{"id":412,"date":"2008-04-30T10:08:02","date_gmt":"2008-04-30T09:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matthijskamstra.nl\/blog\/?p=412"},"modified":"2008-05-04T02:20:11","modified_gmt":"2008-05-04T01:20:11","slug":"as2-to-as3-get-all-objects-in-a-movieclip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matthijskamstra.nl\/blog\/2008\/04\/30\/as2-to-as3-get-all-objects-in-a-movieclip\/","title":{"rendered":"AS2 to AS3: get all objects in a movieclip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes you want a list of everything inside a movieclip. For example: you want to know the instance names of every movie in the root.<\/p>\n

ActionScript 2<\/h3>\n

A little trick that I used a lot in AS2 is:<\/p>\n

\n
\r\nfor(var i in _root){\r\n   trace('key: ' + i + ', value: ' + _root[i]);\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
or <\/p>\n
\n
\r\nfor(var i in target_mc){\r\n   trace('key: ' + i + ', value: ' + target_mc[i]);\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
to find out which movies are in target_mc<\/code><\/p>\n
It was not only a trick to trace <\/code> everything, I also used it to reset movieclips (place them outside the stage, or delete them) or quickly make buttons out of them:<\/p>\n
\n
\r\nfor(var i in target_mc){\r\n\ttarget_mc[i].id = i;\r\n\ttarget_mc[i].onRelease = function (){\r\n\t\ttrace (\"id = \" + this.id); \/\/ onRelease the id will be called (the name of the movie)\r\n\t};\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
ActionScript 3<\/h3>\n
But in AS3 this doesn’t work any more!
\nAnd I know: AS3 should make my life easier…. well if I see the solution to the problem created by AS3, I have to disagree!<\/p>\n
\n
\r\nfor (var i:uint = 0; i < target_mc.numChildren; i++){\r\n\ttrace ('\\t|\\t ' +i+'.\\t name:' + target_mc.getChildAt(i).name + '\\t type:' + typeof (target_mc.getChildAt(i))+ '\\t' + target_mc.getChildAt(i));\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
In AS3 you first have to get the \"number of children\" (numChildren<\/code>) in a DisplayObjectContainer<\/code>, then you have to say which child you want (getChildAt(i)<\/code>)...
\nA good thing about AS3 is, you get everything<\/strong> in a movieClip, even shapes you made there without a instance name.<\/p>\n
I'm glad that I work with FlashDevelop<\/a>, which has snippets<\/a> so I don't have to type this constantly!<\/p>\n
(For the people that use FlashDevelop too, here is my snippet:)<\/p>\n
\n
\r\n\/\/ $(Clipboard)is a DisplayObject\r\ntrace ('+ number of DisplayObject: ' + $(Clipboard).numChildren + '  --------------------------------');\r\nfor (var i:uint = 0; i < $(Clipboard).numChildren; i++){\r\n\ttrace ('\\t|\\t ' +i+'.\\t name:' + $(Clipboard).getChildAt(i).name + '\\t type:' + typeof ($(Clipboard).getChildAt(i))+ '\\t' + $(Clipboard).getChildAt(i));\r\n}\r\ntrace ('\\t+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------');\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes you want a list of everything inside a movieclip. For example: you want to know the instance names of every movie in the root. ActionScript 2 A little trick that I used a lot in AS2 is: for(var i in _root){ trace(‘key: ‘ + i + ‘, value: ‘ + _root[i]); } or for(var […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[68,39,97,408,398],"class_list":["post-412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-as3","tag-actionscript","tag-as2","tag-as2-to-as3","tag-as3","tag-flash"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t