myEventDispatcher.addEventListener("someEvent", dispatchEvent);

When I quickly need to cast an object to access a few methods/properties I don’t always want to
create a new casted variable:

var child:DisplayObject = getChildThatMightBeMovieClip();

if (child is MovieClip) {
	var childAsMc:MovieClip = child as MovieClip;
	trace(childAsMc.numChildren);
	trace(childAsMc.currentFrame);
}

or cast it every single time:

var child:DisplayObject = getChildThatMightBeMovieClip();

if (child is MovieClip) {
	trace((child as MovieClip).numChildren);
	trace((child as MovieClip).currentFrame);
}

Using the “with” keyword, we can temporarily cast it without creating a temporary casted variable or casting it again and again:

var child:DisplayObject = getChildThatMightBeMovieClip();

if (child is MovieClip) {
	with (child as MovieClip) {
		trace(numChildren);
		trace(currentFrame);
	}
}

Elegant =)

When this is written, flash builder 4 doesn’t have a native way that lets you use it, so we have to do a little mix. (Update: The update is out.)
The global error handler works by adding an event to the uncaughtErrorEvents property of the loaderInfo of the application.
There are currently two methods of getting it to work.

Method 1 - The backwards compatible one:

Here the code doesn’t crash in flash player 9/10, but the error handling will only work in 10.1.

if(loaderInfo.hasOwnProperty("uncaughtErrorEvents")){
	IEventDispatcher(loaderInfo["uncaughtErrorEvents"]) .addEventListener("uncaughtError", uncaughtErrorHandler);
}

private function uncaughtErrorHandler(e:Event):void {
	trace("Global error:", e);
}

Method 2 - The type safe one:

Get the Flex 4.1 SDK if you haven’t already and choose that one as your project’s SDK.

Now you can use the new global error handling like it was meant to be used:

import flash.events.UncaughtErrorEvent;

loaderInfo.uncaughtErrorEvents.addEventListener( UncaughtErrorEvent.UNCAUGHT_ERROR, uncaughtErrorHandler);

private function uncaughtErrorHandler( e:UncaughtErrorEvent):void {
	trace("Global error:", e);
}

Tinting with the color class:

import fl.motion.Color;
// Tint the movie clip 50% with the color 0xFF9933
var c:Color = new Color();
c.setTint(0xFF9933, 0.5);
myMovieClip.transform.colorTransform = c;

Tinting without the color class:

import flash.geom.ColorTransform;

// Tint the movie clip 50% with the color 0xFF9933
var tintColor:uint = 0xFF9933;
var tintMultiplier:Number = 0.5;
setTint(myMovieClip, tintColor, tintMultiplier);

function setTint(displayObject:DisplayObject, tintColor:uint, tintMultiplier:Number):void {
	var colTransform:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
	colTransform.redMultiplier = colTransform.greenMultiplier = colTransform.blueMultiplier = 1-tintMultiplier;
	colTransform.redOffset = Math.round(((tintColor & 0xFF0000) >> 16) * tintMultiplier);
	colTransform.greenOffset = Math.round(((tintColor & 0x00FF00) >> 8) * tintMultiplier);
	colTransform.blueOffset = Math.round(((tintColor & 0x0000FF)) * tintMultiplier);
	displayObject.transform.colorTransform = colTransform;
}

To make the code as customizable as possible, it does not make a call to beginFill in case you want to set your own fill (or gradientfill even?).
If you just want to use it as a basic mask, just call beginFill(0) before and endFill() after the call to drawPieMask.

function drawPieMask(graphics:Graphics, percentage:Number, radius:Number = 50, x:Number = 0, y:Number = 0, rotation:Number = 0, sides:int = 6):void {
	// graphics should have its beginFill function already called by now
	graphics.moveTo(x, y);
	if (sides < 3) sides = 3; // 3 sides minimum
	// Increase the length of the radius to cover the whole target
	radius /= Math.cos(1/sides * Math.PI);
	// Shortcut function
	var lineToRadians:Function = function(rads:Number):void {
		graphics.lineTo(Math.cos(rads) * radius + x, Math.sin(rads) * radius + y);
	};
	// Find how many sides we have to draw
	var sidesToDraw:int = Math.floor(percentage * sides);
	for (var i:int = 0; i <= sidesToDraw; i++)
		lineToRadians((i / sides) * (Math.PI * 2) + rotation);
	// Draw the last fractioned side
	if (percentage * sides != sidesToDraw)
		lineToRadians(percentage * (Math.PI * 2) + rotation);
}

Example of different sides values. The last circle has a pie with 3 sides as a mask.

You can get the example fla here.

function numberFormat(number:*, maxDecimals:int = 2, forceDecimals:Boolean = false, siStyle:Boolean = true):String {
    var i:int = 0, inc:Number = Math.pow(10, maxDecimals), str:String = String(Math.round(inc * Number(number))/inc);
    var hasSep:Boolean = str.indexOf(".") == -1, sep:int = hasSep ? str.length : str.indexOf(".");
    var ret:String = (hasSep && !forceDecimals ? "" : (siStyle ? "," : ".")) + str.substr(sep+1);
    if (forceDecimals) for (var j:int = 0; j <= maxDecimals - (str.length - (hasSep ? sep-1 : sep)); j++) ret += "0";
    while (i + 3 < (str.substr(0, 1) == "-" ? sep-1 : sep)) ret = (siStyle ? "." : ",") + str.substr(sep - (i += 3), 3) + ret;
    return str.substr(0, sep - i) + ret;
}

The first thing you have to do is create a new flash file to store the font(s). Then, right click the library and select “New Font…”.

Choose the font you want to embed and give it a name. Any name will do here, as this is only the library name and will not affect our code in any way. I prefer to name the font with the same name as the linkage name I plan to give it.

Click ok, and then right click the font in the library and select “Linkage…”. Check the “Export for ActionScript” and “Export in first frame” options, give your font the linkage name of your own liking and click OK.

And now you’re ready. Export the file to swf and there’s your font resource file.

If you want to use that font, you first have to load it into the application domain, and then register it on the global font list using the Font.registerFont function. The textfield can’t display it until it has the embedFonts property set to true and the font name in its textformat.
You can see an example in the following code, ready to be pasted into your frame:

var l:Loader = new Loader();
l.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onLoaded);
l.load(new URLRequest("MyFont.swf"), new LoaderContext(false, ApplicationDomain.currentDomain));

function onLoaded(e:Event):void {
	// Register the font to the global font list
	Font.registerFont( Class( ApplicationDomain.currentDomain.getDefinition("MyFont")));

	myTextField.embedFonts = true;
	// instantiate the font just to get the real font name, or if you know the name before hand you can just hard-code it in here
	var fontName:String = new (ApplicationDomain.currentDomain.getDefinition("MyFont"))().fontName;
	var tf:TextFormat = new TextFormat(fontName);
	// Set the text format for the text already in the text field
	myTextField.setTextFormat(tf);
	// and for future changes
	myTextField.defaultTextFormat = tf;
}