Perform Math Calculations in Flash

The Code

1. Name the current layer in the movie “content”. Add a new layer to the movie, and call it “actions”.
   
   

2. Select the first frame of the “actions” layer. In the Actions panel, add the following code:

   function onCalculate() {  
 one = Number(number_one);  
 two = Number(number_two);  
 result_sum = one + two;  
 result_product = one * two;  
}

   This is the code that will make this movie do its magic! Let’s look at what this code does and why.

   function onCalculate() {

   This first line starts a new function in the movie. Remember that we gave our PushButton component a Click Handler of “onCalculate”. When this button is clicked, it will execute the code within this function.

   one = Number(number_one);  
two = Number(number_two);

   This code has two purposes. The first is to give shorter variable names to the data that’s being calculated. Instead of spelling out “number_one” throughout our code, we can now just use “one”.

   This makes more sense when taken in conjunction with the second purpose: to treat these variables as numbers. This is done with Number(), which tells Flash that we to treat values in parentheses as numbers. If we don’t, when we calculate 1 plus 1, we’ll get 11. Or, if we calculate 1 plus 2, we’ll get 12. Instead, with the Number(), when we calculate 1 plus 1, we’ll get 2.

   result_sum = one + two;  
result_product = one * two;  
}

   Remember the variable names we gave the two textboxes at the bottom? This code puts our calculation results within those textboxes. When this code is executed, the “result_sum” textbox will display the result of adding Number 1 and Number 2. The “result_product” textbox will display the result of multiplying them.

That’s it! Publish your movie, type in some numbers in first two textboxes, and hit Calculate.

Again, if you get lost, download the sample FLA.

Final Thoughts

There is your quick and dirty run down of basic math in Flash. There is not a single calculation that Flash cannot handle. This tutorial only scratches the surface, but I hope it’s got you thinking about Flash math. For more information, try:

• Flash Kit’s Math & Physics Forum
• Basic Algebra Lessons