Varying XML on Button Press

[geetarguy85]

Hello,

Sorry if this has been asked before, I couldn't find anything using the search bar though.

I am creating an heirarchical menu in flash, based upon an XML file. There are 5 or 6 buttons, each with a different label loaded from the XML file. Upon pressing one of these buttons, I want the button labels to change to the relevant submenu's labels. Whilst I could do this by having an individual frame for each submenu, this wouldn't be ideal as I want to be able to load different XML files in from time to time, which may have a different structure.

I was wondering whether anyone has any idea how I could do this?

For each node on the XML there is a variable called "cmdID". This matches up to the ID of a particular submenu. So for example, the item I have put in bold matches up to the submenu node which I have also put in bold.

I assume I can perform some sort of navigation based around this, but I am stumped.

If anyone can help that'd be great thanks.

An example of the XML is below:

- <menu label="Main" id="1" childindex="1" parent="0">
<item voice="No" child="0" cmdID="2" index="1" menutype="2" value="Main Menu">Main Menu</item>
<item voice="No" child="3" cmdID="3" index="2" menutype="1">Sub Menu 1</item>
<item voice="No" child="24" cmdID="24" index="3" menutype="1">Item 2</item>
<item voice="No" child="30" cmdID="30" index="4" menutype="1">Item 3</item>
<item voice="No" child="72" cmdID="72" index="5" menutype="1">Item 4</item>
<item voice="No" child="100" cmdID="100" index="6" menutype="1">Item 5</item>
</menu>

<menu label="Sub Menu 1" id="3" childindex="2" parent="1">
<item voice="No" child="0" cmdID="4" index="1" menutype="2">Sub Menu 1</item>

[4dtext]

Dear geetarguy,
Have you used Actionscript much? It will do the job pretty easily.
See if the code below can help you.

Look at this sample code to create a button

private function addButton(label:String, x:int, y:int, dx:int, dy:int, toolTip:String):Button {
var mN:String = cN+".addButton " + tr.enquote(label) + tr.locationToString(x,y) + tr.sizeToString(dx,dy);
if (tr.traceSemanticCanvasButtons) tr.output(mN);

var button:Button = new Button();
button.label = label;
button.x = x;
button.y = y;
button.width = dx;
button.height = dy;
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,buttonEve nt);
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.DOUBLE_CLICK,bu ttonEvent);
if (toolTip) button.toolTip = toolTip;

if (tr.traceSxBorderContainer) tr.output(mN);
semanticCanvas.addElement(button);

return button;
}

And here is some code to loop through:
button = addButton(label, x, y, dxButton, dyButton, book.toolTip);
button.width = dxButton
x += button.width + dxButtonSpacing;

oneButtonArray = new Array(button,label,titleBook,book);
allButtons.push(oneButtonArray);


In the array "oneButtonArray" (one array for each button), I keep track of the button, label, book title, and book object. Then my button mouse event handler looks like this:
private function buttonEvent(mouseEvent:MouseEvent):void {
var eventButton:Button = mouseEvent.target as Button;

switch (eventButton) {

default:
var oneButtonArray:Array;
var button:Button, label:String, url:String;
var book:SxBook;
if (eventButton) {
for each (oneButtonArray in allButtons) {
button = oneButtonArray[0];
if (eventButton == button) { // was this the button that was clicked?
label = oneButtonArray[1];
book = oneButtonArray[3];

selectBook(book);
book.selectFirstSection(semanticCanvas);
break;
}
}
}
break;
}
}

[4dtext]

Also - you can ignore all statements with "tr." in them, since they are for debug only.

[geetarguy85]

Thanks for that 4dtext, I'll try it out in a min. Just out of curiosity, is that AS2 or AS3 code? I've done a bit of AS2 but not much concerning arrays.

Thanks

Ern

[geetarguy85]

Hey,

I can't get it to work unfortunately =(
I'm getting "Attribute used outside class" errors, for the two lines of code below:


private function addButton(label:String, x:int, y:int, dx:int, dy:int, toolTip:String):Button {

private function buttonEvent(mouseEvent:MouseEvent):void {


I've tried to work it out but I can't see why this error would be produced. Would you have any idea at all?

Thanks

[4dtext]

The code that I supplied is quite "bland" but it is AS3 and works under Flex Builder 4.

The error that you mention involves the context of the code, and not the code itself. I define those functions inside a class that subclasses a BorderContainer.
You may not be that far along...

Please post your complete "index.mxml" file (or similar name) that is the root of your application. Are you using Flex Builder? Command-line compile?
Oz