Question

I know global variables are supposed to be bad but is it possible to create global classes? I am creating an application and I want to have one class that handles sound. From any class I would like to be able to say soundhandler.playSound(); without having to pass references all over the place. It should just know it is there.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You’re referring to static members.

Your class SoundHandler would have a static method called playSound(), which can be implemented like so:

package
{
    public class SoundHandler
    {
        public static function playSound():void
        {
            // @todo Logic
        }
    }
}

Your playSound() method is now accessible via:

SoundHandler.playSound();

Note: You mentioned global methods being bad, however this is a perfect candidate for these and something I would actually recommend (as much as I hate using static).

Additional: ActionScript 3’s Math class contains mostly static members e.g. Math.round()

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Your question (comment): Do I need to initiate SoundHandler in the document class?

No, in fact you shouldn’t make an instance of SoundHandler at all. The only requirement is that you must have SoundHandler imported in your current class to access it:

import yourpackage.SoundHandler;