[RESOLVED] Need help condensing this

[mwwoggy]

Hi guys,

I need some help streamlining or condensing the code in the file attached. I know it can be done, but try as I might, as soon as I change it it starts screwing up.

I need to be able to keep the code doing what it is doing at the moment (clicking on a dot, and then drawing a line from the start point to that dot), but I need to be able to do this for far more than just 3 dots, and I know that if I was to use my method of making this work, my code will end up being massive.

So far, I've tried using variables in the drawLine function, but everytime I add one, loses the co-ordinates it needs to draw to.

Also, once I'm done, I'd like to be able to make whichever dot is clicked, the new starting position for the next click, but that I'll tackle in a new thread, I think.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[bluemagica]

I, for some reason, can't open the file in my flash cs4, so If possible, paste your code here.

I don't know what you ae trying to do exactly, but if I understand correctly, you can simply push the coordinates of the dot being clicked in an array, and then in an enterFrame loop or something similar, check if the array is empty. If it is not empty, simply pop the coordinates from it, and draw lines to these coordinates.

[mwwoggy]

thanks for the quick reply and thanks for letting me know about the file - I'm using CS5, and just found out that I'd need to save as a CS4 file... anyway, here it is.

All I need is a simplified or shorter way to write the code. One that will allow me to add more dots as time goes by without having to add a paragraph of code each time I add a dot. The last part about resetting the start point to the current one isn't that important at the moment.

[bluemagica]

well my as2 is really rusty, so i can't help you write actual code, but I can help you with logic.

1) You don't need multiple drawline functions, write just one with a parameter

dot_1.onPress = function (){
	dot = 1;
	ep = "destination "+(dot);
	drawLine1(dot_1); //passing dot_1 as parameter
}

function drawLine(dest){
	_root.createEmptyMovieClip("line", 0);
	line.lineStyle(3, 0, 100);
	line.moveTo(start._x, start._y);
	line.lineTo(dest._x, dest._y);
	trace (dot);
	trace (ep);
}

2) You can make dot_1, dot_2 e.t.c, instances of the same class, thereby having to write the code only once. (this is one of the reasons to use as3 over as2)

[mwwoggy]

okay - seeing as I'm not that far into it, I can swap to AS3, how would you reccommend that I do it there? Please bear in mind that I'm a newbie with AS2, and even worse than that with AS3

your idea workd perfectly - and it's so simple when you think about it thanks man

If you don't mind, I'd still like to see how it's done in AS3, just so I can compare it and decide which way is the way foward

[bluemagica]

As3 is not as hard as people think it is, actually it is a lot easier once you stop listening to rumors and try it out for yourself.

Anyway, I don't know exactly what you are trying to do, so I can't give you exact code to your situation. First, I will try to rewrite your code in as3, so that you can see the difference

//Assign a click event listener to the dots, they call the same function when clicked
dot_1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,drawLineToThis);
dot_2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,drawLineToThis);
dot_3.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,drawLineToThis);

//draw the line to the object clicked
function drawLineToThis(e:MouseEvent)
{
	this.graphics.clear();
	this.graphics.lineStyle(2,0x000000);
	this.graphics.moveTo(start.x,start.y);
	this.graphics.lineTo(e.target.x,e.target.y); //e.target gives the instance which fired this event
         //You can use this for your traces too. try trace(e.target.name);   
}

This is the basic thing without your traces..... you can put this on the timeline and then publish to as3 to get things working.


But later you can make it more complex depending on your situation, for example, Write a "dot" class, and inside it dispatch a click event.

[mwwoggy]

Thanks for all the help, it's really appreciated. I think I'll try out AS3 and see how I get on.

[bluemagica]

glad I could help.

Though it's a big misconception that with as3, you can't code on the timeline like as2, but if you are going to use as3, I would strongly recommend not coding on the timeline. Break your game into classes and code, that is the general way for programmers, and once you start, it will seem a lot easier, faster, and better.

Download flashdevelop ( http://flashdevelop.org ) , a freeware for editing code, and you will have a much better experience with writing code (...nowadays, I wonder how I ever managed without it when I started in flash). If you get stuck anywhere, feel free to ask me.