Adobe 38039336 User Guide - Page 473

FLASH CS3 467 User Guide You can use several options to save a file: Save, Save As, and Save and Compact. When you save a file, Flash does not analyze all the data before creating an optimized version of the document. Instead, the changes you make to the document are appended to the end of the FLA file's data, which shortens the time it takes to save the document. When you Save As, Flash writes a new and optimized version of the file, which results in a smaller file size. When you Save and Compact, Flash creates a new optimized file (removing the undo history) and deletes the original file. Important: If you select Save when working with a document, you can undo before that save point. Because Save and Compact deletes the earlier version of the file and replaces it with the optimized version, you cannot undo earlier changes. If you are not using version control software to create backups of your FLA file, use Save As and type a new file name for your document after every milestone in your project. Many software packages allow users to use version control with their files, which enables teams to work efficiently and reduce errors (such as overwriting files or working on old versions of a document). As with other documents, you can use these programs to organize the Flash documents outside Flash. See also "Adobe Version Cue" on page 83 "Projects and version control guidelines" on page 473 Organizing ActionScript in an application Keeping actions together Whenever possible, put your ActionScript in a single location. Organizing your code in one place helps you edit projects more efficiently, because you can avoid searching in different places when you debug or modify the ActionScript. If you put code in a FLA file, put ActionScript on Frame 1 or Frame 2 in a layer called actions on the topmost layer in the Timeline. Alternatively, you might put all of your code in ActionScript files. Some Flash applications do not always put all code in a single place (in particular, ActionScript 2.0-based applications that use screens or behaviors). You can usually put all your code in the same location (on a frame, or in ActionScript files), with the following advantages: • Code is easy to find in a potentially complex source file. • Code is easy to debug. See also "Attaching code to objects" on page 468 "Behaviors conventions" on page 468 "Using the MVC design pattern" on page 477 "Organizing files and storing code" on page 477