You can see a working example of what I came up with above in my blog header nav.

Flash links inside of text fields (usually set with CDATA and XML) support right-clicking to open links in new windows by default but setting up a nav that way usually doesn’t make sense and you would lose a lot of functionality doing it that way. So the trick I found was to take advantage of the fact that you can add a custom right-click context menu not just to the Flash stage but also to each individual sprite itself.

Here is some sample code that you can add to each of your nav items to achieve this:

I also tried to mimic the browser functionality of command (control on a PC) clicking to open links in new tabs and shift-clicking to open them in new windows. Using keyboard listeners I was able to get this working in Safari but sadly it doesn’t seem to work at all in Firefox for some reason. In Opera, shift-clicking opens a new tab but command-clicking just triggers the normal right-click menu. I guess it just depends on how the browser wants to handle the keyboard events.

I also added the ability to copy the URL to the clipboard for copying and pasting. Here is a quick snippet of code that will copy text to the system clipboard:

So why create a menu in Flash at all if HTML natively supports these features? The main reason would be nice typography – no more using the same system fonts over and over again. Plus you can create lots of neat dividers/selected state graphics/rollovers without having to open up Photoshop.

Here are three versions of the Flash right-click nav that you can download for free below.

» Download now (zip)

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» Download now (zip)

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» Download now (zip)

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For more info, see the TypeNav™ page here.

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Related posts:

1. Flash AS3 Contact Form Using PHP
2. Free AS3 Scrollbar: Fullscreen and Resizable
3. AS3 Dotted Line Class

The contact form class is super-customizable and simple to use. I’ve used it in lots of projects and it’s easy to make it look different every time. Here is the basic usage:

And here is a preview:

Pretty much everything can be easily customized including all the colors and text and validation copy. Here is how you would customize it:

And here it is customized:

I’m also including an XML-powered version for people who don’t own the Flash authoring software or who don’t know any ActionScript at all. You can just drop this into an HTML page and customize everything straight through the XML without having to open Flash or mess with any ActionScript. It’s a simple way to add a contact form to any website.

The script that actually sends the email is written in PHP so the web server you upload it to will need to support PHP in order for the email to send.

» Download the contact form class and XML version

Feel free to use this code in any way you want other than selling it.

Have fun!

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Related posts:

1. Free AS3 Scrollbar: Fullscreen and Resizable
2. AS3 Dotted Line Class
3. Accessible Flash Nav: Right-Click Links to Open in New Window Using AS3

Update [6-21-2009]: Now supports mouse wheel scrolling on the Mac using SWFWheel.

Here is a demo of the scrollbar in use. You can click “Add Copy” to see how it resizes:

You can also view a demo of it being used fullscreen in my Sycamore template.

Here is the usage for the scrollbar class:

» Download the demo and source code

Feel free to use this code in any way you want other than selling it.

Enjoy!

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Related posts:

1. AS3 Dotted Line Class
2. Flash AS3 Contact Form Using PHP
3. Accessible Flash Nav: Right-Click Links to Open in New Window Using AS3

Dotted line preview:

Dotted line usage:

Dashed line preview:

Dashed line usage:

» Download the zip containing the class and the above samples

Feel free to use it in whatever way you see fit.

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Related posts:

1. Free AS3 Scrollbar: Fullscreen and Resizable
2. Flash AS3 Contact Form Using PHP
3. Accessible Flash Nav: Right-Click Links to Open in New Window Using AS3

Update: The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide by David Stiller, Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan and Darren Richardson has been recommended to me by several readers. I haven’t personally read it but it is supposed to contain some good info on transitioning from AS2 to AS3, so I thought it deserves an honorable mention.

8. Essential ActionScript 3.0 by Colin Moock

This is the Bible for ActionScript 3. I saw it recommended in so many places and with so much enthusiasm that I figured it was all I needed. “If I read this book straight through I’ll be an AS3 expert”, I remember thinking. So I mustered all my will power and actually read the book cover to cover. It took two months for me to finish it. Was I instantly an AS3 expert afterwards? Hardly. Granted it did give me a good exposure to pretty much everything you’d ever need to know in AS3 but it was just so much information at once that it kind of scrambled my brain. The book goes into extreme detail about every topic in AS3. Way more than I needed to know.

Not that it’s not a great book though. It still has a permanent place next to my computer and not a day goes by programming that I don’t look up something in its sprawling 900 pages. Great for a reference book, yes, but not so great to start learning from. Which brings me to…

7. Learning ActionScript 3.0 by Rich Shupe with Zevan Rosser

Ok this is much better. Why didn’t I start with this book? Very easy and quick to read. It lacks the level of detail of Essential ActionScript 3.0 but really you can look up the details when you actually need them. It’s all in color too which makes it much more pleasurable to read, especially for a designer.

6. Lynda.com

Lynda.com has a nice collection of videos on AS3. I actually haven’t watched any of their videos on AS3 but I used their videos quite often when I was first learning AS2. You do have to pay for them but they have always been pretty high quality. You can get an annual subscription to watch all their videos for a year for $250 but it’s probably a better deal to do the $25 a month plan and try to watch all the AS3 titles in the first month or two.

5. Senocular’s Getting Started with ActionScript 3.0 in Adobe Flash CS3 Tutorial

Although Senocular states it’s still “a work in progress” this tutorial contains a ton of awesome info on learning AS3. The fifth page of the tutorial is particularly good as it gives a nice overview of classes for someone new to Object Oriented Programming. Probably the best first site you’ll want to read through for a good overview of AS3.

4. Senocular’s ActionScript 3 Tip of the Day

Senocular makes the list again with his never-ending forum post of ActionScript 3 tips. Even though some of the tips are from 2006 they are still completely relevant today. I always learn something new whenever I skim through the pages.

3. gotoAndLearn()

Lee Brimelow is a great man. He spends his days creating videos showing you how to do things in Flash. And it’s not boring, irrelevant stuff either. It’s cool, useful stuff like using Papervision3D and Tweener. And best of all it’s completely free. Highly recommended.

2. Flash Help Documentation

The help documentation inside Flash is probably the most overlooked resource. Everything you need to know is right there and it’s written surprisingly well for a help file. Lots of examples are given showing actual code usage. I constantly see people posting on forums asking how to do things when a simple search in the help file would tell them everything they wanted to know. Need to know how the drawing API works? Just look it up! It’s all there. You can even view it online.

1. Google

This might sound stupidly obvious but honestly just searching on Google for what you immediately need to know is the best way to learn AS3. There are so many random blogs out there and forum postings just filled with great info about whatever you need to know. Instead of going to a specific website or picking up a certain book I always find myself just going to Google time and time again.

I always thought once I became a good programmer I would just automatically know everything off the top of my head and I’d be able to just write programs straight through without referencing anything. I keep expecting that day to come but it never has. And it probably never will. Learning really is a never ending process. No matter how much you know you will constantly be thinking “What’s the best way to do this?”, “Is this even possible to do?” and “How have others solved this problem?”.

The best advice I can give is to just start creating a project in AS3 and figure it out as you go. My experience is if I need to know it to complete a project I’ll learn it – if I read it in a book I’ll just glaze over it and have to look it up again later. So if you wait until you “know” AS3 before taking on a AS3 project you’ll never do it. The right time to make the switch will never come. So just jump in and do it using the resources above as your guide.

Related posts:

1. Free AS3 Scrollbar: Fullscreen and Resizable
2. AS3 Dotted Line Class
3. Simple Sanity-Saving Tip for All Timeline-Based Flash Projects