AST - ASToolBox (AS2)

17.11.2009

21:49

AST - ASToolBox (AS2)

This time I want to share a tool for all AS2 coders out there.

I wrote it because I needed an easy to use trace tool for my projects written with flashdevelop. At this time trace in flashdevelop wasn't an easy step and I didn't want to read all the tutorials because they simply didn't solve the problems for my installation.

ASToolBox (short ast) is a static class which offers functions for tracing, var_dump and time measurement of code segments.

Installation:
Copy the class source code below in a .as file and safe it in the folder

C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\[USERNAME]\Lokale Einstellungen\Anwendungsdaten\Adobe\Flash CS4\de\Configuration\Classes\FP8

trace data
To trace data ast offers three functions. Firstly there is trace. It's the most common function in flash, so I think I don't need to explain it.

Secondly there we have var_dump. It takes an Object and traces an analysed string of it. It's an flash equivalent of the PHP function.

And Finally println, it works very similar as the C equivalent, but it doesn't know data types. Everything is handled as a String. Actually it doesn't output anything. It just prepares and returns a string for output.

Additionally to these output functions there is clear, which simply clears the output window.

time measurement

Sometimes you want to measure the time that is taken for a peace of code to be executed. Ast gives you some functions to make this task very simple.

ast.trace("In europe children get their presents on 24. December in the evening.");
ast.var_dump({a:1, b:"w", c:["hello", "world"], d:{a:1, b:2, c:3}});
ast.trace( ast.println("In europe %0 get their presents on %1. December in the evening%2", ["children", 24, "."]) );
ast.clear();
var z:Number = 0;
var finish:Number = 0;
for( var i:Number = 0; i < 5; i++){
finish = 1000+Math.random()*10000;
ast.timer_start();
for( var a:Number = 0; a < finish; a++)
z = --z +1;
ast.timer_stop();
}
ast.timer_report();
ast.timer_avg();
// if you don't call clear here the measurements
// above are added to the report below.
ast.timer_clear();
var z:Number = 0;
var finish:Number = 0;
for( var i:Number = 0; i < 5; i++){
finish = 1000+Math.random()*10000;
var handle:Number = ast.timer_start();
for( var a:Number = 0; a < finish; a++)
z = --z +1;
ast.timer_stop(handle2);
}
ast.timer_report();
ast.timer_avg();