How to change alpha of a "container"

Question

I want to change alpha like when we change pages, but only for a container named:contain
I have 4 btn (text1, text2, text3, text4) in the "left_side" and each of those change "contain1" to "contain4".
(contain1, contain2, ... are all in my library and my btn
that's the code:
import fl.transitions.*;
import fl.transitions.easing.*;
// claim MCs from library to use on stage when needed using addChild
var c1:contain1 = new contain1;
var c2:contain2 = new contain2;
var c3:contain3 = new contain3;
var c4:contain4 = new contain4;
left_side.addChild(c1);
var pageMoveTween:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "y", Elastic.easeOut, 300, 110, 2, true);
left_side.text1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btn1Click);
left_side.text2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btn2Click);
left_side.text3.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btn3Click);
left_side.text4.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btn4Click);
function btn1Click (event:MouseEvent):void {
var btn1Outro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 1, 0, 1, true);
btn1Outro.addEventListener(TweenEvent.MOTION_FINISH, runBtn1Transition);
function runBtn1Transition (event:TweenEvent):void {
left_side.removeChildAt(1);
left_side.addChild(c1);
var btn1Intro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 0, 1, 1, true);
function btn2Click (event:MouseEvent):void {
var btn2Outro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 1, 0, 1, true);
btn2Outro.addEventListener(TweenEvent.MOTION_FINISH, runBtn2Transition);
function runBtn2Transition (event:TweenEvent):void {
left_side.removeChildAt(1);
left_side.addChild(c2);
var btn2Intro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 0, 1, 1, true);
function btn3Click (event:MouseEvent):void {
var btn3Outro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 1, 0, 1, true);
btn3Outro.addEventListener(TweenEvent.MOTION_FINISH, runBtn3Transition);
function runBtn3Transition (event:TweenEvent):void {
left_side.removeChildAt(1);
left_side.addChild(c3);
var btn3Intro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 0, 1, 1, true);
function btn4Click (event:MouseEvent):void {
var btn4Outro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 1, 0, 1, true);
btn4Outro.addEventListener(TweenEvent.MOTION_FINISH, runBtn4Transition);
function runBtn4Transition (event:TweenEvent):void {
left_side.removeChildAt(1);
left_side.addChild(c4);
var btn4Intro:Tween = new Tween(left_side, "alpha", Strong.easeOut, 0, 1, 1, true);
thank's for your help!

Answer 1

Make it easy on yourself if you're going to keep synchronized numbering and loop it.
var maxButtons:Number = 4;
var currentSection:Number = 1;
for (var buttonNumber:Number = 1; buttonNumber <= maxButtons; buttonNumber++)
    left_side.getChildByName('text'+buttonNumber).addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, _buttonHandler);
function _buttonHandler(e:MouseEvent):void
   var buttonPressed:MovieClip = MovieClip(e.currentTarget);
   var indexPressed:Number = Number(buttonPushed.name.substr(4,1));
   if (indexPressed != currentSection)
      currentSection = indexPressed;
      var content:MovieClip = MovieClip(left_side.getChildByName('content'));
      var fadeTween:Tween = new Tween(content,"alpha",Regular.easeOut,1,0,1,true);
      fadeTween.addEventListener(TweenEvent.MOTION_FINISH, _loadContent);
function _loadContent(e:TweenEvent):void
    // remove old content
    left_side.removeChild(left_side.getChildByName('content'));
    var content:MovieClip;
    content.name = 'content';
     if (currentSection == 1)
        content = new content1();
     else if (currentSection == 2)
        content = new content2();
     else if (currentSection == 3)
        content = new content3();
     else if (currentSection == 4)
        content = new content4();
     content.alpha = 0;
     left_side.addChild(content)
     new Tween(content,"alpha",Regular.easeOut,0,1,1,true);
I hate switches in general, opt for ugly if blocks. If you really want to do it right then get all your content in easily synchronized indexed arrays as references so you don't need to do any string comparison work.. This is just quick and dirty to give you an idea that you can re-use functions as well as loops to make things less tedious.