Tutorials
In ActionScript 3, you can use MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE in order to detect when the user moves the mouse in your Flash movie, but I needed something that could detect the opposite. I needed to check whether the mouse was idle or not moving. I needed to find a way to check if the mouse pointer is being still and is just staying put in the same spot. So I noodled around a bit with some code, and what I came up with was an ENTER_FRAME event listener that would constantly check for the current x and y positions of the mouse pointer to see if the values were changing. To be able to check if the values were changing, I created 2 variables for each of the coordinates - 2 variables for the x coordinates, and 2 variables for the y coordinates. I made 2 sets so that I could compare them to see if the position of the mouse pointer has changed. I had posXa & posXb for the x coordinates, and posYa & posYb for the y coordinates. And then I used stage.mouseX and stage.mouseY to alternately assign the current position of the mouse pointer to the 2 sets of variables every time the ENTER_FRAME event gets triggered. The first time the ENTER_FRAME event listener runs, the location of the mouse pointer is assigned to posXa and posYa. Then the next time it runs, the location is assigned to posXb and posYb instead. And then it just continues to alternate each time the ENTER_FRAME event gets dispatched. I have a switcher variable, which is just an integer that switches back and forth between 0 and 1, and I am using that to tell Flash to alternately assign the values to either set. The idea here is to constantly check whether the values in set A and set B are the same or not. If they are, it means that the mouse is in the same spot, and is therefore not moving. Here's the code:
- Distance Learning - Cs179.11 A - Sem 01 Sy 2012-13
July 24, 2012 Hi, everyone. So for this session, we will be starting with ActionScript. The learning resources below will teach you what ActionScript is, and how to add some ActionScript code to a Flash project - that's going to be what's covered...
- Simple As3 Collision Detection Using The As3 Hittestobject() Method
In this tutorial, we're going to learn how to create basic AS3 collision detection using the AS3 hitTestObject() method of the MovieClip class. Collision detection refers to the process of checking whether 2 or more objects are hitting each other...
- As3 Sound
Exercise Files: Sound.fla CheerfulSong.mp3 In this lesson, we're going to learn how to control sound in Flash using ActionScript 3. We're going to learn: how to load an external sound file into a Flash moviehow to play and stop the soundhow to...
- As3: Enabling The User To Submit The Contents Inside An Input Text Field
In this lesson, we're going to learn how to add some ActionScript 3 functionality that will let a user submit the contents of an input text field by clicking on a button or pressing a keyboard key. We'll create a simple example of a Flash movie...
- Preloading External Swf File Generates Error #1009: Cannot Access A Property Or Method Of A Null Object Reference
Exercise Files: Stage_Issue_Preloader.fla Stage_Issue_Load_This.fla When you're preloading a SWF file that has code that makes any reference to the stage, you might encounter this error: TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of...
Tutorials
AS3: Detecting if the Mouse is Idle or Not Moving
In ActionScript 3, you can use MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE in order to detect when the user moves the mouse in your Flash movie, but I needed something that could detect the opposite. I needed to check whether the mouse was idle or not moving. I needed to find a way to check if the mouse pointer is being still and is just staying put in the same spot. So I noodled around a bit with some code, and what I came up with was an ENTER_FRAME event listener that would constantly check for the current x and y positions of the mouse pointer to see if the values were changing. To be able to check if the values were changing, I created 2 variables for each of the coordinates - 2 variables for the x coordinates, and 2 variables for the y coordinates. I made 2 sets so that I could compare them to see if the position of the mouse pointer has changed. I had posXa & posXb for the x coordinates, and posYa & posYb for the y coordinates. And then I used stage.mouseX and stage.mouseY to alternately assign the current position of the mouse pointer to the 2 sets of variables every time the ENTER_FRAME event gets triggered. The first time the ENTER_FRAME event listener runs, the location of the mouse pointer is assigned to posXa and posYa. Then the next time it runs, the location is assigned to posXb and posYb instead. And then it just continues to alternate each time the ENTER_FRAME event gets dispatched. I have a switcher variable, which is just an integer that switches back and forth between 0 and 1, and I am using that to tell Flash to alternately assign the values to either set. The idea here is to constantly check whether the values in set A and set B are the same or not. If they are, it means that the mouse is in the same spot, and is therefore not moving. Here's the code:
var switcher:int = 0;
var posXa:Number = stage.mouseX;
var posYa:Number = stage.mouseY;
var posXb:Number = stage.mouseX;
var posYb:Number = stage.mouseY;
this.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, checkMovement);
function checkMovement(e:Event):void
{
if (switcher == 0)
{
posXa = stage.mouseX;
posYa = stage.mouseY;
switcher = 1;
}
else
{
posXb = stage.mouseX;
posYb = stage.mouseY;
switcher = 0;
}
if (posXa == posXb && posYa == posYb)
{
trace("not moving");
}
else
{
trace("moving");
}
}- Distance Learning - Cs179.11 A - Sem 01 Sy 2012-13
July 24, 2012 Hi, everyone. So for this session, we will be starting with ActionScript. The learning resources below will teach you what ActionScript is, and how to add some ActionScript code to a Flash project - that's going to be what's covered...
- Simple As3 Collision Detection Using The As3 Hittestobject() Method
In this tutorial, we're going to learn how to create basic AS3 collision detection using the AS3 hitTestObject() method of the MovieClip class. Collision detection refers to the process of checking whether 2 or more objects are hitting each other...
- As3 Sound
Exercise Files: Sound.fla CheerfulSong.mp3 In this lesson, we're going to learn how to control sound in Flash using ActionScript 3. We're going to learn: how to load an external sound file into a Flash moviehow to play and stop the soundhow to...
- As3: Enabling The User To Submit The Contents Inside An Input Text Field
In this lesson, we're going to learn how to add some ActionScript 3 functionality that will let a user submit the contents of an input text field by clicking on a button or pressing a keyboard key. We'll create a simple example of a Flash movie...
- Preloading External Swf File Generates Error #1009: Cannot Access A Property Or Method Of A Null Object Reference
Exercise Files: Stage_Issue_Preloader.fla Stage_Issue_Load_This.fla When you're preloading a SWF file that has code that makes any reference to the stage, you might encounter this error: TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of...