Displaying the result of a calculation in a dynamic text box

Question

Hi folks,
I'm having a very minor issue here (operator error, I'm sure ). With the help of some folks here, I've created a series of calculations, and I've got that part down. Now, I just need it to show up in the movie.
I've created the dynamic text box in Flash (CS3), but when I hit test, it won't show up.
After all the calculations, I should have a figure that I call totalmoney. My dynamic text box is called total. The user doesn't need to hit anything for it to appear. It just appears as part of the movie.
Here's my code:
stop();
var startDate:Date = new Date(2010,0,12);  // use your  startyear, startmonth, startdate in the new Date() parameters.
var  currentDate:Date = new Date();  // assuming user's clock is correct and in your  timezone.  else use server date/time.
var numberOfSeconds:Number =  (currentDate.getTime()-startDate.getTime())/1000;
var interest:Number =  (numberOfSeconds*0.74356);
var totalmoney:Number =  (interest+15,000,000);
function displaytotal(evt:TextEvent):void {
     total.text = "totalmoney";
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Napo

Answer 1

You didn't have to bury any of the calculations in the function--leaving it as you had it is better.  They could remain where they a=werew, and you'll probably find you want them outside it if you have other plans for using them.  If left inside, they only have scope inside.  In the programming world, it's good to think of functions as things that do one thing and one thing only (though it isn't often practiced that way)--it's called modular design.
When you place an event as an argument for a function, it typically means that there is an event listener that initiates the call to the function.  If you work with buttons you'll see what I mean.  But if the plan is to create your own call to a function when you desire it as such, not have it driven by an event listener, then you don't need to pass any event to it, though you may pass some other type of variable to it if need be.
For instance, what you have now will call the function without an argument because the function has the value built into its code....
displaytotal();
But you could also make the function a little more generic and set it up to recieve the value instead as an argument...
function displaytotal(amt:Number):void {
     total.text = String(amt); // an earlier error of mine
displaytotal(totalmoney);
That would make your function a little more useful.  Now it could be used to display other Number variables as well.
// my earlier error was that a textfield displays text, so you need to convert the Number value to s String.
Hope I'm not confusing you.