ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Name

Call( ) Global Function — execute the script of a remote frame

Availability

Flash 4; deprecated in Flash 5

Synopsis

call(frameLabel)
call(frameNumber)

Arguments

frameLabel

A string representing the label of the frame whose script should be executed.

frameNumber

The number of the frame whose script should be executed.

Description

The call( ) function executes the script attached to the frame at frameLabel or frameNumber. For example, the following code runs the script on frame 20 of the current timeline:

call(20);

In Flash 4, call( ) was used to create a crude kind of reusable subroutine (one that could not accept parameters or return any value). In Flash 5, the function statement is preferred.

Note that in Flash 5, when a script is executed remotely via call( ), any variables declared with the var keyword are considered local to that execution and expire after the script completes. To create nonlocal variables in a remotely-executed script, omit the var keyword:

var x = 10;  // Local variable; dies after script completes
x = 10;      // Timeline variable; persists after script completes

To invoke call( ) on frames outside the current timeline, use the tellTarget( ) function. The following example executes the script on frame 10 of the box clip:

tellTarget ("box") {
  call(10);
}

See Also

Chapter 9; Appendix C