flash actionscript: I've got an external swf that I load into a movie clip using:

loadMovie("Projects.swf", _root.ProjectsBox);

I could swear that when I first created this website the swf would load in the
background as you looked at other areas of the site, and if you clicked on the
button that takes you to the scene that contains the ProjectsBox movie clip
then you would see the swf already partially loaded (it has a loading bar) or
it would be done loading and you could 'use' it. Now, however, each time you
go to that scene that contains the MC it starts the loading of the swf over,
from 0%.

In my main movie I have the

loadMovie("Projects.swf", "_root.ProjectsBox");

at the end of my preloader, where the site sits and waits for you to push
something. I also have that line of code in the first frame of the scene in
which I want the swf to 'play'. This is most likely causing the swf to reload
every time this scene is brought up, but without it there it doesn't show up at
all.

Here is the site: http://www.csa-arch.com/

The area in questions is "Projects"

Help!

you should only execute your loadMovie() statement once. if that statement is
in a frame that plays more than once, you'll need to add some code to prevent
the loadMove() from re-executing:



if(!executedPreviously){
executedPreviously=true;
_root.ProjectsBox.loadMovie("Projects.swf");
}

[Q]because you mentioned something about the "Projects scene" i'm guessing that
you have more than one scene. if the playhead moves from one scene (that
contains _root.ProjectsBox placed in the authoring environment) to another
scene, _root.ProjectsBox will no longer exist in the new scene even if you add
another movieclip by the same instance name to this scene.[/Q] - hit the nail
on the head.


ok I had never heard of the createEmptyMovieClip before. I'm not a full time
Flash user, just an employee creating the company website... With that said,
here is my new code:

createEmptyMovieClip("ProjectsMC", this.getNextHighestDepth());
projectsMC.loadMovie("Projects.swf")
//setProperty(projectsMC, _visible, false);
ProjectsMC._x = 2000;
ProjectsMC._y = 2000;

The projectMC._visible = false does not make the "Projects.swf" invisible,
therefore had to resort to the large x & y values to get it off the screen.
Then when I do want it to show up I just enter the 'correct' x and y values.
So it works fine however I'm sure there is a more elegant (or appropriate) way
of accomplishing this?? Is it a depth issue, I tried level0, 1, 2 and 200000.
I even tried the getnextHigherdepth thing?? I have 3 other external swf's I
need to load and would rather script there visibilty/invisibility correctly.

Thanks Kglad

That makes sense to me, but then why doesn't the external swf show up in my
Projects scene, where I have the same MC (with same instance name) as I do in
the preloader where the initial loadMovie is executed?

The loadMovie is on the same frame as the first instance of the MC (diff
layers not that it matters), as well as a stop();

Along with the loadMovie I have:
setProperty(_root.ProjectsBox, _x, 2000);
setProperty(_root.ProjectsBox, _y, 2000);

Without those, the external swf appears before it's 'time'. Crude way of
making it not appear I know.... Then you click on the Projects button and the
MC should be back in it's correct x and y location. When I do a trace in the
Projects scene the x and y are correct and the MC is at Level0.

Thoughts?
and Thanks....

your swf will appear as long as _root.ProjectsBox exists (and the path/file
name to Projects.swf is correct).

because you mentioned something about the "Projects scene" i'm guessing that
you have more than one scene. if the playhead moves from one scene (that
contains _root.ProjectsBox placed in the authoring environment) to another
scene, _root.ProjectsBox will no longer exist in the new scene even if you add
another movieclip by the same instance name to this scene.

if you create your target movieclip using actionscript (ie,
_root.createEmptyMovie
Clip("ProjectsBox",1), then your target movieclip will exist no matter what
blank keyframes are encountered by the playhead after the target movieclip is
created.

the issue you are now encountering is that some properties for ProjectsMC are
preserved after loading and some properties are reset (to their default
values). as you've seen, the _x and _y properties are preserved and the
_visible property is not.

the _alpha property is preserved so, in your situation, you could set the
_alpha of ProjectsMC to zero before loading is complete (or even started) and
your external swf will inherit that _alpha when loading is complete. you can
then set the _alpha to 100 when you want your swf to be visible.