Question

I want to define color value by using HSL(Hue, Saturation, Lightness) not RGB.
Does actionscript have a function for that?

For example, I want to write code like the following:

var color:int = hsl(10, 90, 30);
sprite.graphics.lineStyle(2, color);

Answer 1

No built-in way, but there are many functions available online to do the conversion. For example these two JavaScript functions (they might need to be slightly refactored to compile with AS3 but it should just be minor changes):

/**
 * Converts an RGB color value to HSL. Conversion formula
 * adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_color_space.
 * Assumes r, g, and b are contained in the set [0, 255] and
 * returns h, s, and l in the set [0, 1].
 *
 * @param   Number  r       The red color value
 * @param   Number  g       The green color value
 * @param   Number  b       The blue color value
 * @return  Array           The HSL representation
 */
function rgbToHsl(r, g, b){
    r /= 255, g /= 255, b /= 255;
    var max = Math.max(r, g, b), min = Math.min(r, g, b);
    var h, s, l = (max + min) / 2;

    if(max == min){
        h = s = 0; // achromatic
    }else{
        var d = max - min;
        s = l > 0.5 ? d / (2 - max - min) : d / (max + min);
        switch(max){
            case r: h = (g - b) / d + (g < b ? 6 : 0); break;
            case g: h = (b - r) / d + 2; break;
            case b: h = (r - g) / d + 4; break;
        }
        h /= 6;
    }

    return [h, s, l];
}

/**
 * Converts an HSL color value to RGB. Conversion formula
 * adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_color_space.
 * Assumes h, s, and l are contained in the set [0, 1] and
 * returns r, g, and b in the set [0, 255].
 *
 * @param   Number  h       The hue
 * @param   Number  s       The saturation
 * @param   Number  l       The lightness
 * @return  Array           The RGB representation
 */
function hslToRgb(h, s, l){
    var r, g, b;

    if(s == 0){
        r = g = b = l; // achromatic
    }else{
        function hue2rgb(p, q, t){
            if(t < 0) t += 1;
            if(t > 1) t -= 1;
            if(t < 1/6) return p + (q - p) * 6 * t;
            if(t < 1/2) return q;
            if(t < 2/3) return p + (q - p) * (2/3 - t) * 6;
            return p;
        }

        var q = l < 0.5 ? l * (1 + s) : l + s - l * s;
        var p = 2 * l - q;
        r = hue2rgb(p, q, h + 1/3);
        g = hue2rgb(p, q, h);
        b = hue2rgb(p, q, h - 1/3);
    }

    return [r * 255, g * 255, b * 255];
}

Then use ColorTransform to get the uint RGB value:

var c:Array = hslToRgb(10, 90, 30);
var t:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, c[0], c[1], c[2]);
var color:uint = t.color;