Using Actionscript 3 Language Reference in Flash CS4

Being able to program with an language is not mean you have knowledge of all the methods, parameters, structure etc. I would say; good is as language documentation is easy to find and use the functionality of the language from developer perspective. I love ActionScript 3.0 language reference, first was bit on not understandable but currently is everything I need. In Flash CS3 you can simply press F1 and see the language reference. Of course you can reach that also online;

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Flash/10.0_UsingFlash/

The main problem I had was the when I press F1 in Flash CS4 instead of help panel my default browser was trying to connect the online documentation. Of course now days you can find internet everywhere but I still do prefer to reach language reference on my computer. For just getting information about an event or an method I have to connect internet wait for page to be open, than click over and over again. For me this is such a waste of time and simply I don’t like it. But there is a solution for this problem. The copy of language reference is being installed when you install copy of Flash CS4. There is two ways to reach this documentation, first is finding on operating file system.

On windows operating system path is;
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Help\en_US\AS3LCR\Flash_10.0\index.html

On Mac operating system path is;
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Help/en_US/AS3LCR/Flash_10.0/index.html

On Linux operating system path is;
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Help/en_US/Flash/10.0_UsingFlash/index.html

You can create short cut on your desktop or add a bookmark to your internet browser for using faster. Second way is setting the connection setting on Flash CS4. By default Flash CS4 is set it to be connect internet and use online services. You can disable/make-offline this option and when you click F1 while is offline your language reference will be open in internet browser from your computer. So you don’t have to view online.  For doing this you have select

Windows > Extension > Connection

from menu of Flash CS4. You have to click the arow on right side from upcoming panel and select Offline Options;

Afterwards you have select Keep Me Offline and click OK. Now on you can use language reference on your local computer by pressing F1.

The part you have to be careful over here is services like Kuler which need internet will not be able to work as you select to make your Flash CS4 work offline. The best option is having shortcut of language reference or bookmark to your internet browser.

Take Care
Engin!