Ok, so this might be me being pendantic but I need to know the best way to do something: (This is psudocode, not actual code. Actual code is huge)
I basically have in my package a class that goes like this:
internal class charsys extends DisplayObject {
Bunch of Variables
a few functions
}
I another class which I intend to add to the timeline I want to create a function like this:
public class charlist {
var list:Array = new Array();
var clock:Timer = new Timer(6000);
var temp:charsys;
function addObj(MC:DisplayObject, otherprops:int) {
temp=MC;
temp.props = otherprops;
list.push(temp)
}
function moveabout(e: event) {
stuff to move the items in list
}
function charlist() {
stuff to initialize the timers and handle them.
}
}
So the question is, is my method of populating this array a valid method of doing it, is there an easier way, can they inherit like this and do I even need to pass the objects like I am?
(Still writing the package, don't know if it works at all)
Yes, you can pass an object into a function, but you should be careful of what you are planning to do with that object inside that function. Say, if you are planning to pass only charsys objects, you write the function header as such:
function addObj(MC:charsys, otherprops:int) {
Note, the type is directly put into the function header. This way Flash compiler will be able to do many things.
First, it will query the function body for whether it refers to valid properties of a passed instance. Say, your charsys object does not have a props property, but has a prop property, this typing error will be immediately caught and reported. Also if that props is, for example, an int, and you are trying to assign a String value to it, you will again be notified.
Second, wherever you use that function, Flash compiler will statically check if an instance of correct type charsys is passed into the function, so if there is no charsys or its subclass, a compilation error is thrown.
And third, this helps YOU to learn how to provide correct types for functions, and not rely on dynamic classes like MovieClip, which can have a property of nearly any name assigned to anything, and this property's existence is not checked at compile time, possibly introducing nasty bugs with NaNs appearing from nowhere, or some elements not being displayed, etc.
About common usage of such methods - they can indeed be used to create/manage a group of similar objects of one class, to the extent of altering every possible property of them based on their corresponding values. While default values for properties are occasionally needed, these functions can be used to slightly (or not so slightly) alter them based on extra information. For example, I have a function that generates a ready-to-place TextField object, complete with formatting and altered default settings (multiline=true etc), which is then aligned and placed as I need it to be. You cannot alter default values in the TextField class, so you can use such a function to tailor a new text field object to your needs.
Hope this helps.