About the documentation 13
■ Bold code font, typically within a procedure, indicates code that you need to modify or
add to code you have already added to your FLA file. In some case, it might be used to
highlight code to look at.
■ Boldface text indicates data you need to type into the user interface, such as a filename or
instance name.
■ Italic text indicates a new term defined in the text that follows. In a file path, it might
indicate a value that should be replaced (for example, with a directory name on your own
hard disk).
Terms used in this document
The following terms are used in this manual:
■ You refers to the developer who is writing a script or application.
■ The user refers to the person who is running your scripts and applications.
■ Compile time is the time at which you publish, export, test, or debug your document.
■ Runtime is the time at which your script is running in Flash Player.
ActionScript terms such as method and object are defined in Appendix F, “Terminology,” on
page 803.
Copy and paste code
When you paste ActionScript from the Help panel into your FLA or ActionScript file, you
have to be careful about special characters. Special characters include special quotation marks
(also called curly quotation marks or smart quotation marks). These characters are not
interpreted by the ActionScript editor, so your code throws an error if you try to compile it
in Flash.
You can determine that your quotation mark characters are special characters if they do not
color-code correctly. That is, if all your strings do not change in color in the code editor, you
need to replace the special characters with regular straight quotation mark characters. If you
type a single or double quotation mark character directly into the ActionScript editor, you
always type a straight quotation mark character. The compiler (when you test or publish a
SWF file) throws an error and lets you know if there are the wrong kind (special quotation
marks or curly quotation marks) of characters in your code.
NOTE
You might also encounter special quotation marks if you paste ActionScript from other
locations, such as a web page or a Microsoft Word document.