I thought that one of the new things in scripting w MX was the ability to talk
to button instances just as you do to Movie clip ones. For some reason I am
having a hard time getting this to work.

I am trying to move the play head in a button instance to oh lets say the 6th
frame
(obviously my button has 2 more frames with graphics in them that are after
the 4 standard frames).
Normally if it was a Movie Clip I would use dot syntax to say something like:
_root.MovieClipInstanceName.gotoAndStop (6);

Can I do the same w/ a button instance?
like this:
_root.ButtonInstanceName.gotoAndStop (6);

So in an example I would have 2 buttons on the stage
the 1st button would make the 2nd buttons play head to go the 6th frame in
that button.

HELP?

buttons do not have timelines,
the first 3 frames simply act as placeholders
for button content ( graphics,text,mc's)
the hit frame holds the hotspot area and is never seen,

Jack,
Thank you for that very descriptive narative on buttons.

However, since you can mannualy switch the property of a button instance to a
'graphic' and then tell it what frame to send the playhead to in that buttons
timeline (for lack of a better word), I am looking for an action scripting
solution to provide me w the same result on a different buttons on release
comand.

I know its possible to 'talk' to these button instances telling it to do other
things.

If you want to use that you should use a movie clip instead of a button. The
only difference is that you MUST have a stop() action and write the code for
the events.
Ex: on(RollOver){} , on(RollOut), on(Press) etc etc
If you do this then you can send the play head to whatever place you want
within the movie clip button

Neo,

I am familliar w/ that concept and have used many times in the past.
What I am trying to do here is use one of the NEW features that scripting in
MX has regarding button instances and being able to controll them.

Still looking........

for the functionality you seek, buttons are useless. use movieclips.

there is a way to make a clip act as if it were a button,
Frame#1 // frame label _up and stop();
Frame#2 // frame label _over
Frame#3 // frame label _down
use these labels or it will fail

give the clip an instance name, and activate from main timeline,
clip1.onRollOver=function(){ clip2.gotoAndStop("_down"); };

for a full description of the methods available to the button object,
check the Reference under -

Jack,
Perhaps you didn't read my reply to Neo. (I know about using MCs instead)

Without explaining my entire project scope, I am trying to find out if any of
the
new features avaialble in MX scripting that allow you to controll a button
instance are possible in the simple example I set forth in the bottom of my 1st
posting.

I am familiar w/ the workarounds that have been suggested.

Do you know about this feature I am speaking about?

Jack,
OK ill take a look at the Reference.........
To see if its the same info I read in the regualr help file.