How do I make a scrubber for an animation?

Question

I created an animation on how a 4 stroke motor works and want to be able to play, stop and scrub through the animation. All i can find on the internet is scrubbing for video/audio. Can someone help. Thanks

Answer 1

I did not write this. It will play and scrub the timeline of a movieclip (instance name: MCflow) on the stage.
You will need an MC for the scrub bar (instance name scrubBarMC) and the handle (instance name scrubHandleMC) that users will click and drag. Select both of these MCs, create a new MC and give it an instance name of scrubberMC
Place the button component on the stage and give it an instance name of toggleBtnMC. Add a dynamic text field and give it an instance name frameTxtMC. The text field will display the frame number as the movieclip plays or while you are scrubbing the timeline.
//code for movieclip scrubber
var animLengthMC : int = MCflow.totalFrames;
var leftBoundMC : Number = scrubberMC.scrubBarMC.x;
var rightBoundMC : Number = scrubberMC.scrubBarMC.x + scrubberMC.scrubBarMC.width;
var dragBoundMC : Rectangle = new Rectangle(leftBoundMC, scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.y, scrubberMC.scrubBarMC.width, 0);
var calcWidthMC : Number = scrubberMC.scrubBarMC.width / animLengthMC;
var animPlayingMC : Boolean = false;
MCflow.gotoAndStop(1);
frameTxtMC.text = String(MCflow.currentFrame);
scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.x = leftBoundMC;
scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.buttonMode = true;
scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, handleMouseEventsMC);
toggleBtnMC.label = "PLAY";
toggleBtnMC.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, togglePlayMC);
function handleMouseEventsMC(evt:MouseEvent):void
  switch(String(evt.type)) {
  case MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN:
  scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.startDrag(false, dragBoundMC);
  stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, handleMouseEventsMC);
  MCflow.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, scrubMovieMC);
  break;
  case MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP:
  scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.stopDrag();
  stage.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, handleMouseEventsMC);
  MCflow.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, scrubMovieMC);
  break;
function scrubMovieMC(evt:Event):void
  var scrubPosMC : int = scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.x;
  var gotoFrameMC : int = Math.ceil(scrubPosMC / calcWidthMC);
  MCflow.gotoAndStop(gotoFrameMC);
  frameTxtMC.text = String(MCflow.currentFrame);
function togglePlayMC(evt:MouseEvent):void
  if (!animPlayingMC) {
  MCflow.play();
  animPlayingMC = true;
  toggleBtnMC.label = "PAUSE";
  scrubberMC.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, updateScrubberMC);
  // DISABLE SCRUBBER INTERACTION WHILE ANIMATION PLAYS
  scrubberMC.mouseChildren = false;
  } else {
  MCflow.stop();
  animPlayingMC = false;
  toggleBtnMC.label = "PLAY";
  scrubberMC.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, updateScrubberMC);
  // ENABLE SCRUBBER INTERACTION AFTER ANIMATION STOPS
  scrubberMC.mouseChildren = true;
function updateScrubberMC(evt:Event):void
  var percentMC : Number = MCflow.currentFrame / animLengthMC;
  scrubberMC.scrubHandleMC.x = percentMC * scrubberMC.scrubBarMC.width;
  frameTxtMC.text = String(MCflow.currentFrame);