Class exclusion in AS3 in Flash IDE

Question

Hi,
I've been looking high and low for a way to exclude class
file from compiling into a swf on publish, similar to the
functionality available when publishing AS2 apps (outlined here:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/main/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?context=Liv eDocs_Parts&file=00000817.html).
I've found references on how to do this when compiling with
the command-line compiler (detailed here:
http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=941),
but so far I've haven't been able to find anything that details how
to do this in the IDE.
I'm hoping someone here might have an answer. I'm going to
change my approach to a number of applications if I can't find an
answer to this.
Thanks,
--Steve

Answer 1

No, I have never heard of this. I've only ever used dynamic
techniques
to evaluate types. If I need to use functions in classes, I
include the
classes. If they're included in a separate SWF, I call them
there. If
it's a matter of suppressing warnings, I go back to step one.
If I need
local instance, I go dynamic.
In all honesty, I can't say I can see why this would ever be
necessary.
I mean, I completely understand excluding code out of a SWF
when you're
not using it or if it's supplied by a parent SWF. I use this
technique
every day to slim down code. But:
1. If I need to use ColorTween, I dynamically evaluate it at
runtime so
that I don't need to include it in my child SWF (this is
actually better
since I can do something else if the parent doesn't have it
for some
reason).
2. Use the generic type *. Whatever's in the parent, use it.
Depends on
how important the declaration is.
3. Dynamically determine the type at runtime so that if the
parent has
it, I can check to see if it is a ColorTransform and, if so,
use it.
The first step allows me to make my own instances, regardless
of which
SWF I need to use them in. The second step allows me to
reference
existing instances, regardless of which SWF they're in. The
third step
allows me to check if, either in step 1 or step 2, the type
is correct.
I don't think even think there's a fourth option in this
list, is there?
That being said, the only time I could ever see myself
needing a class
exclusion is if I simply said something to the effect of:
public var myVar:ColorTransform;
...in foo.fla. But that, to me, seems very dependent and kind
of
pointless. If you happen to run this SWF in a parent that
doesn't have
ColorTransform...well, that's the end of that, no?. I mean,
whatever is
depending on ColorTransform is basically out of luck and you
get a
run-time error, is that right?. Using dynamic evaluation, the
parent may
or may not have it and your code can continue to run and not
toss it's
cookies every time it needs to use a ColorTransform instance.
Also,
ColorTransform can be used from another SWF, and not be
hard-bound to a
parent instance (pre-existing condition). The only thing is,
you simply
don't specify that myVar has to be a ColorTransform, you
determine that
at runtime.
If I understand this correctly, you may as well include the
ColorTransorm class in foo.fla because if you're code is
depending on it
(using the above declaration), and you need to load the
parent to use
it...what's the difference from including it? If it's not
required, why
declare it or declare a strong type?
Maybe you can provide me with another example of how this is
intended to
work. Like I said, I understand the concept but I fail to see
the
practical use. I guess this may explain why I've never heard
of
this...the situation where this would be required has simply
never come up.
Patrick
swrb1977 wrote:
> Hi Patrick,
>
> AFAIK, it's just called class exclusion. I'm not
surprised if you're not
> familiar with this feature, there is no check box in the
IDE to click or
> anything and it's only mentioned once in the
documentation. This is how it
> works:
>
> Let's say you have an FLA called foo.fla and let's say
that foo.fla uses a
> class called "com.foo.ColorTween". You can tell Flash to
publish this FLA
> without the ColorTween class by creating an XML file
called "foo_exclude.xml"
> and placing it in the same directory as the FLA. The
contents of
> foo_exclude.xml looks like this:
>
> <excludeAssets>
> <asset name="com.foo.ColorTween" />
> </excludeAssets>
>
> When you publish the FLA, Flash will look for this XML
file. If it find it, it
> excludes the classes listed ("com.foo.ColorTween").
>
> Now, if you try to run this SWF, the player will freak
out when it tries to
> use this class. However, if you loaded this SWF into a
parent SWF that already
> contained that class, it would be able to run fine.
>
> This is described pretty well in this link
> (
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/main/wwhelp/wwhimpl/common/html/wwhelp.htm?
> context=LiveDocs_Parts&file=00000817.html). I think
Colin Moock also discusses
> the topic in Essential ActionScript 2.
>
> In terms of what I am trying to do specifically, I need
to export some library
> items as a swc, but not include the base classes. I
won't go too much further
> into why... I don't want to further confuse the issue.
>
> Hope this clarifies things a bit.
>