Passing a variable to set a movieclip location

Question

In frame 1 of the the movie I have defined the following:
var cl_y=502.0;
Elsewhere, I am running the following script:
-- seaty is the original position of the movie clip as
defined in frame 1
var seaty = this+"_y";
-- resets the position of the movie clip to the original
position
this._y = seaty;
(note - I am just setting the _y position in this code in
order to simplify the forum post)
I expected that this._y = seaty; would reset the position of
the movie clip to the original position as defined in frame 1.
However, nothing happens.
I have used a trace () to discover the value of seaty:
Running trace(seaty) produces _level0.cl_y
Please note that trace(seaty) does not equal the value of
_level0.cl_y (which is what I am wanting to achieve)
I then tried replacing:
this._y = seaty;
with the following:
this._y = level0.cl_y;
And this produces the desired result (moving the movieclip to
the original position)
Even though seaty = level0.cl_y
why does this work:
this._y = level0.cl_y;
and yet this doesn't work:
this._y = seaty;
(I need it to work because I need to use the same function to
reset the position of numerous movieclips, all with different
original positions)
Many thanks in expectation

Answer 1

Pulcinella2uk, it tells me you have elected not to receive
private messages.....so i'll put my reply here for now....
what version of flash are you using? if you're using an old
version, something like this might work:
onClipEvent(load){
var seatx = this._x
var seaty = this._y
onClipEvent(mouseUp){ //or whichever event you're using
this._x = seatx
this._y = seaty
if you're using 7 or later though, then actionscript really
ought to go on a frame instead of on a clip. so the above code
would reside on frame 1 of your movie, and look like:
var seatx = this._x
var seaty = this._y
onRelease = function(){ //or whichever event you're using
this._x = seatx
this._y = seaty
all that aside, if i understand your last question correctly,
you're looking to establish these variables on the _root timeline,
and access them later. the second code snippet above will produce
the same result, but if you ever do want to access a variable based
on a movieclips name in this way, you could do it like this:
on frame 1of _root timeline:
var c1_x=15;
var c1_y=502.0;
on frame 1 of clip:
this._x = _root[this._name+"_x"]
this._y = _root[this._name+"_y"]
i hope that all made sense. let me know, and if you need to,
send me a copy of your file so that i have a btter idea of what
you're trying to accomplish