controlling movieClips using other movieClips

[cjdevine]

Using Flash CS4 - AS 3.0

I am goin nuts, trying to figure out how to control a movie clip using a separate movie clip.

on scene 1 (2 frames long), i have 2 movie clips.
-bFind (24 frames long)
-textEffects (14 frames long)

i want to jump to frame 7 of the textEffect movieClip when i hover over bFind

i have my AS code in the first frame of the movieClip called "Bfind"

stop();

addEventListener(
  MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER,
  function(evt:MouseEvent):void {
  gotoAndPlay(1); //this works, it starts a hover effect
  root.textEffects(7); //this DOES NOT WORK
  }  
);

ERROR MSG:
1061: Call to a possibly undefined method textEffects through a reference with static type flash.displayisplayObject.

I have combed this message board and have tried a bunch of solutions with no luck.

Thanks in advance

[FlashDevSD]

Looks like your migrating from AS 2.0. Make sure both clips are on the main timeline and have instance names (example mc01 & mc02)

mc01.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER , controlClip)

function controlClip(e:MouseEvent):void
{
   mc01.gotoAndPlay(1);
   mc02.gotoAndStop(9); // you can call a function on mc02 if you want
   textEffect(7); //or call a function that will alter mc02
}

[cjdevine]

Looks like your migrating from AS 2.0. Make sure both clips are on the main timeline and have instance names (example mc01 & mc02)

mc01.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER , controlClip)

function controlClip(e:MouseEvent):void
{
   mc01.gotoAndPlay(1);
   mc02.gotoAndStop(9); // you can call a function on mc02 if you want
   textEffect(7); //or call a function that will alter mc02
}

would this code go in frame one of Scene 1 (main timeline)?

if so, should i be controlling all mc's and buttons from teh main timeline?

[FlashDevSD]

if that is where the movieclips are located then yes.

[cjdevine]

perfect. seems so simple. i like the way AS 3.0 has migrated to OOP, i just have to relearn the way i work within Flash. Any suggestions on some good tutorials? No matter the case, thanks for the help.

[caroach]

If you need to use the timeline for AS, it's good practice to keep the "meat" of it on the root timeline. As you dig into AS3, you'll find that using a Document Class and a Class pattern will be much cleaner and easier to modify because everything is encapsulated. It's the way AS3 is intended to be used.

However, I still use AS on the timeline for quick projects and I've found myself in similar situations. If you need to control a MC on the root or in the parent, you'll have to data type the root/parent as a MovieClip like:

MovieClip(this.root).textEffects.gotoAndPlay(7); or
MovieClip(this.parent).textEffects.gotoAndPlay(7);

Using "root" or "parent" will return a DisplayObject or DisplayObjectContainer respectively. So, in order to access things like children or methods such as "gotoAndPlay", you have to data type that object as a MovieClip. You could also use:

var mc:MovieClip = this.root as MovieClip;
mc.textEffects.gotoAndPlay(7);

The previous is just more of a shortcut to do the same thing. Of course, this isn't the recommended approach, but it will work in a crunch.

Check out gotoandlearn.com for some good free video tutorials, or a great paid service is lynda.com. It's a bit pricey for a membership, but its a good investment.

Hope that helps!