fl.motion.Animator - ActionScript® 3.0 Reference for the Adobe® Flash® Platform

Package	fl.motion
Class	public class Animator
Inheritance	Animator AnimatorBase EventDispatcher Object

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flash CS3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9.0.28.0, AIR 1.0

The Animator class applies an XML description of a motion tween to a display object. The properties and methods of the Animator class control the playback of the motion, and Flash Player broadcasts events in response to changes in the motion's status. If there isn't any three-dimensional content, the Copy Motion as ActionScript command in Flash CS4 uses the Animator class. For three-dimensional content, the Animator3D class is used, instead, which shares the same base class as the Animator class but is specifically for three-dimensional content. You can then edit the ActionScript using the application programming interface (API) or construct your own custom animation.

If you plan to call methods of the Animator class within a function, declare the Animator instance outside of the function so the scope of the object is not restricted to the function itself. If you declare the instance within a function, Flash Player deletes the Animator instance at the end of the function as part of Flash Player's routine "garbage collection" and the target object will not animate.

Note: In Flash CS3, some properties and methods supported by this class were members of this class, exclusively. Flash CS4 introduced a base class, AnimatorBase, for those properties and methods of this class, and they are now shared by other classes through the inheritance chain. If you have been working in Flash CS3, notice that these properties and methods are still supported by the Animator class, but are members of the AnimatorBase class in releases of Flash Professional after Flash CS3. As with any other class in this reference, select Show Inherited Public Properties and Show Inherited Public Methods to see all of the properties and methods supported by this class.

Default MXML Propertymotion

Related API Elements

Motion XML Elements

Public Properties

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	Property		Defined By
		autoRewind : Boolean = false Sets the animation to restart after it finishes.	AnimatorBase
		constructor : Object A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.	Object
		frameEvent : String The name of the event object created by the Event.ENTER_FRAME event.	AnimatorBase
		initialPosition : Array [write-only] An array of coordinates defining the starting location of the animation.	AnimatorBase
		instanceFactoryClass : Class When creating instances with ActionScript, this is the class that creates the instance.	AnimatorBase
		isPlaying : Boolean [read-only] Indicates whether the animation is currently playing.	AnimatorBase
		motion : MotionBase The object that contains the motion tween properties for the animation.	AnimatorBase
		motionArray : Array The Array of objects that contains the motion tween properties for the animation.	AnimatorBase
		orientToPath : Boolean = false Sets the position of the display object along the motion path.	AnimatorBase
		placeholderName : String When creating instances with ActionScript, this is the instance that appears on stage that we will replace.	AnimatorBase
		positionMatrix : Matrix The Matrix object that applies an overall transformation to the motion path.	AnimatorBase
		prototype : Object [static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.	Object
		repeatCount : int = 1 Number of times to repeat the animation.	AnimatorBase
		sceneName : String A reference for exported scenes, for 3D motion, so the scene can be loaded into a parent timeline.	AnimatorBase
		spanEnd : int [read-only] Returns the frame of the target's parent on which the animation of the target ends.	AnimatorBase
		spanStart : int [read-only] Returns the frame of the target's parent on which the animation of the target begins.	AnimatorBase
		target : DisplayObject The display object being animated.	AnimatorBase
		targetName : String The name of the target object as seen by the parent DisplayObjectContainer.	AnimatorBase
		targetParent : DisplayObjectContainer The target parent DisplayObjectContainer being animated, which can be used in conjunction with targetName to retrieve the target object after it is removed and then replaced on the timeline.	AnimatorBase
		targetParentButton : SimpleButton	AnimatorBase
		targetState3D : Array The initial orientation for the target object.	AnimatorBase
		time : int A zero-based integer that indicates and controls the time in the current animation.	AnimatorBase
		transformationPoint : Point The point of reference for rotating or scaling a display object.	AnimatorBase
		transformationPointZ : int The z-coordinate point of reference for rotating or scaling a display object.	AnimatorBase
		usingCurrentFrame : Boolean [read-only] Indicates whether the currentFrame property is checked whenever a new frame is entered and whether the target's animation is synchronized to the frames in its parent's timeline, or always advancing no matter what the parent's current frame is.	AnimatorBase

