Pausing Actionscript

[mell349]

I've got a problem. I need to pause the execution of a script in the middle of a do/while loop.

I am drawing buttons (using attachMovie) and then animating them (with mx.transitions.Tween) but I want each one to start animating a short while after the previous one. I've tried a few things but nothing has worked so far. I'm a little weary about splitting the script up since it took me a little while to get it all working.

Anyone have any thoughts?

The code I'm using is:

i = 1;
do{	
	this.attachMovie("clipButton","siteButton"+i,this.getNextHighestDepth());
	this["siteButton"+i]._x = -150;
	this["siteButton"+i]._y = 25*(i-1);
	this["siteButton"+i].txt.text = buttons["site"+i];
	this["siteButton"+i].x = i;
	this["siteButton"+i].onRelease = function() {
		_global.titleBar = buttons["site"+this.x];
		_global.image = buttons["image"+this.x];
		_global.blurb = buttons["desc"+this.x];
		_global.visit = buttons["link"+this.x];
		_global.dc = buttons["dc"+this.x];
		_parent.pageHolder.info.visit.onRelease = function() {
			getURL("http://"+visit,"_blank");
		}
		_parent.pageHolder.gotoAndPlay("close");
	}
	this["siteButton"+i].onRollOver = function() {
		this.play();
	}
	this["siteButton"+i].onRollOut = function() {
		this.gotoAndStop(1);
	}
	
	var easeType = mx.transitions.easing.Strong.easeOut;
	myTween = new mx.transitions.Tween(this["siteButton"+i], "_x", easeType, this["siteButton"+i]._x, 0, 1, true);

	i = i+1;
}while(i <= buttons.total);

[mell349]

For anyone interested I have used this workaround. I don't think it's the best way, but it works

The script I am now using on the one frame is:

if(i <= buttons.total){	
	this.attachMovie("clipButton","siteButton"+i,this.getNextHighestDepth());
	this["siteButton"+i]._x = -150;
	this["siteButton"+i]._y = 25*(i-1);
	this["siteButton"+i].txt.text = buttons["site"+i];
	this["siteButton"+i].x = i;
	this["siteButton"+i].onRelease = function() {
		_global.titleBar = buttons["site"+this.x];
		_global.image = buttons["image"+this.x];
		_global.blurb = buttons["desc"+this.x];
		_global.visit = buttons["link"+this.x];
		_global.dc = buttons["dc"+this.x];
		_parent.pageHolder.info.visit.onRelease = function() {
			getURL("http://"+visit,"_blank");
		}
		_parent.pageHolder.gotoAndPlay("close");
	}
	this["siteButton"+i].onRollOver = function() {
		_parent.title.title.title.text = buttons["site"+this.x];
		_parent.title.gotoAndPlay(2);
		this.play();
	}
	this["siteButton"+i].onRollOut = function() {
		_parent.title.gotoAndPlay("close");
		this.gotoAndStop(1);
	}
	var easeType = mx.transitions.easing.Strong.easeOut;
	myTween = new mx.transitions.Tween(this["siteButton"+i], "_x", easeType, this["siteButton"+i]._x, 0, 1, true);
	i = i+1;
}

Then I have a break for 2 frames (for the pause I wanted) before the simple piece of script:

gotoAndPlay(2);

[madzigian]

check out Ladislav Zigo's tweening class: http://laco.wz.cz/tween/ it allows you a lot of flexibility and you can use delays, callbacks, etc. it also has 40+ different easing styles including bounce, elastic, back, strong, sine, expo, etc. there is also a custom easing tool MXP for it that allows you to create your own easing styles...

it's very easy to use with even a limited amount of actionscript knowledge...