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The Flash Anthology:
Cool Effects & Practical ActionScript

Corrections & Typos

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First Edition: July 2004

Confirmed typos in the May 2005 reprint:

Some of the errors listed here may also apply to the previous edition (see below), although page numbers may differ slightly.

• p.52 code listing
  The initial value for this.xStep in moveIn needs to be 1, to get the button moving if this._x and _finalX are equal.

  function moveIn ()
  {
    this.xStep = 1;
    this.onEnterFrame = function ()
    {
      ...

Confirmed typos in the August 2004 reprint:

Some of the errors listed here may also apply to the previous edition (see below), although page numbers may differ slightly.

• p.36-37 step 14
  Several readers have reported problems getting the horizontal.fla example to work when they build it themselves. To clarify Step 14, once you have dragged an instance each of Option_Button, Option_Button_2, Option_Button_3, and Option_Button_4 to the stage, you must assign each an instance name matching its symbol name by typing it into the Properties panel. The Option_Button instance must be named Option_Button, the Option_Button_2 instance must be named Option_Button_2, and so on. If you don't assign these names, the ActionScript later in the example will not be able to find these buttons.
• p.37-38 step 16
  Don't bother creating guides as instructed in this step.
• p.38 step 17
  You'll find it difficult to position these text elements accurately with the mouse (especially Option 4, which must be placed outside the visible symbol editing area). Instead, create each at a convenient place on the stage, then enter the desired coordinates in the X and Y fields of the Properties panel.
• p.72 last paragraph
  This paragraph should start "To view the final project, ...".
• p.94 code listing
  EndY should be endY.
• p.96-97
  World should be created as a Movie Clip symbol, not as a Graphic.
• p.98 code listing 2
  The function declaration is missing the function name. Should be function Randomizer ()...
• p.103 step 4
  When converting the rectangle to a symbol, you must choose to make it a Movie Clip, not a Graphic.
• p.104 step 6
  When converting the rectangle to a symbol, you must choose to make it a Movie Clip, not a Graphic.
• p.121 code listing 1
  This code listing should be labelled "File: User_Drive_Motion.fla Actions : 1 (excerpt)".
• p.121 code listing 2
  This code listing should be labelled "File: User_Drive_Motion.fla Actions : 1 (excerpt)".
• p.121 code listing 2
  All four occurrences of MoveFromTo should be MoveTo.
• p.123-124 code listings
  All three code listings should be labelled "File: Flaming_Server.fla Actions : 1 (excerpt)".
• p.142 code listing
  This example fails to work as expected after a few animation cycles as the _alpha value exceeds the glowMin/glowMax bounds by more that glowStep, which causes the animation to get stuck. The solution is to set _alpha to glowMin or glowMax whenever one of these limits is exceeded. Here is the corrected code listing:

  MovieClip.prototype.Glow = function (max, min, step)
  {
    this.glowMax = max;
    this.glowMin = min;
    this.glowStep = step;
    this.glowDir = true;
    this._alpha = this.glowMin;
    this.onEnterFrame = function ()
    {
      if (this.glowDir)
      {
        this._alpha += this.glowStep;
      }
      else
      {
        this._alpha -= this.glowStep;
      }
      if (this._alpha >= this.glowMax ) {
        this.glowDir = !this.glowDir;
        this._alpha = this.glowMax;
      }
      else if (this._alpha <= this.glowMin) {
        this.glowDir = !this.glowDir;
        this._alpha = this.glowMin;
      }
    };
  };
  bulbGlow.Glow (100, 50, 5);

Confirmed typos in the July 2004 First Edition:

• p.34
  Several times in the book, in particular on this page, the reader is instructed to create "a new movie". To do this in Flash MX 2004, the user should choose to create a new Flash Document.
• p.244 step 13
  randomPlayer should be randomplayer.
• p.244 code listing 1
  randomPlayer should be randomplayer.
  trackInfo.length should be _root.tracklist.length.
  tracklist[trackNo] should be _root.tracklist[trackNo]
• p.245 paragraph 2 (following step 14)
  randomPlayer should be randomplayer.
• p.258 step 2
  'asVideo' should be 'as Video'.
• p.260 code listing 1
  file://wave_away.flv should be wave_away.flv.
• p.261 code listing 2
  file://wave_away.flv should be wave_away.flv.
• p.261 paragraph 2
  file://wave_away.flv should be wave_away.flv.
  file://video/wave_away.flv should be video/wave_away.flv.
• p.260 code listing 1
  file://match_300K.flv should be match_300K.flv.
• p.266 code listing 1
  file://match_300K.flv should be match_300K.flv.
• p.267 code listing 1
  file://match_300K.flv should be match_300K.flv.
• p.268 code listing 2
  file://match_300K.flv should be match_300K.flv.
• p.270 step 36
  file://match_300K.flv should be match_300K.flv.
  file://waterfall.flv should be waterfall.flv.
  file://lightning.flv should be lightning.flv.
• p.429 paragraph 1
  "gret" should be "great".

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