Hidden features/tricks of Flash development, Flash language (AS2/3), and Flash IDE

actionscript-3 flash actionscript ide
Artem Russakovskii picture Artem Russakovskii · Jul 21, 2009 · Viewed 7.2k times · Source

Guys, I am thoroughly surprised that there is no Flash Hidden Features post yet in the Hidden Features series that I've been tracking for a while now.

There is a recent AS3/Flex one but it's not very active and I don't exactly mean just AS3 when I say Flash here.

The Hidden Features series is great for people who are new to a certain language. It shows the ropes and certain valuable tricks, all in one place. I think it's a brilliant idea. Even experts sometimes find tricks they'd never heard about.

When I started with Flash, I was taken aback by the Flash IDE and odd concepts of Flash, compared to other programming languages.

So, here goes: what are some hidden features of Flash as a language (AS2/3) and the Flash IDE?

Let the fun begin.

Answer

enzuguri picture enzuguri · Jul 30, 2009

[AS3] Tips for working with arrays or Vectors

Fastest way through an array, always from the back

var i:int = array.length;
var item:Object;
while(i--)
{
   item = array[i];
}

Clearing an array,

//faster than array = []
array.length = 0;

//garbage friendly
while(array.length)
{
    array.pop();
}

Pushing and splicing

//faster than array.push();
array[array.length] = "pushed value";

//faster than splice(index, 1)
var index:int = array.indexOf(splicee);
array[index] = null;
array.splice(array.length, 1);

Cloning

//fastest way to clone
var newArray:Array = array.concat();

//fastest manipulation
var mapFunction:Function = function(item:Object, index:int, source:Array):Object
{
    return //your cloning or morphing here
}
var newArray:Array = array.map(mapFunction);

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