ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Name

MovieClip._xscale Property — width of a clip or movie, as a percentage

Availability

Flash 4 and later

Synopsis

mc._xscale

Access

Read/write

Description

The floating-point _xscale property specifies the width of mc relative to its original width, expressed as a percentage. If mc is an instance, its “original width” is the width of the instance’s symbol in the Library. If mc is a main movie, its “original width” is the width of the movie at authoring time.

When the current width of mc is the same as its original width, _xscale is 100. An _xscale of 200 doubles mc’s width relative to its original width. An _xscale of 50 halves mc’s width relative to its original width.

The _xscale property scales a clip about its registration point (proportionately on the right and left sides of the clip’s registration point). To size a clip from one side only, place all of the clip’s content on one side of the registration point in the clip’s symbol (this is a useful technique for creating horizontal preloader bars). When a clip’s _xscale is set to a negative value, the clip is flipped horizontally as if across a vertical mirror running through its registration point (i.e., it becomes a mirror image of itself), after which the negative value is treated as a positive. To flip a clip horizontally without resizing it, set the clip’s _xscale to -100.

Example

// Double the width of ball (the height remains unchanged)
ball._xscale *= 2;

// Create a mirror image of ball
ball._xscale = -100;

See Also

MovieClip._ ...