ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

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

Referring to Instances and Main Movies

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Like the _root property, the _leveln property can be combined with ordinary

instance references via the dot operator:

_level1.clipA.stop();

As with references to _root, references to _leveln properties are called absolute refer-

ences because they lead to the same destination from any point in a document.

Note that

_leveln and _root are not synonymous. The _root property is always the

current document’s main timeline, regardless of the level on which the current docu-

ment resides, whereas the

_leveln property is a reference to the main timeline of a

specific document level. For example, suppose we place the code _root.play() in

myMovie.swf. When we load myMovie.swf onto level 5, our code plays

_level5’s

main movie timeline. In contrast, if we place the code _level2.play() in myMovie.swf

and load myMovie.swf into level 5, our code plays

_level2’s main movie timeline, not

_level5’s. Of course, from within level 2, _root and _level2 are equivalent.

Authoring Instance References with Insert Target Path

When the instance structure of a movie gets very complicated, composing references

to movie clips and main movies can be laborious. We may not always recall the exact

hierarchy of a series of clips and, hence, may end up frequently selecting and editing ...