AS3? No. The docs have gotten fubarred over the weekend. XML? Sure.
http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_namespaces.asp In short, namespaces provide a way to avoid element naming conflicts. For XML to valid (not well formed, 2 different things), all elements must have a common meaning. Namespaces provide one way to set that context and meaning between 2 nodes with the same name. For example, in Flex, if I create a button component, I differentiate between Flex' internal button, and mine via a namespace which points to my classpath. <mx:Button /> <jxl:Button /> The namespace can be defined inline in my component: <jxl:Button xmlns:jxl="com.jxl.view.controls.*" /> Or, and better practice, up top in the Application tag (a.k.a. root of the document): <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.macromedia.com/2003/mxml"; xmlns:jxl="com.jxl.view.controls.*" /> <mx:Button /> <jxl:Button /> </mx:Application> ...as far as AS3, the examples I've used in my talks are based on localization and versioning. While they sound great in theory, I really don't see myself using them, but it's still early in the game, so who knows. First, define it: namespace en; Next, declare a property as using the namespace: en greeting:String = "Hello"; Finally, use it in a block of code, and all lines below will use that namespace: use namespace en; flash.util.trace(greeting); // Hello So, if you were supporting multiple languages, you could do: namespace eb; eb greeting:String = "Yo"; use namespace eb; flash.util.trace(greeting); // Yo Same greeting variable inside of same class, different namepace The same technique can be utilized on methods, such as: namespace version1; namespace version2; version1 public function getValue():int { return 1; } version2 public function getValue():int { return 2; } import flash.util.trace; use namespace version1; trace(getValue()); // 1 use namespace version2; trace(getValue()); // 2 Hope that helps. ----- Original Message ----- From: "bryan.rice" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Flashcoders mailing list" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 12:01 PM Subject: [Flashcoders] XML Namespace Explanation in Simple Terms? Hi All, I need to explain XML namespaces to several marketing people and I having trouble coming up with a layman's definition that is not too technical. I realize that it has to be at least a little technical, but it was challenging to get them to literally understand what XML was and then conceptually understand the extensible part. Can you point me to any good explanations/tutorials about XML namespaces? Also, can anyone point me to explanations of how namespaces are an important addition to AS 3.0? I am trying to lay the groundwork for an AS3 research project that I want them to fund. blue skies, bryan _______________________________________________ Flashcoders mailing list [email protected] http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders _______________________________________________ Flashcoders mailing list [email protected] http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
