ActionScript 3 RIA Reference Guide

mikechambers March 17th, 2008

Adobe RIA Reference Guide Cover We have just released a PDF of a new reference guide that we have put together (with the help of frog design). This title is the Adobe technology platform ActionScript reference for RIA development, and it provides a complete ActionScript 3 API listing for Flash Player, Adobe AIR and Flex 3.

They are similar to the ActionScript 3 API posters, but intended to be a little more usable and portable.

The guide is around 50 pages, and is meant to be printed out on comic book glossy stock. We will be printing some out over the next couple of months, so you may see be able to pick them up at various events and conferences.

The entire work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License, so feel free to edit it, add to it and redistribute it.

Adobe RIA Reference Guide Inside

The document was created with Adobe InDesign, and I plan to post the source files in case anyone wants to update it, although I have to figure out what to do about the fonts used, as we don’t have the rights to redistribute them. Any ideas?

Adobe RIA Reference Guide Platform Stack

Finally, if you find any bugs, errors or omissions in the document, please post them in the comments for this post.

24 Responses to “ActionScript 3 RIA Reference Guide”

  1. wion 17 Mar 2008 at 3:16 pm

    nice! this is going right next to my bible and worst-case-scenario-survival-handbook.

  2. Johanneson 17 Mar 2008 at 3:47 pm

    cool! This is awsesome!

    I searched for something like that today! Thank’s Mike! Thank’s Adobe! Uhhh i’like that company :D

  3. savvasmalamason 17 Mar 2008 at 5:01 pm

    Thanks Mike, nice job!
    I have no idea of how InDesign handles fonds, does it ask to choose a font to replace the one is used in the file when you open it (like Flash IDE)?
    I guess using another font is not an option right?
    But on a second thought, the .pdf (which is the official release contains the “Adobe font”) but the InDesign file that someone else will use to update or change, does not need to use the “Adobe font”.. So why don’t you post the InDesign file with another font similar to the Adobe one?
    Anyway, thanks again!

  4. Georgeon 17 Mar 2008 at 5:17 pm

    Nice reference. Though I find it’s hard to print with letter size printer.

  5. duivvvon 18 Mar 2008 at 12:11 am

    it’s a bit hard to print …
    any tips on getting it into A4 size ?

  6. zwetanon 18 Mar 2008 at 12:48 am

    very nice, I love the way the document is structured, make more sens to me than the posters (even if the posters are nice).

    Would it be a problem if someone wanted to reuse that template to document their own set of API :) ?

    I mean I would love to get the inDesign template to do just that :p

  7. [...] (Mike Chambers) ???????? ? ???, ??? ??? ????????? ? ???? ?????????? ??????????? ?? ActionScript 3 ??? RIA ?????????????…. ?????????? ???????? ?????? ???????? ActionScript 3 API ??? [...]

  8. Mark McDonnellon 18 Mar 2008 at 3:28 am

    Any chance for something similar for Adobe Flash? Because as far as I’m aware some of the Flex API’s/Classes etc are necessarily available in Flash when building Adobe AIR applications? Please let me know via email your thoughts.

    Thank you for the great reference with regards to using Flex, will come in handy still I’m sure.

  9. marc thieleon 18 Mar 2008 at 4:09 am

    Nice one. Thanks, Mike! Already posted it at flashforum.de - any chance to get some of the printed versions for FFK08 (http://ffk08.flashforum.de)?

    Cheers,
    marc

  10. [...] divulgado no site do guru Mike Chambers, este é um guia de referência ActionScript 3.0 para desenvolvimento de RIA’s, utilizando [...]

  11. Dee Sadleron 18 Mar 2008 at 5:21 am

    Yes you are correct #savvasmalamas, as a PDF from InDesign the fonts would be subset and embedded. Meaning only the font characters that were used will be embedded. No issues about them having the correct font. Now when you post the actual InDesign files, you can leave whatever font, then if we don’t have it, we can replace it with another font. Now InDesign is the King of handling type, so “if” it is an OpenType font from the Creative Suite, then most of us will have it anyway, like Myriad Pro.

    Thanks Mike

  12. ljoneson 18 Mar 2008 at 5:49 am

    Nice. I’m rather fond to web based documentation. But this PDF is easily searchable for keywords.

  13. Rezmasonon 18 Mar 2008 at 2:47 pm

    Brilliant! Materials like these make the techy stuff go down much easier.

  14. brianon 18 Mar 2008 at 11:13 pm

    This is great, but can someone post the printer settings? The front and back pages print full size, but the rest print as spreads and are very hard to read ;-)

  15. [...] [via: Mike Chambers - ActionScript 3 RIA Reference Guide] [...]

  16. Joelon 22 Mar 2008 at 8:39 pm

    Could you please make this into a book that we can purchase at the Adobe store? Printed out on my 1200 dpi laser printer, the tiny text is almost unreadable. And the color is important for quick eye scanning.

    This document could be incredibly useful, but not as an online-only document. I need it on my desk and in my backpack. Its value is that it can be quickly browsed when searching for that half-forgotten api. This doesn’t work online.

  17. Joelon 23 Mar 2008 at 12:55 pm

    I’m a dummy and didn’t read the blog carefully. I see that this doc is a printed book. However, I would like to get my hands on one of these without having to attend a conference. Please make it widely available somehow.

  18. brianon 26 Mar 2008 at 11:00 pm

    Maybe just produce a normal pdf without the spreads. I agree that this is an awesome resource but way too small to read easily.

  19. mikeon 29 Mar 2008 at 6:12 am

    This is really useful thanks

  20. [...] your looking for a more compact version Mike Chambers posted a newer version that is intended to be more usable and portable. The guide is around 50 [...]

  21. Chetan Sachdevon 09 Apr 2008 at 3:26 am

    Really nice …

    Thanks

  22. john farmingon 14 Apr 2008 at 9:52 pm

    These posters will really work for me, i am an educator and we are working on AS3 these documents are helpful to see the overall usability of classes and methods provided in Flash, thanks

  23. corbanbon 21 Apr 2008 at 10:50 am

    @mike what would it take to get a some of these from you guys for our first Dallas FUG meeting? Can you contact me off list?

  24. AIR Bus Tour : Weblogon 06 May 2008 at 10:22 am

    [...] We had originally planned to also include the Adobe AIR for JavaScript developers book, and the RIA ActionScript 3 printed reference guide, but neither were ready in time for leg 1. Well, they are done now, and are being added to the [...]

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