Error Messages

The following are error messages that might occur when converting code from ActionScript 3.0 to Haxe. Especially if you are new to the Haxe programming language, it can be difficult to realize what is wrong.

This is a short list of compile errors you may encounter, and some explanations for what may be the underlying issue.

Class not found: Object

The Object type in Haxe is called Dynamic. It is equivalent to the * type in ActionScript. It is also possible to remove some type declarations since Haxe supports type inference, like var foo = {};

Class not found: Function

The Function type in Haxe can be described either by using Dynamic, or by using the signature of the method. For example, if the method accepts no parameters and returns a string, you could describe the function as Void -> String. If it accepted a boolean and a string, but had no return value, you could use Bool->String->Void as the type.

It is also possible to remove some type declarations since Haxe supports type inference, like var foo = function () {};

Class not found: Number

The Number type in Haxe is called Float. It is also possible to remove some type declarations since Haxe supports type inference, like var foo = 0.0;

Class not found: Boolean

The Boolean type in Haxe is called Bool. It is also possible to remove some type declarations since Haxe supports type inference, like var foo = false;

Class not found: RegExp

You can try using the Haxe regular expression class, EReg

Invalid number of type parameters for Array

The Array type in Haxe expects type parameters, to describe what the array contains. You can create a generic array using Array<Dynamic>, or you can be more specific by using the appropriate types, like Array<Int> or Array<Array<String>>.

It is also possible to remove some type declarations since Haxe supports type inference, like var foo = [ 1, 2 ];

Missing ;

Haxe does not automatically close declarations based on new lines. For example, var foo = 1; needs to end with a semicolon, otherwise you will receive this error.

This can also be an indication that something else is wrong:

• You may need to replace package { ... } with package;
• You may need to fix a bad type on the line before, like uint
• You may need to remove a bad keyword, like delete
• You may need to change a value that uses a restricted Haxe keyword, like cast or callback
• You may need to replace an as keyword with cast, cast () or Std.as()

Unexpected }

There may be a logical error before this point in your code, or you have a mismatch in your curly braces. For example, if you change package { to package;, you may have forgotten to remove the closing brace lower in the file.

Unexpected final

Unlike ActionScript, Haxe does not have a final keyword. You can either remove the keyword or use @:final instead. If you use the @:final meta-tag, however, make sure that it appears before other keywords, like @:final public function, not public @:final function

Unexpected foo (or other variable name)

This may be caused by a declaration which is not compatible with Haxe, like typeof foo, or you may need to convert a Flash getter or setter.

If a getter or setter is being used to limit access to a variable, like setting it to read-only, you can do this when defining a variable in Haxe, like var foo (default, null):String

Otherwise, you can use the same syntax to use a getter or a setter, like var foo (get, set):String, then define your getter and setter methods later in the class (using the prefix "get_" or "set", respectively).

Unexpected $foo (or other variable name)

Haxe does not allow the dollar sign in variable or method names.

Unexpected =

This might indicate that there is a bad type before the equal sign, like “uint”, or this may be caused by some kinds of compact syntax that are not compatible with Haxe.

For example, if the original code had foo ||= bar, you can replace it with if (foo == null) foo = bar;

Unexpected public

You may need to replace public class with class

Type name should start with an uppercase letter

By convention, types like classes, interfaces, typedefs and enums begin with an uppercase letter.

This may also occur if you attempt to use a namespace, which is not supported in Haxe, or it may occur when referencing a global method that does not exist in Haxe. For example, getTimer should be Lib.getTimer, or methods like getDefinitionByName should be replaced with calls to the Type or Reflect classes.

Unexpected /

This may occur when there is a regular expression that needs to be replaced.

Unexpected var

This can occur if a for loop is not formatted for Haxe.

In other languages, a loop like for (var i:uint = 0; i < 100; i++) is fairly common. Written for Haxe, the same loop would be for (i in 0…100)

Similarly, a loop like for each (var i:String in myArray) in ActionScript would be for (i in myArray) when written for Haxe.

Unexpected internal

Haxe does not have an internal namespace. You should change it to private, then use the @:access, @:allow or (for a single-line call) @:privateAccess meta-data to access or allow private members.

Unexpected ...

Haxe does not support "rest" parameters like ActionScript 3.

There are ways to recreate the same functionality using Reflect.makeVarArgs, but it probably is best to refactor so that the number of parameters is known.

Unexpected

This might occur if you are missing a closing curly bracket in your code.

Unexpected dynamic

In ActionScript, the dynamic keyword means that a class can have new variables or methods assigned to it as a dynamic object. This is possible in Haxe by implementing Dynamic as an interface.

For example, dynamic class Foo implements Bar can be replaced with class Foo implements Bar implements Dynamic

Unexpected implements

This probably means that a comma is missing.

For example, replace extends Foo implements Bar with extends Foo implements Bar

Unexpected {

This might mean that you forgot a parenthesis in your code.

Unexpected is

You can replace Foo is Bar with Std.is (Foo, Bar)

Unexpected as

There is more than one way to perform casting in Haxe. In order to perform an unsafe (but fast) cast between types, you can use the cast keyword without parenthesis, like cast foo.

In order to perform a safe cast, use parenthesis, like cast (foo, Bar). This is similar to using Std.as in order to perform casting.

You can use Std.int, Std.parseFloat, Std.parseInt and Std.string in order to convert between basic types.

Unexpected protected

The Haxe language does not have a protected keyword, but the private scope acts like protected in other languages.

Unexpected *

This may mean that you need Dynamic in place of * for a type, or it may be caused by a wild card import, which will only apply to a single level.

For example, import flash.display.*; would work, but import flash.*; would not.