Looping / Incrementing onRelease Function

[jasonmSF]

Hi. Just getting up to speed on looping and incrementing variables. A real time saver.

I have a onRelease function that I would like to apply to several button objects:

phase1a.but1.onRelease = function() {
p=0;
thisImage();
}

I need the p variable as well as the target but1 to increment. This is my first attempt:

for (n=1; n<=23; n++) {
phase1a.but[n].onRelease = function() {
p=[n+1];
thisImage();
trace (p);
}
trace (n);
}

I get a good trace on n showing that the incrementing is successful but nothing on p when the button is clicked and no execution of the function thisImage(). Not getting any errors either. Can you not loop an onRelease statement?

Thanks in advance.

[EvolveDesigns]

try this:

phase1a["but"+n].onRelease = function() {

[jasonmSF]

Thanks for the reply. I actually had tried that already but it threw an error because I forgot to omit the "." before the first bracket [.

Now seeing an issue with the p variable not incrementing. trace (p); just yields 25 no matter which button is pressed.

for (n=1; n<=23; n++) {
phase1a["but"+n].onRelease = function() {
p=n+1;
thisImage();
trace (p);
}
}

J

[EvolveDesigns]

that's because you need to do something with p as you did with n by assigning it to your buttons. otherwise once the for loop is done (which is next to instant) it will have the highest possible number.

how is p being used? (wow that sounds odd)

[jasonmSF]

Yeah. I get it now. This is getting a little convoluted for my right brain.

p stands for the current image of a slide show. Each button object is a thumbnail. Clicking on a thumb should call the corresponding image represented by p so I get that p has to increment somehow within the onRelease handler. Maybe I'll try to put another loop in the onRelease handler.

Thanks again.

J

[roboron]

Coincidentally, I'm running into the same problem. I also tried nesting another loop inside the onRelease handler but it didn't work. Did you ever solve it? Thanks.

[jasonmSF]

Nope. Same problem. With every loop, the variable changes and wont stay fixed within the button object. Maybe if it's specified as _local?

Looking into incrementing the variable name as well so it wont get overwritten...

Anything to keep from writing 60 onRelease statements

J

[dawsonk]

for (n = 1; n <= 23; n++) {
	phase1a.but[n].num = n
	phase1a.but[n].onRelease = function() {
		p = (this.num + 1);
		thisImage();
		trace(p);
	};
}

[jasonmSF]

I thought about trying to pull the variable back out of the path using target path(this) but this is much better. Actually here is the code that worked:

for (n=1; n<=phase1total; n++) {
	phase1a["but"+n].num = n
	phase1a["but"+n].onRelease = function() {
		p = [this.num-1];
		thisImage();
		trace (p);
	}
}

Thanks,

J

[roboron]

That seems to work for me as well - up to a point. For some reason I'm having a hell of a time trying to target a movieclip from within the function:

for (n=0; n<=15; n++) {
    number_array["numbtn"+n].num = n*-900;
    number_array["numbtn"+n].onRelease = function() {
        p = [this.num];
            container_mc._x = p;
        trace(p);
    };    
} 

If I substitute a number (ie. 400) instead of the variable 'p' it works. But for some reason the variable doesn't. However, the trace DOES work. Weird.

I might just resort to doing it the painful way. I only have to do 15 on releases not 60 like you! ;-)

[dawsonk]

for (n = 0; n <= 15; n++) {
	number_array["numbtn" + n].num = n * -900;
	number_array["numbtn" + n].onRelease = function() {
		p = this.num;
		this._parent.container_mc._x = p;
	};
}

[roboron]

for (n = 0; n <= 15; n++) {
	number_array["numbtn" + n].num = n * -900;
	number_array["numbtn" + n].onRelease = function() {
		p = this.num;
		this._parent.container_mc._x = p;
	};
}

Thanks, but it didn't work. Ugh. Pretty sure it's not a targeting error (i've tried it a number of different ways including _root). It's one of those I can spend the next 4 hours on it or I can move on. Unfortunately it'll probably be the later. Appreciate the help though. Thanks again.

[jasonmSF]

Yeah, I actually ended up going another way because there was something strange going on the the variable P that was messing up other parts of my code.

I ended up actually using the button path and pulling the variable I needed out of it. Don't laugh, it's not pretty.

for (n=1; n<=phase1total; n++) {
	phase1a["but"+n].onRelease = function() {
		current=targetpath(this);
		p = current.substr(current.lastIndexOf('t')+1,current.length)-1;
		thisImage();
	}
}

The path that's returned by targetpath() is "_level0.phase1a.but3" so I just stripped everything else of and made it my variable and, for my purposes, I had to subtract 1.

I know, yikes. but it works.

J

[roboron]

Ouch. Brain freeze. Glad you got it work. I'll have to tackle it again in my next project. At least I know I'm getting closer! Thanks.

Ron