With the upgrade to ActionScript 3 in Flash^R CS3, I am getting many emails asking how to attach a button behavior to a button in AS3. Well, you can't. In AS3, you add the code to a frame on the Timeline. I thought that it would be useful to put the bare bones code for both AS2 and AS3 side by side so that you can see the difference for yourself.

Instructions for ActionScript 2.0

1. Start a new Flash project. Choose Flash File (ActionScript 2.0) from the Create New menu in the Welcome Screen.
   
   
2. Draw a rectangle on the Stage. This will be your button.
   
   
3. After you draw the rectangular button image on the stage, select it with the Selection Tool. Click Modify, Convert to Symbol from the Menu bar. In the Convert To Symbol dialog box, use the Movie Clip option and name your movie clip "myButton".
   
   
4. The button should still be selected. In the Properties Inspector, give the button an Instance Name of "myButton".
   
   Now, you will add the AS2 code to the button itself. You will only do this when working on an ActionScript 2.0 Flash project.
   
   
5. If the Behaviors Panel is not already open, click Window, Behaviors. In the Behaviors Panel, click the Plus sign and choose Web, Go to Webpage from the pop-up menu.
   
   
6. In the Go to URL dialog box, enter the URL for the webpage, including the http://.
   
   
7. Open the Actions Panel by clicking Window, Actions. Notice that the top tab in the Actions Panel says "Actions – MovieClip" and the bottom tab says "myButton". This is because the code that magically appeared in the Actions Panel as you added the behavior to the button is attached to your myButton button. You will see the following code in the Actions Panel.
   
   on (release) {
   
   //Goto Webpage Behavior
   getURL("http://www.adobe.com","_self");
   //End Behavior
   
   }
   
   
8. Click Control, Test Movie. When you test your button, a new browser window should open to the website.
   
   
   

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