North Bay Multimedia Association

Events - September ActionScript Salon

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Actionscript Salon #5: Preloading Content

Who: Marc Tanenbaum
When: Monday, September 15, 2003
Time: 6:30 PM Q&A, networking; 7:00-8:15 PM program; 8:15-9:00 PM Q&A
Where: The Art Institute of California, 1170 Market Street, San Francisco, CA (Directions)
Cost: Free to NBMA members; $10 for Non-members; $5 for Students.
Register: Members and non-Members, please pre-register with Acteva to hold your spot.
Info Contact: Marc Tanenbaum.

The North Bay Multimedia Association presents a continuing series of topics on programming inside the Flash environment. Actionscript is a powerful, built-in language that operates from within Flash, and is at the heart of all truly dynamic swfs. Mastering Actionscript can transport your websites and other Flash files from glorified Powerpoint presentations into the realm of full-featured applications.

PLEASE NOTE LOCATION: 1170 Market Street, San Francisco

Almost every new Flash creator is faced with the problem of developing a preloader. This might be as simple as creating a progress bar or a percentage counter. But that’s just the beginning. Whenever we go to the server to request information -- whether we’re talking about an external movie, sound, variable file or XML file -- we need to give Flash some time to capture and process that information.

This month at the Actionscript Salon, we’ll talk about the nature of preloading: ensuring that content is loaded before it is used. At the end of this Salon, you’ll understand the nature of asynchronous events, and how you can structure your files to avoid many common pitfalls associated with them.

This Salon is not yet rated: Intermediate

Beginner: basic understanding of fundamental concepts, button control, handlers, properties, variables, etc.
Intermediate: complex math operations, arrays, objects, functions, bitwise operations, debugging, dynamic movieclip control.
Advanced: XML, server-side integration, remoting, multi-dimensional arrays, AI.

Marc Tanenbaum is the NBMA Web SIG leader. He is a writer, designer and Flash developer. He hangs out at flashmxfiles.com, flashgoddess.com and bit-101.com forums where he dispenses Flash and Actionscript advice to the unwary.

The Actionscript Salons are presented with the support of The Arts Institute of California – San Francisco.