ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

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Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Chapter 13: Movie Clips

representations of a movie clip identifier (see also the legacy _target property dis-

cussed later in this chapter):

trace(instance1._name); // Displays instance1

trace(instance1); // Displays _level0.instance1

trace(String(instance1)); // Displays _level0.instance1

trace(targetPath(instance1)); // Displays _level0.instance1

trace(instance1.toString( )); // Displays [object Object]

Example 13-1 uses the _name property to find a particular movie clip. See “The _name

property” later in this chapter for an example showing how to use the

_name property

to prevent an infinite loop.

If we change an instance’s

_name property, all future references to the instance must

use the new name. For example, if we change the value of

ball_mc._name, the ball_mc

reference ceases to exist, and we must subsequently use the new name to refer to the

instance:

ball_mc._name = "circle_mc"; // Change ball_mc's name to circle_mc

trace(typeof ball_mc); // Displays "undefined" because ball_mc

// no longer exists.

circle_mc._x = 59; // After the name change, you must

// use the clip's new name.

Therefore, you shouldn’t change a movie clip’s _name property at runtime, as it is can

make your code fail, or at least make it very difficult to follow.

Importing External Movies and Images

We’ve discussed ...