Comments on: Replacing ENTER_FRAME

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:39:00 +0000

Thanks for your work on this idea, and sorry for only responding now.

I now use a Ticker class that contains a Shape to which I add an Event.ENTER_FRAME listener, rather than the approach outlined above. It serves the purpose I need.

It is possible that since Penner announced his findings, subsequent Flash Player versions have looked to remedy the probllems this article discusses! But it’s great to get your feedback on this.

By: Alec McEachran

Alec McEachran — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:39:00 +0000

Thanks for your work on this idea, and sorry for only responding now.

I now use a Ticker class that contains a Shape to which I add an Event.ENTER_FRAME listener, rather than the approach outlined above. It serves the purpose I need.

It is possible that since Penner announced his findings, subsequent Flash Player versions have looked to remedy the probllems this article discusses! But it’s great to get your feedback on this.

By: Thanh

Thanh — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:13:59 +0000

Hi, I've set up an experiment about these EnterFrame approaches and posted the report on my blog (http://bit.ly/cgVjdT). To sum up, it is possible to say that frame-loop doesn't generate ENTER_FRAME events. However, with a single frame-loop or enterFrameHandler instance, there's virtually no difference between the 2 approaches in terms of performance and memory. The ENTER_FRAME events only affect if you use them in large scale.
BTW, I've tried your [Frame] tag technique for the TickManager and found that, it included many redundant Flex's classes, while my demo only compiled with pure AS3. So I still prefer the Flash CS symbol approach of Penner. I know if you use the parameter "-frame" in FlexSDK compiler, you can also have a 2 frame movie clip but without any Flex's classes. You may consider this if you need improvement.

By: Thanh

Thanh — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:13:00 +0000

Hi, I’ve set up an experiment about these EnterFrame approaches and posted the report on my blog (http://bit.ly/cgVjdT). To sum up, it is possible to say that frame-loop doesn’t generate ENTER_FRAME events. However, with a single frame-loop or enterFrameHandler instance, there’s virtually no difference between the 2 approaches in terms of performance and memory. The ENTER_FRAME events only affect if you use them in large scale.
BTW, I’ve tried your [Frame] tag technique for the TickManager and found that, it included many redundant Flex’s classes, while my demo only compiled with pure AS3. So I still prefer the Flash CS symbol approach of Penner. I know if you use the parameter “-frame” in FlexSDK compiler, you can also have a 2 frame movie clip but without any Flex’s classes. You may consider this if you need improvement.

By: Techwave » Blog Archive » Combining the Timeline with OOP AS3 in Flash

Techwave » Blog Archive » Combining the Timeline with OOP AS3 in Flash — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:18:37 +0000

[...] Replacing ENTER_FRAME [...]

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:50:00 +0000

I'm a bit confused. My understanding is that, prior to the Flash 10.1 Player, there was nothing in the basic Flash code that checks to see if anything is listening before dispatching an event. So it seems to me that at the time this was written eliminating listeners to enter frame events wouldn't logically affect performance, because those events would have been dispatched whether anything was listening or not.

Can someone point me to some documentation that speaks to how different versions of the Flash Player determine whether to dispatch these events?

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:50:00 +0000

I’m a bit confused. My understanding is that, prior to the Flash 10.1 Player, there was nothing in the basic Flash code that checks to see if anything is listening before dispatching an event. So it seems to me that at the time this was written eliminating listeners to enter frame events wouldn’t logically affect performance, because those events would have been dispatched whether anything was listening or not.

Can someone point me to some documentation that speaks to how different versions of the Flash Player determine whether to dispatch these events?

By: cambiata

cambiata — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:23:01 +0000

Hi Alec!

Thank you for sharing.

As your code example doesn't "do" anything, maybe the following change/addition to your could clarify it, for Signal newbees like me...:

public function init():void {
// functionality here...
trace('init');
frame.add(onFrame);
}

private function onFrame():void {
trace('onFrame');
}

Regards! / Jonas

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:23:00 +0000

Hi Alec!

Thank you for sharing.

As your code example doesn’t “do” anything, maybe the following change/addition to your could clarify it, for Signal newbees like me…:

public function init():void {
// functionality here…
trace(‘init’);
frame.add(onFrame);
}

private function onFrame():void {
trace(‘onFrame’);
}

Regards! / Jonas

By: alecmce

alecmce — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:37:04 +0000

I'm not sure that would give us any performance improvements would it? It is certainly need in that it cuts down the number of event objects being constructed per cycle, but it is still double the events that the EnterFrame ticker uses: one event for the ENTER_FRAME and one for the RENDER.

Still, a nice addition to the panoply of alternatives, tanks og2t