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Differences from ax3

This page summarizes the main changes introduced in this fork (ax4) compared to upstream ax3. It is a high-level overview based on recent development history (roughly the latest 150 commits), not a line-by-line changelog.

At a glance

  • ax3 was primarily used for HTML5 migration; this fork is primarily optimized for C++ migration while still supporting HTML5.
  • Stronger conversion reliability for real-world AS3 code (fewer "unknown identifier/field" and conversion edge-case failures).
  • Much broader non-Flash target support, especially C++/hxcpp-oriented compatibility behavior.
  • Significant expansion of compatibility runtime (compat/) and tests (compat-test/).
  • Better handling of dynamic access, dictionary/object semantics, XML/E4X patterns, arrays/vectors, and coercions.
  • More practical project tooling/docs (new docs set, troubleshooting guidance, wiki sync workflow).

Converter and filter improvements

Main areas improved in typing/filtering/generation:

  • Dynamic property access and assignments:
    • safer rewrites for reads/writes/compound assignments on dynamic values
    • improved hasOwnProperty handling and undefined lookup rewrites
  • Type inference and coercions:
    • better local inference in loops and cyclic flows
    • improved numeric/bitwise coercions and Any/Object conversions
  • Class/constructor handling:
    • fixes for ctor initialization ordering and super-call placement
    • better handling of class casts and new on dynamic/callable values
  • API-specific rewrites:
    • improvements for Array/Vector APIs, function apply/call, URL loading patterns, Embed handling, flash/global utility shims
  • E4X/XML support:
    • expanded parser/filter/runtime handling for XML/XMLList and related patterns

Runtime compatibility layer (compat/)

compat/ has grown substantially and now covers more AS3 behavior used by converted output, including:

  • ASAny, ASDictionary, ASArrayBase, ASProxyBase behavior refinements
  • non-Flash parity for dynamic/property access semantics
  • additional XML/XMLList, RegExp, describeType, ByteArray, and related utility behavior

compat-test/ includes dedicated tests for this layer and should be updated together with runtime changes.

Target support and portability

Compared to baseline ax3 usage, target priorities are different:

  • Primary focus: C++/hxcpp migration and runtime parity.
  • Secondary but still supported target: HTML5.

To support that, this fork includes more explicit effort toward non-Flash portability:

  • multiple fixes targeting C++/hxcpp behavior
  • fallback paths for non-Flash runtime semantics
  • adjustments to avoid target-specific pitfalls (closure binding, varargs wrapping, numeric corner cases)

Configuration and workflow changes

Notable workflow/config changes include:

  • project renamed to ax4
  • non-AS asset handling improvements:
    • copyNonAs option (default true)
    • dataout fallback behavior and filtering with dataext / datafiles
  • added docs structure under docs/ and one-way wiki sync

Migration notes for ax3 users

If you are coming from ax3:

  1. Read Quickstart and Config reference first.
  2. Ensure compat/ is included in your target project.
  3. Re-check any custom assumptions around dynamic behavior, array/vector helpers, and XML/E4X conversions.
  4. If output still fails to compile, use Troubleshooting and reduce to a repro in tests/src/.