Movieclip - Button - Location on stage

Question

Fellow Gurus!
I am using Flash 8.
I rendered some boxes on the stage. One is for a menu and
another is for graphics. The idea is to have a picture pop-up in
the graphic box whenever one passes a mouse over a button in the
menu (which is in the menu box).
I have added movie clips to each button’s mouse-over.
The movie clips contain a picture (at least for now). Thus when you
pass a mouse over the button, a picture pops up. That is the easy
part.
Now, I could simply reposition the movie clip until it
appears within the graphic box. My problem is – I have a
bunch of buttons and they may or may not be placed in the menu in
exact positions. If I were to change a button’s position, the
movie clip’s position is relative to the button and not the
stage thus it would have to be repositioned as well.
Therefore, the pop-up pictures within the movie clips which
are within the buttons must all pop-up in the graphic box
regardless of where I place or reposition the buttons.
Let’s say I have the graphic box located at x=500 and y
= 120.
Let’s say the button’s name is First_btn.
Let’s say the movie clip’s name is OneTest_mc.
And, I can bring it on stage in order to add an instance name
of perhaps TestOne.
Now, I have looked at localToGlobal and globalToLocal. I am
not sure which one work for my situation.
I am assuming that I can add AS2 to the movie clip’s
(OneTest_mc) timeline – if that is not where it goes - let me
know.
I have looked at the various scripts on the Internet and all
they do is confuse me, namely because they are rotating graphics,
etc. In another words, they complicate the examples. What I need is
a script to add to each button/movie clip to make them all place
the pop-up graphic in the box regardless of where the button is
located.
However, I do not just want a piece of script. I would
appreciate some explanation of the code so I can learn from it
– not just giving me a fish but teaching me how to fish.
Thanks in advance,
Bill

Answer 1

I am not sure if I get this.
First of all, I am no sure if it is globalToLocal or
localToGlobal that I need to use – or maybe you are
discussing something else entirely.
You said: “… the sum of your button's _x property
and the _x property of your graphic relative to your button) is the
_x property you want to assign your movieclip if you want it to
appear on the same timeline as your button and overlap your graphic
(assuming your reg points are comparable). likewise for the _y
property.”
I read and reread the above answer. However, I do not have
enough of a handle on Action Script to see the logic.
“I am illuminated with darkness,” as Tennyson
might have said. I am assuming that I should figure out how to get
the button’s x & y no matter where it is placed –
and not by reading them as numbers. I guess I need a hint –
how do I capture the button’s x & y coordinates if they
are changeable?
I think this captures the x & y for the button –
have I got it right?
Var point = new Object ();
point.x = First_btn.x; // First_btn is the name of the button
point.y = First_btn.y; // First_btn is the name of the button
OneTest_mc.globalToLocal (point); // OneTest_mc is the name
of the movie clip
If the above script is valid, and it most likely is not since
I haven’t a clue what I am doing, then the movie clip would
end up located where the button is located on the stage.
Thanks for your help past and future as well as anyone
else’s help.