Version: CS3, Windows XP

I'd like to be able to apply a stroke outline to a symbol at runtime. Is there
any way to do this?

Adding a glow filter to the symbol can achieve the general effect I want, but
can be quite memory intensive. It also does too much - I don't really need any
blurring, just a basic matt outline will do.

Thanks
Rick

I whipped this up real quick just now and I only have AS2 but your welcome to
it.
I hope it's useful, with a Symbol_mc already on stage:

var outline:Number=20;

duplicateMovieClip(Symbol_mc, "newSymbol_mc", swapDepths(Symbol_mc));
var my_color:Color = new Color(newSymbol_mc);
my_color.setRGB(0x777777);
newSymbol_mc._x = Symbol_mc._x - (outline / 2); // you can leave this out
for a dropshadow
newSymbol_mc._y = Symbol_mc._y - (outline / 2); // you can leave this out
for a dropshadow
newSymbol_mc._width = Symbol_mc._width + outline;
newSymbol_mc._height = Symbol_mc._height + outline;

Thanks Craus but that won't create a proper outline except for simple shapes
(with complex shapes, the outline width will be uneven in the middle). It's
fine for drop shadow though.

Any other ideas?

Thanks kglad, but that was what I was doing originally (see opening question).

there's no blur with strength at max so from your first message it didn't look
like you were doing what i suggested.

but yes, i don't know any easier or better or more efficient way to add a
dynamic border.

[quoted text, click to view]

Outline accessing/creating/duplicating functions can't be hard to
implement.
The fact that they still don't(?) exist in AS leaves me quite open-
mouthed.