In this tutorial I will show you how to create a Currency Converter using ActionScript 3 and Flash Components. The calculations are made in runtime, no button clicks needed!

1. Open a new Flash document and save it under “CurrencyConverter.fla”. Set the document size to 400 x 250 pixels and for color choose #CCCCCC.

2. Open the Components Panel by clicking Window -> Copmponents and drag two List Components. Make them 145px wide by 100px high. Give the first List component instance name “fromList” and the second “toList”.

3. Go to the Components Panel again and drag a TextInput component. For instance name type “input_txt”. Position the TextInput somewhere over the first List component.

4. Take the Text Tool and create a dynamic text field somewhere over the second List component. Give the text field instance name “result_txt”. Set its properties like this:

I think you got the idea. The user types the amount in the TextInput and selects the currency that he would like to convert from. The result appears in the “result_txt” text field.

5. We are now ready and have to go to ActionScript. Create a new layer called “actions” and open the Actions Panel.

//importing DataProvider class
import fl.data.DataProvider;

//creating a new data provider object
var dp:DataProvider = new DataProvider();
//first we create a variable to store the first value
var fromVal:Number;
//then we create a variable for the second value
var toVal:Number;
//here we store what the user inputs
var inputVal:Number
//the result value
var calculatedVal:Number;
//the user can enter only numbers in the TextInput
input_txt.restrict = "0-9";

//adding items to the Data Provider. The user sees the "label" property.
//For data we set the currency weight. US dollar has weight 1.
//The others are in proportion to US Dollar
dp.addItem( { label: "U.S. Dollars", data:1 });
dp.addItem( { label: "Australian Dollars", data: 0.832114 });
dp.addItem( { label: "Canada Dollars", data: 0.926215 } );
dp.addItem( { label: "Euro", data:1.42643 });
dp.addItem( { label: "United Kingdom Pounds", data:1.65151 });
dp.addItem( { label: "India Rupees", data:0.0207573 });
dp.addItem( { label: "Poland Zlotych", data:0.341955 });
dp.addItem( { label: "Russia Rubles", data:0.0325614 });
dp.addItem( { label: "Philippines Pesos", data:0.02079 });
dp.addItem( { label: "Bulgarian Leva", data:0.729733 });
dp.addItem( { label: "Brazil Reais", data:0.531719 });

//populating the lists
fromList.dataProvider = dp;
toList.dataProvider = dp;

//adding Event Change listeners to all of the components
fromList.addEventListener(Event.CHANGE, calculateResult);
toList.addEventListener(Event.CHANGE, calculateResult);
input_txt.addEventListener(Event.CHANGE, calculateResult);
//we set items that are set by default
fromList.selectedIndex = 0;
toList.selectedIndex = 3;

//initializing "fromVal" and "toVal"
fromVal = fromList.selectedItem.data;
toVal = toList.selectedItem.data;

function calculateResult(e:Event):void{
	fromVal = fromList.selectedItem.data;
	toVal = toList.selectedItem.data;
	//casting String to Number
	inputVal = Number(input_txt.text);
	//calculating the result
	calculatedVal = inputVal * (fromVal / toVal);
	//adding the result to the text field
	result_txt.text = calculatedVal.toString();
}

Here is the final result: