Error #2044: Unhandled skinError:. text=[IOErrorEvent type=”ioError” bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text=”Error #2036: Load Never Completed. URL: http://curtismorley.com/someURL/SkinUnderAllNoCaption.swf”]

Description:
Here is a combo meal deal of errors that you may get if you are using one of the basic video component skins in Flash. Flash needs to know where the file is and how it interacts with the video you are playing. The reason you will get this error is because the skin didn’t load and so Flash is trying to wrap this video skin around your video unsuccessfully which produces ActionScript Error 2044. I have always seen ActionScript 3 error 2044 coupled with ActionScript Error #2036 which says that the load of the skin never completed. I get this error because of the way wordpress handles includes.

Fix:
Put the file on the server and link to the file in the Flash Authoring Environment.

Step 1:
Convert your video into an FLV with either Flash itself or with the bundled Flash Video Encoder.

Step 2:
Import the video and go through the wizard provided. Make sure that you choose the skin you would eventually want to control your video. In the screenshot below I chose the SkinUnderAllNoCaption skin. This step is critical because it is necessary to have Flash auto generate a swf of the skin for you.

Step 3:
Save your file and you check the folder that your main swf is located in. You should find another file with the name of the skin you chose. In my case the file is called ‘SkinUnderAllNoCaption.swf’.

Step 4:
FTP the ‘skin’ swf to your server.

Step 5:
Open up your Flash file and select the video. Then go to the component ‘Parameters’ palette ad 2x click the ‘skin’ option as shown in the image below.

Step 6:
Choose the last ‘Skin’ option called ‘Custom Skin URL’ and then enter the URL of the skin swf into this field and click ok.

Step 7:
Don’t panic. The skin will most likely not display in the authoring environment. Hit <CTRL> + <ENTER> on your keyboard to test your movie and you will see the same lovely component that you had originally. The two files below show the file before testing your movie and after.

Step 8:
Upload your swf file to the server in the same place as your skin swf and enjoy.

Troubleshooting:
Make sure that you have a crossdomain.xml file on your server to prevent other ActionScript Errors.

You can see this in action at my post about ‘How I Made History’
Now you have a step-by-step description of how to deal with ActionScript Error #2044

As always – Happy Flashing

TypeError: Error #1085: The element type “name” must be terminated by the matching end-tag “</key>”.

Description:
Here is another easy AS3 error. This Flash Error means that your XML is not valid because the end tag either does not match the opening tag or that the tag is simply missing. When it says “The element type” it is talking about the XML element. In my case this would be <name>. *Note: This AS3 error is similar to ActionScript Error #1100

Solution:
Check your spelling and make sure that you have properly nested tags.

Bad Code 1

var dogXML:XML = new XML();
dogXML =
<dog>
<name>Fido</namer>
</dog>

Bad Code 2

var dogXML:XML = new XML();
dogXML =
<dog>
<name>Fido
</dog>
</name>

Good Code

var dogXML:XML = new XML();
dogXML =
<dog>
<name>Fido</name>
</dog>

I hope this helps you solve ActionScript Error #1085

As Always Happy Flashing

Warning: 3553: Function value used where type void was expected. Possibly the parentheses () are missing after this function reference.

Description:
This is one of the best descriptions that I have seen for a Flash Error. This Flex/Flash Error is actually just a Flex/ Flash Warning. This error/warning means exactly what it says. You just forgot the parentheses () when you tried to make a method call.

Fix:
Add the Parenthesis

Bad Code:

var myTime:Timer = new Timer(1000, 3);
myTime.start;

or

var myDate:Date = new Date();
myDate.getDate;

Good Code:

var myTime:Timer = new Timer(1000, 3);
myTime.start();

or

var myDate:Date = new Date();
myDate.getDate();

As always Happy Flashing

ActionScript Error #1116: A user-defined namespace attribute can only be used at the top level of a class definition.

Description:
This ActionScript error will pop-up when a namespace is declared anywhere besides the class definition. What is a class definition you ask? It is simply the code that says names the class – something like ‘public class MyClass’

After the class is defined you are allowed to create custom(or ‘user-defined’) namespace on that level. Anywhere else in the code is not legal. This ActionScript Error is closely related to the Flash/Flex error #1114.
This AS3 error may also just be a typo. you may have typed something like ‘publi class’ rather than ‘public class’ or ‘prvate function’ rather than ‘private function’

Fix:
Either fix the misspelling in your code or place the ‘user-defined namespace’ inside the class definition. The second code example shows a namespace to separate cars and animals. Notice how the bad example nested the ‘user-defined namespace’ inside the constructor function.

Bad Code 1:

package com.cjm.somepackage
{
publi class MyClass {
publi function MyClass() {}
}
}

Good Code 1:

package com.cjm.somepackage
{
public class MyClass {
public function MyClass() {}
}
}

Bad Code 2:

package
{
public class MyClass
{
public namespace Cars;
public namespace Animals;public function MyClass() {
Animals var Jaguar:String = “A large cat chiefly of South America”;
Cars var jaguar:String = “A large car chiefly driven in North America”;
}

Cars function run():void {
trace(“At $30/mile”);
}

Animals function run():void {
trace(“On four legs”);
}
}
}

Good Code 2:

package
{
public class MyClass
{
public namespace Cars;
public namespace Animals;
Animals var Jaguar:String = “A large cat chiefly of South America”;
Cars var jaguar:String = “A large car chiefly driven in North America”;public function MyClass() {
}

Cars function run():void {
trace(“At $30/mile”);
}

Animals function run():void {
trace(“On four legs”);
}
}
}

Adobe has a great explanation of how to use namespaces as well as Collin Moock in Essential ActionScript 3 in Chapter 17

As always Happy Flashing