Help! I don't understand the frame mechanics.

Question

Hi, I've been trying to figure out how frames work in Flash.  I'm new to ActionScript, so I don't know the inner workings of the language.  I tried checking the API but no Frame class is listed.  The closest thing was FrameLabel and that wasn't helpful.  I need to know a few things:
1) How can I tell what frame I am in?  If there is a class method for this, what is the exact name?
2) How does a frame advance?  I have some code with no timer, only event listeners/handlers, and I've got a hacked animation working without playing clips on the time line.  The displayed pictures change whenever I press a directional button to move the character.  This is not really what I want to do however, because I'm switching the visibility of many different symbols and updating their position according to the original player symbol.  Very inefficient.  And does that mean that the frame only advances when a button is pressed? Am I even advancing the frame at all?  I don't know any frame advance method.
3) How do frames work on the time line?  I have all of my symbols on a single frame.  I made their visibility false in my constructor because I don't want some things to show when I first load up the .swf file.  When I created a second frame, everything went crazy and things began to show up.  This suggests that the visibility = false was only done in the first frame?  What caused the frame to change?  I don't really get it.
Ideally I want to achieve a dynamically modifiable animation because the game actions are not going to be linear.  The player character will be responding to controls (which will change the animation) and the AI will be responding to the player (which will also change the animation).  I don't think I can do this without understanding frames, so please help me.  I'm very confused!  Even pointing me in the right direction as to where I can read about frame details would be cool.  I've tried Adobe tutorials, support, and documentation but it was not sufficient.  Is there any place where there is a very in depth explanation about frames, or would someone be so kind as to tutor me about them?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can find out the current frame by using the currentFrame property. There are a number of ways to change frames, where the most common would be prevFrame(), nextFrame(), play(), gotoAndPlay(), and gotoAndStop().  There are plenty of ways to make use of frames in a Flash file, from having linear animations along the timeline, to have each frame being a distinct zone of operation that contains elements having their own timelines.
One thing you may need to get a handle on are the different types of frames.  There are plain frames and there are keyframes.  Plain frames genrally involve a continuation of preceding frames, while keyframes mark an area of change.  In your example of things going crazy when you added a second frame, I am guessing you implanted a new keyframe because had you inserted a plain frame the status of your content from frane 1 would not have been impacted.
I don't know of any resources for you to follow up with for learning more about frames--I came to learn them thru trial and error.  Someone else may come along with some suggestions for reference materials.