source html code view will look like this: My name is Alex! Summary If you have any questions, please search or post a question to the forum. You may also want to check out a few of the books listed below. Books: Professional PHP4 Programming PHP and MySQL Web Development

PHP Lesson 3 – Creating Functions

admin — Mon, 02 May 2005 00:22:11 +0000

How to create Functions in PHP and also how to Pass Variables to Functions. Introduction: You will need to have a PHP web server for this tutorial. We recommend SimpleHost.com for only $7.50 with Unlimited Disk Space, Subdomains, and Emails Accounts. PHP has hundreds of predefined functions (maybe thousands). This tutorial gives examples on how to create your own php functions. There are two rules I would like to share with you before we start. Rule 1: Make sure your new function name does not exhist. You can check PHP.net for a complete list of PHP predefined functions. Rule 2: Do not declare/define the same function more than once inside the same file. You will get an error. OK, let's create our first function. This function will display a text advertisement. We will call this function ads().

Source Code

Now you can display the same ad however many times you want just by calling the function ads().

Passing Values to Functions:

Let's say we want to randomly display three ads. We could do this by placing three text ads inside our ads() function and then passing a random value to it, to indicate which ad to display. We can do this by using a parameter variable inside the function. For example $n will be the variable and this is how it is placed inside our ads function like so "ads($n)". This variable holds a copy of the value passed to it. Now we need to set $n to a random number between 1 and 3. We can do this by using one of PHP pre-defined functions called rand(). If you want a random number between 1 and 3 (inclusive), for example, use "rand (1, 3)". To make this a little more clear, view the code below:

Source Code

// first define the function function ads($n) { $a = "http://newsourcemedia.com"; if($n == 1) echo "Visit NewSourceMedia.com for free tutorials"; if($n == 2) echo "NewSourceMedia.com for PHP and much more!"; if($n == 3) echo "PHP is Number One!" } // end of function

// define the random value for $n $n = rand (1, 3); // now call the function ads() with the value $n ads($n); ?>

Array: Lesson Part 1

admin — Sat, 28 Feb 2004 00:22:11 +0000

Learn PHP arrays and how easy it is to store and organize complex data structures.

Introduction:

You may already know about PHP variables, and how unfortunately you can only store only one value at a time. But now lets move on to a new type of variable called an array. Arrays allow you to store as many values as you want inside it. It keeps track of the information by indexing the data by a number or a string. Think of a variable as a bottle of soda. And think of an array as a case of sodas, or a warehouse of sodas. Elements in an Array Example: Values: (“Bart”, “Sharon”, “Betty”) Index Number: (0, 1, 2) Which Element? (First, Second, Third) The index always starts as zero. This easy to forget, so if you did not get what you expected when outputting a value in an array, the chances are that you started counting at one instead of zero. Creating Arrays Use the Array() Function: $states = array (“NY”, “PA”, “CA”) You can now access the second element by the index “1”: echo “$state[1]”; This will display as “PA”. Creating or Adding to Arrays with Array Identifier:

$states[] = “NY”; $states[] = “PA”; $states[] = “CA”; The values will be listed in the same line order as to when they where set. You can also place them in the order you want by using the index number placed inside the square brackets like so:

$states[1] = “PA”; $states[2] = “CA”; $states[0] = “NY”; When using the identifier with an index number to set the value, be sure never to set the index number too high. For example, if there are only 3 elements in an array and you want to add a new value to the end of the array, you must use the index number [3]. The safe way to achieve this would be not to use an index number and just leave the square brackets blank like so:

$state = array(“NY”, “PA”, “CA”); // add a new state to the end of the our array of states $state[] = “OH”; Conclusion: This is just Part 1 of PHP Array Tutorials for developing your on web programs. Be sure to read our Part 2 "Complex Data Arrays" to help you master arrays and create more dynamic web applications.

The Flexibility of PHP

admin — Tue, 02 Dec 2003 00:22:11 +0000

To find out more about the flexibility of PHP and what it can do for your website, then this is a must see, 3 chapter story. Take a look at this and then look at the wonders. The master flexibility of PHP is unstoppable. If you already heard of PHP, then you know what I am exactly talking about. PHP can be used in a number of things, ranging from making photo albums that visitors can upload photo from their computer or even creating a script to showing how many users online, or even a Content Management System (CMS). PHP is a definite, must learn language if you want the most ultimate performance in web designing today. But what exactly can fPHP flex out to be, well let's do a small test, now I know you see this every where, even on here (New Source Media), but let's take one diagnostic test, upload this to a blank Notepad document: ); phpinfo(
); echo 'Your are running on ' . phpversion . ' version'; ?> That will process out what I like to call, PHP Summary, which will show the credentials of who made PHP, the latest PHP Information and the PHP version. If it does not work, contact me cause it is compiled. PHP also has a variety of other things, but just like with me, you have to learn, to get more details, re-locate to http://www.php.net. Thanks and look for more of my PHP tutorials.