ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

tellTarget() Global Function

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ActionScript Language Reference

tellTarget() Global Function

execute statements in the scope of a remote movie clip

“Tell Target tool” in Flash 3; deprecated in Flash 5

tellTarget (target) {

statements

}

Arguments

target A string or reference indicating the path to a movie or movie clip instance

(references are converted to paths when used in a string context).

statements The statements to be executed in the scope of

target.

Description

In Flash 3 and Flash 4, tellTarget() was the primary means of communicating between two

movie clips (i.e., controlling one from the other). It was used to invoke functions such as

play(), stop(), and gotoAndStop() on remote movie clips. In Flash 4, when variables were

added to ActionScript, we could also use tellTarget() to get and set remote clip variable

values. As of Flash 5, these endeavors are better accomplished with the dot operator, ., and

the array access operator,

[]. Another alternative to the tellTarget() function is the with

statement, described in Chapter 6.

Usage

The tellTarget() function may be better described as a statement because it requires a

substatement block. However, the point is academic, as tellTarget() has been deprecated.

Example

// Move the ball movie clip over 300 pixels to the right and

// send its ...