is there an event probelm in actionscript?

[sala]

Hi community

I am currently trying to set up a small piece of software in flash mx. Having experience in OOP / javascript, I stumble over some basic problems, but I think it's not because of actionscript but because of my ignorance. Thus, any help is highly appreciated.

Here's the simple problem.

Imagine some simple code like this:


// start code

this.createEmptyMovieClip("firstClip",1);
with (this.firstClip) {
beginFill(0x000000,100);
moveTo(10,10);
lineTo(10,50);
lineTo(50,50);
lineTo(50,10);
endFill();
}

this.firstClip.createEmptyMovieClip("secondClip",2);
with (this.firstClip.secondClip) {
beginFill(0x333333,100);
moveTo(20,20);
lineTo(20,170);
lineTo(170,170);
lineTo(170,20);
endFill();
}

this.firstClip.onPress = function() {
trace("clicked first");
}

this.firstClip.secondClip.onPress = function() {
trace("clicked second");
}

//end code

I would expect that If I click on the secondClip (in gray), the eventhandler on _this_ clip would react and trace "clicked second". However, I only get "clicked first", even though I clicked on the second one.

How can I change this? I want the "clicked first" message to appear only when I clicked on the first clip, and the "clicked second" message only when I click on the second.

Attaching both of the clips on the root is not an option. Later, I want to make the the whole package of attached clips draggable, that's why I attach one to the other.

Thanks a lot for your help!

sala

[sbeener]

it's the nesting that's causing the problem. since secondClip is part of firstClip, the press event never makes it down the hierarchy.

if you want to avoid putting them in _root, perhaps putting them both in a third clip, and not nested in each other, would solve some problems.


this.createEmptyMovieClip("zeroClip",0);
this.zeroClip.createEmptyMovieClip("firstClip",0);
with (this.zeroClip.firstClip) {
beginFill(0x000000,100);
moveTo(10,10);
lineTo(10,50);
lineTo(50,50);
lineTo(50,10);
endFill();
}

this.zeroClip.createEmptyMovieClip("secondClip",1);
with (this.zeroClip.secondClip) {
beginFill(0x333333,100);
moveTo(20,20);
lineTo(20,170);
lineTo(170,170);
lineTo(170,20);
endFill();
}

this.zeroClip.firstClip.onPress = function() {
trace("clicked first");
}

this.zeroClip.secondClip.onPress = function() {
trace("clicked second");
}

[sala]

you're right, that is a way to solve my problem. Thanks for the hint!

However, I am still a bit confused about this whole thing. It basically means that actionscript is not able to tell on which instance of a moveClip an event was fired (if the movieClips are nested).

If that is the case, then I think this is rather a huge flaw in actionscript. Any GUI is highly depending on such a mechanism. Hope this gets fixed in a new version...:-\

[sbeener]

not all events behave like onPress.

onPress effectively makes the movie act as a button, which masks press events for nested buttons. unless you use the 'track as a menu' switch to modify its behaviour.

an onMouseUp event will fire for all clips regardless of their nesting, but also regardless of the mouse position. combined with a hitTest you can emulate the onPress action but without the nesting problems.

or you can structure your movie such that onPress clips are not nested in other onPress clips.