Public Methods

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	Method		Defined By
		Animator(xml:XML = null, target:DisplayObject = null) Creates an Animator object to apply the XML-based motion tween description to a display object.	Animator
		addEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false, priority:int = 0, useWeakReference:Boolean = false):void Registers an event listener object with an EventDispatcher object so that the listener receives notification of an event.	EventDispatcher
		dispatchEvent(event:Event):Boolean Dispatches an event into the event flow.	EventDispatcher
		end(reset:Boolean = false, stopEnterFrame:Boolean = true, pastLastFrame:Boolean = false):void Stops the animation and Flash Player goes immediately to the last frame in the animation sequence.	AnimatorBase
		fromXMLString(xmlString:String, target:DisplayObject = null):Animator [static] Creates an Animator object from a string of XML.	Animator
		hasEventListener(type:String):Boolean Checks whether the EventDispatcher object has any listeners registered for a specific type of event.	EventDispatcher
		hasOwnProperty(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.	Object
		isPrototypeOf(theClass:Object):Boolean Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.	Object
		matricesEqual(a:Matrix, b:Matrix):Boolean [static] Compares two matrices specified as parameters and returns true if they are equal to one another.	Animator
		nextFrame(reset:Boolean = false, stopEnterFrame:Boolean = true):void Advances Flash Player to the next frame in the animation sequence.	AnimatorBase
		pause():void Pauses the animation until you call the resume() method.	AnimatorBase
		play(startTime:int = -1, startEnterFrame:Boolean = true):void Begins the animation.	AnimatorBase
		processCurrentFrame(parent:MovieClip, anim:AnimatorBase, startEnterFrame:Boolean, playOnly:Boolean = false):void [static]	AnimatorBase
		propertyIsEnumerable(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.	Object
		registerParentFrameHandler(parent:MovieClip, anim:AnimatorBase, spanStart:int, repeatCount:int = 0, useCurrentFrame:Boolean = false):void [static] Registers the given MovieClip and an AnimatorBase instance for a child of that MovieClip.	AnimatorBase
		removeEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false):void Removes a listener from the EventDispatcher object.	EventDispatcher
		resume():void Resumes the animation after it has been paused by the pause() method.	AnimatorBase
		rewind():void Sets Flash Player to the first frame of the animation.	AnimatorBase
		setPropertyIsEnumerable(name:String, isEnum:Boolean = true):void Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.	Object
		startFrameEvents():void Initiates frame events.	AnimatorBase
		stop():void Stops the animation and Flash Player goes back to the first frame in the animation sequence.	AnimatorBase
		toLocaleString():String Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.	Object
		toString():String Returns the string representation of the specified object.	Object
		useCurrentFrame(enable:Boolean, spanStart:int):void Sets the currentFrame property whenever a new frame is entered, and sets whether the target's animation is synchronized to the frames in its parent MovieClips's timeline.	AnimatorBase
		valueOf():Object Returns the primitive value of the specified object.	Object
		willTrigger(type:String):Boolean Checks whether an event listener is registered with this EventDispatcher object or any of its ancestors for the specified event type.	EventDispatcher

Events

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	Summary	Defined By
activate	[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application gains operating system focus and becomes active.	EventDispatcher
deactivate	[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application operating loses system focus and is becoming inactive.	EventDispatcher
motionEnd	Dispatched when the motion finishes playing, either when it reaches the end, or when the motion is interrupted by a call to the stop() or end() methods.	AnimatorBase
motionStart	Dispatched when the motion starts playing.	AnimatorBase
motionUpdate	Dispatched when the motion has changed and the screen has been updated.	AnimatorBase
timeChange	Dispatched when the Animator's time value has changed, but the screen has not yet been updated (i.e., the motionUpdate event).	AnimatorBase

Constructor Detail

Animator

()

Constructor

public function Animator(xml:XML = null, target:DisplayObject = null)

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flash CS3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9.0.28.0, AIR 1.0

Creates an Animator object to apply the XML-based motion tween description to a display object.

Parameters

	`xml:XML` (default = `null`) — An E4X object containing an XML-based motion tween description.

	`target:DisplayObject` (default = `null`) — The display object using the motion tween.

Related API Elements

Motion XML Elements

Method Detail

fromXMLString

()

method

public static function fromXMLString(xmlString:String, target:DisplayObject = null):Animator

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flash CS3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9.0.28.0, AIR 1.0

Creates an Animator object from a string of XML. This method is an alternative to using the Animator constructor, which accepts an E4X object instead.

Parameters

	`xmlString:String` — A string of XML describing the motion tween.

	`target:DisplayObject` (default = `null`) — The display object using the motion tween.

Returns

Animator — An Animator instance that applies the specified xmlString to the specified target.

Related API Elements

Motion XML Elements

matricesEqual

()

method

public static function matricesEqual(a:Matrix, b:Matrix):Boolean

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flash CS5

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 10.1, AIR 2

Compares two matrices specified as parameters and returns true if they are equal to one another.

Parameters

	`a:Matrix` — The first Matrix object instance for comparison.

	`b:Matrix` — The second Matrix object instance for comparison.

Returns

Boolean — A Boolean value; true if the two matrices are equal to one another, otherwise false.

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Animator

fromXMLString

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