Recipe 1.2.
Customizing the Properties of an Application
Problem
You
want to change the dimensions
of the output .swf, or its background color, frame rate,
etc.
Solution
Specify properties as ActionScript Compiler
arguments or metadata in the class file.
Discussion
Unlike earlier versions of Flash, the
ActionScript 3.0 compiler is actually a command-line compiler. Technically,
you could create all your classes and directories and run the
compiler from the command line with a long chain of parameters.
However, it's much easier to let Eclipse keep track of all those
parameters, add all of them, and run the compiler when you tell it
to run.
When you create a new ActionScript project, it
sets up default parameters that result in an 500x375 pixel
.swf, with a frame rate of 24 f rames per second (fps) and that blue
background color you've seen. You can change any of these settings
and many more. As you might expect, there are a few different ways
to do this.
The first way to change compiler settings is to
set the ActionScript compiler arguments. You do this by
right-clicking on the project in the Navigator view and choosing
Properties from the menu. Next, choose ActionScript Compiler from
the list on the left. This allows you to change several aspects of
how the compiler does its job. Look for the text field labeled
"Additional compiler arguments." Anything you type in this text
field is passed directly to the command-line compiler as an
argument.
Here are the most common arguments you will
probably be using:
-default-size width height
-default-background-color color
-default-frame-rate fps
You enter them exactly as presented, with
numbers for arguments, like so:
-default-size 800 600
-default-background-color 0xffffff
-default-frame-rate 31
The first example sets the resulting size of the
resulting .swf to 800x600 pixels. The second sets its
background to white, and the last s4ets its frame rate to 31 fps.
Multiple arguments would just be placed one after the other on the
same line, like so:
-default-size 800 600 -default-frame-rate 31
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Check the Flex Builder 2 help files for
mxmlc options to see
the full list of command-line arguments you can enter here.
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The second way to change these properties is
through metadata in your main class file. Metadata consists of any
statements that are not directly interpreted as ActionScript, but
which the compiler uses to determine how to compile the final
output files. The metadata statement that is equivalent to the
previous example looks like this:
[SWF(width="800", height="600", backgroundColor="#ffffff", frameRate="31")]
This line is placed inside the main package
block, but outside any class definitions (usually just before or
after any import statements).
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