flash actionscript: I have a swf that loads a swf. The child spins out a moveclip for screen
elements. I am attempting to address, based upon user selection, an array
element located at:

_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line[1][6]

No matter how I iterate eval() or this[] I cant get it. I finally constructed
the path as a string and figured I would attempt to address the variable with
eval() or this[].

Using this code.....

BOB = "_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker" + SelectedStickerType + "Line[" + i +
"][6]";
trace(BOB); = returns the correct path
trace(eval(BOB)); = returns undefined
trace(this[BOB]); = returns undefined

Any suggestions appreciated.

_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line[1][6]

should work... UNLESS the path to the array is wrong...

Try the following:

trace("_root: "+_root);
trace("_root.mc_StickerHolder: "+_root.mc_StickerHolder);
trace("_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line:
"+_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line);
trace("_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line[1]:
"+_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line[1]);
trace("_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line[1][6]:
"+_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker1Line[1][6]);

By doing this, you will find out which part of the path is incorrect.

I was not clear enough.....

Hard coded the piece works fine. It is constructing the path with eval() or
this[] that seems to be screwing it up.

The 1 in the middle and the first position of the array are both dynamc. I
hvae not found a way to use eval() or this[] to make it work. for example

eval(_root.mc_StickerHolder.sticker" + variable_x + "Line[" + variable_y +
"][6]" returns "undefined"......

any thoughts?

Ahhh sorry, I misunderstood your question. You should be using:

BOB = _root.mc_StickerHolder["sticker"+SelectedStickerType+"Line"][ i ][6];

PRIMO.... here's what finally did the trick but it was just a path issue for
one variable that I saw immediatley once I saw your answer........

BOB =
_root.mc_stickerHolder["sticker"+this._parent.selectedStickerType+"Line"][ i
][6];
trace(BOB);

A coupld of questions. Why no dot syntax between the name of the variable and
the movie clip mc_stickerHolder? There is dot syntax in the
this.parent.selectedStickerType so I don't understand when it is necessary and
when not.

Second item. The idea of "this._parent" seems redundant, but If I do not use
it is returns "undefined." The variable resides in the movie clip above this
one which is loaded mid-stream but I would have assumed _parent. would do.

bob

Think about it... what is [ ] syntax doing? You have path[prop]

It will look in "path", for an item with name "prop". In your code, what are
you actually evaluating? The only thing that is needed to be evaluated is:
"sticker"+this._parent.selectedStickerType+"Line. _root.mc_stickerHolder is
already a good reference. So, if you used:

_root.mc_stickerHolder[ "sticker"+this._parent.selectedStickerType+"Line"] you
will have a good reference to the selected sticker. And now that you have the
array, you can just use [ ] notation to access one of its elements:

_root.mc_stickerHolder[ "sticker"+this._parent.selectedStickerType+"Line"][ i ]

And then, you can access an elemen of THAT array:

_root.mc_stickerHolder[ "sticker"+this._parent.selectedStickerType+"Line"][ i
][6]

I hope that makes sense.


For the parent thing, see what is going on, add:

trace(this);
trace(this._parent);
trace(_parent);

see the difference!

trace(this);
trace(this._parent);
trace(_parent);
produced the following:

_level0.mc_stickerHolder.mc_holder3
_level0.mc_stickerHolder
_level0


The third one is what confuses me - but maybe not. The action script for this
is in mc_stickerHolder - brought in with a #include. Could this be why it
references _level0 when you say trace(_parent). I would have assumed the
reference this was assumed - thus my thinking that trace(this._parent) would
return the same value as trace (_parent). What am I missing?


BTW your time and assistance is awesome.

bob

No problem.

If you don't use this before the path, then the path starts from the timeline
on which the code was PLACED. So in this case, the code is on mc_stickerHolder.
_parent would be the parent of mc_stickerHolder, _level0, not "this".