Prescription MA271 Macromedia FlashMX Developer

Aim of Module: To prepare students for the Macromedia FlashMX Developer Certification Examination.
 
Credits: 7

Knowledge assumed from: MA100, MA200, MA210
 
Suggested Time: 70 student learning hours
 
Prescription Expiry Date: DRAFT PROPOSAL

 Level and Assessment Schedule

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The student will:
   
C 1 Recognize basic concepts of Macromedia Flash MX object orientation and structure of Macromedia Flash MX movies.
 
C 2 Identify Macromedia Flash MX environment requirements needed to implement best practice solutions.
 
A 3 Identify and use elements of ActionScript.

C 4 Identify implementation, testing and deployment methods.

CONTENT

Domain 1.0 Macromedia Flash Concepts

1.1 Recognize basic concepts of Macromedia Flash MX object orientation and structure of Macromedia Flash MX movies.

A. Identify basic interface and structure of Macromedia Flash MX movies related to:

• Libraries
• Timelines
• Buttons
• Movie Clips
• Text
• Symbols and instances
• Keyframes
• Sound
• Dynamic masking
• Components Depth

B. Identify effective hierarchical and functional structure of Macromedia Flash MX movies in:

• Targetting
• Loading movies into both targets and levels
• Using dot syntax notation
• Movie explorer
• Where to place action scripts

Domain 2.0 Requirements Discovery and Definition

2.1 Identify Macromedia Flash MX environment requirements needed to implement best practice solutions.

• Flash Player versions
• Sizing and performance issues
• Bandwidth and time constraints
• Identification of dynamic content
• Components
• Remoting
• When to build and use objects
• Designing and documenting the data interaction
• What usability and accessibility best practices are followed
• Basic issues of inegrating Macromedia Flash content to work with HTML and/or JavaScript, VBScript
• Identify media design

Domain 3.0 Design and Coding

3.1 Identify basic ActionScript concepts and their application in:

• What ActionScript can and cannot do
• Creating efficient modular and reusable code
• Variables
• Scoping
• Using functions
• Control structures
• Using includes
• Operators
• Movie clip properties, methods and events
• Depth
• Drawing API
• Dynamic Evaluation

3.2 Identify correct usage of object oriented programming with ActionScript in:

• Constructor
• Using built-in objects
• Creating your own objects and components
• Methods and properties of objects
• Inheritance
• #initclip and #endinitclip
• Prototype
• Relationships between objects
• Server-side scripts
• Shared objects
• Handlers
• Listeners
• Events
• How listeners and events interact
• Object.RegisterClass()

3.3 Identify Core Objects and how they are used in ActionScript.

• Array
• Boolean
• Date
• Math
• Number
• Object
• String
• TextField
• MovieClip
• Load Vars
• Color Object

3.4 Identify Flash UI Components and how they are used in ActionScript.

• FCheckBox
• FComboBox
• FRadioButton
• FScrollBar
• FScrollPane
• FListBox
• FStyleFormat
• dataProvider

3.5 Identify Flash Player and browser (host application) interaction and how they work in:

• JavaScript pseudo-URLs
• fscommand
• Passing variables to Flash through the object and embed query string
• Shared objects
• Stand alone player

3.6 Identify the characteristics of XML Objects for:

• Strengths and weaknesses (structured data / verbosity, etc)
• Advantages of structured data
• .load vs .sendAndLoad
• Understanding the onLoad handler

3.7 Identify the characteristics and use of LoadVars for:

• Strengths (low verbosity, wide server-side compatibility, etc)
• Weaknesses (no structure to the data, etc)
• Comparing and contrasting loadVariables and LoadVars object
• Sending variables
• Send method (POST vs GET and the differences between them)
• Formatting return variables (URLencoded)
• Methods and properties

3.8 Identify the role of Flash MX remoting technology for building dynamic content in:

• Using server-side methods
• Web services
• Implementation

Domain 4.0 Solution Implementation, Testing, and Deployment

4.1 Identify methods to test and implement a Flash MX solution in:

• Using trace and the debugger effectively
• Effectively being able to isolate and do unit testing
• Testing across multiple platforms and browsers

4.2 Identify integration testing methods for implementing a Flash MX solution in:

• Testing with different types of data, determining solution limits
• Testing all of the parts of a dynamically loaded Macromedia Flash application working together
• Load testing considerations
• Network communications and optimization
• Working via different bandwidths
• Using bandwidth profiler and generate size reports
  

Steve Lowe 2002 August 27