Interfaces

Defining an interface
Implementing an interface in a class

An interface is a collection of method declarations that allows unrelated objects to communicate with one another. For example, ActionScript 3.0 defines the IEventDispatcher interface, which contains method declarations that a class can use to handle event objects. The IEventDispatcher interface establishes a standard way for objects to pass event objects to one another. The following code shows the definition of the IEventDispatcher interface:

public interface IEventDispatcher 
{ 
    function addEventListener(type:String, listener:Function,  
            useCapture:Boolean=false, priority:int=0, 
            useWeakReference:Boolean = false):void; 
    function removeEventListener(type:String, listener:Function,  
            useCapture:Boolean=false):void; 
    function dispatchEvent(event:Event):Boolean; 
    function hasEventListener(type:String):Boolean; 
    function willTrigger(type:String):Boolean; 
}

Interfaces are based on the distinction between a method’s interface and its implementation. A method’s interface includes all the information necessary to call that method, including the name of the method, all of its parameters, and its return type. A method’s implementation includes not only the interface information, but also the executable statements that carry out the method’s behavior. An interface definition contains only method interfaces, and any class that implements the interface is responsible for defining the method implementations.

In ActionScript 3.0, the EventDispatcher class implements the IEventDispatcher interface by defining all of the IEventDispatcher interface methods and adding method bodies to each of the methods. The following code is an excerpt from the EventDispatcher class definition:

public class EventDispatcher implements IEventDispatcher 
{ 
    function dispatchEvent(event:Event):Boolean 
    { 
        /* implementation statements */ 
    } 
 
    ... 
}

The IEventDispatcher interface serves as a protocol that EventDispatcher instances use to process event objects and pass them to other objects that have also implemented the IEventDispatcher interface.

Another way to describe an interface is to say that it defines a data type just as a class does. Accordingly, an interface can be used as a type annotation, just as a class can. As a data type, an interface can also be used with operators, such as the is and as operators, that require a data type. Unlike a class, however, an interface cannot be instantiated. This distinction has led many programmers to think of interfaces as abstract data types and classes as concrete data types.

Defining an interface

The structure of an interface definition is similar to that of a class definition, except that an interface can contain only methods with no method bodies. Interfaces cannot include variables or constants but can include getters and setters. To define an interface, use the interface keyword. For example, the following interface, IExternalizable, is part of the flash.utils package in ActionScript 3.0. The IExternalizable interface defines a protocol for serializing an object, which means converting an object into a format suitable for storage on a device or for transport across a network.

public interface IExternalizable 
{ 
    function writeExternal(output:IDataOutput):void; 
    function readExternal(input:IDataInput):void; 
}

The IExternalizable interface is declared with the public access control modifier. Interface definitions can only be modified by the public and internal access control specifiers. The method declarations inside an interface definition cannot have any access control specifiers.

ActionScript 3.0 follows a convention in which interface names begin with an uppercase I, but you can use any legal identifier as an interface name. Interface definitions are often placed at the top level of a package. Interface definitions cannot be placed inside a class definition or inside another interface definition.

Interfaces can extend one or more other interfaces. For example, the following interface, IExample, extends the IExternalizable interface:

public interface IExample extends IExternalizable 
{ 
    function extra():void; 
}

Any class that implements the IExample interface must include implementations not only for the extra() method, but also for the writeExternal() and readExternal() methods inherited from the IExternalizable interface.

Implementing an interface in a class

A class is the only ActionScript 3.0 language element that can implement an interface. Use the implements keyword in a class declaration to implement one or more interfaces. The following example defines two interfaces, IAlpha and IBeta, and a class, Alpha, that implements them both:

interface IAlpha 
{ 
    function foo(str:String):String; 
} 
 
interface IBeta 
{ 
    function bar():void; 
} 
 
class Alpha implements IAlpha, IBeta 
{ 
    public function foo(param:String):String {} 
    public function bar():void {} 
}

In a class that implements an interface, implemented methods must do the following:

Use the public access control identifier.
Use the same name as the interface method.
Have the same number of parameters, each with data types that match the interface method parameter data types.

Use the same return type.

public function foo(param:String):String {}

You do have some flexibility, however, in how you name the parameters of methods that you implement. Although the number of parameters and the data type of each parameter in the implemented method must match that of the interface method, the parameter names do not need to match. For example, in the previous example the parameter of the Alpha.foo() method is named param:

But the parameter is named str in the IAlpha.foo() interface method:

function foo(str:String):String;

You also have some flexibility with default parameter values. An interface definition can include function declarations with default parameter values. A method that implements such a function declaration must have a default parameter value that is a member of the same data type as the value specified in the interface definition, but the actual value does not have to match. For example, the following code defines an interface that contains a method with a default parameter value of 3:

interface IGamma 
{ 
    function doSomething(param:int = 3):void; 
}

The following class definition implements the IGamma interface but uses a different default parameter value:

class Gamma implements IGamma 
{ 
    public function doSomething(param:int = 4):void {} 
}

The reason for this flexibility is that the rules for implementing an interface are designed specifically to ensure data type compatibility, and requiring identical parameter names and default parameter values is not necessary to achieve that objective.