function woes...

[AtomicPenguin]

Hey, everyone. (My very first post!)

Here's my exact problem. I've written a little actionscript function that creates a new instance of a movie clip (already existing on the stage). Here it is:

function makeInstance(x, y, square, name) {
duplicateMovieClip(square, name, 0);
trace(name.length);
name._x = x;
name._y = y;
}

("x" & "y" are the coordinates to stick the instance - each one a copy of whatever "square" is. "name" is whatever name I've fed into the function to name the particular instance.)

The problem is: it doesn't work. ;-) Any idea why?

----

[MattMan]

instead of writing:
name._y = y; // which gives you nothing.

try writing this:
_root[name]._y = y;

that of course if the MC resides on the _root timeLine

you can also try:
this[name]._y = y;

that might work as well.

good luck.

[Webkuh]

Your function is treating name as a string and not converting it to a target path when you specify the x and y co-odinates. I've improved your syntax and it now works fine:

function makeInstance(x, y, mc, name, depth) {
duplicateMovieClip(mc, name, depth);
this[name]._x = x;
this[name]._y = y;
}

makeInstance(500, 100, "_root.mcSquare", "newSquare",0);

[senocular]

name is a string, you have to reference the movieclip WITH that name

the easiest way to do this here is probably with eval

function makeInstance(x, y, square, name) {
duplicateMovieClip(square, name, 0);
trace(name.length);
eval(name)._x = x;
eval(name)._y = y;
}

[edit] wow Im slow [/edit]

[Webkuh]

senocular - Flash MX doesn't like eval being used on the left side of an equation so wouldn't it be better to use the this[name]._x = x syntax instead?

[AtomicPenguin]

Thanks! That seems to work now. SORT of.

This could be a totally separate problem, but I thought I'd hit you with it anyway. When I call the function more than once, with different x&y locations & different names, it only draws the LAST instance. Do I have to tell the earlier objects to persist or something? Confusing...

eg.

makeInstance(20, 50, "one", "firstInstance");
...
makeInstance(20, 150, "two", "lastInstance");

[Webkuh]

That's why I added the depth argument to your function. If you don't change the depth each time you call your function, you overwrite the previous dupe.

[AtomicPenguin]

hahah Wonderful! I love this stuff!

Sorry. This is pretty much my first evening with ActionScript. The smallest things really please me!

Thanks very much for your help - guess I'll go read up on that "depth" stuff...

[Webkuh]

You're definitely moving in the right direction with your scripting by using functions to execute tasks rather than accessing/changing vars directly. Good luck.