ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Name

MovieClip._x Property — horizontal location of a clip or movie, in pixels

Availability

Flash 4 and later

Synopsis

mc._x

Access

Read/write

Description

The floating-point _x property always indicates the horizontal position of mc’s registration point, but it is measured relative to one of three possible coordinate spaces:

• If mc resides on the main timeline, _x is measured relative to the Stage’s left edge. For example, an _x of 20 would indicate that the registration point of mc is 20 pixels to the right of the Stage’s left edge; -20 would indicate 20 pixels to the left.

• If mc resides on another movie clip instance’s timeline, _x is measured relative to the registration point of that parent instance. For example, an _x of 20 would indicate that the registration point of mc is 20 pixels to the right of its parent instance’s registration point; -20 would indicate 20 pixels to the left.

• If mc is the main movie, _x is the horizontal offset of the entire .swf document relative to the Stage’s left edge. For example, an _x of 200 would indicate that the contents of the Stage are offset 200 pixels to the right of their author-time position; -200 would indicate 200 pixels to the left.

The _x property (along with all horizontal coordinates in Flash) increases to the right and decreases to the left. Fractional _x values are approximated in Flash with antialiasing (blurring).

If mc is contained by an instance that is scaled and/or rotated, the coordinate space it inhabits is also scaled and/or rotated. ...