Pre-loading external images for XML-based gallery

Question

I'm working-on an XML-based photo gallery here:
http://www.unionandparkwood.com/demo/flash_gallery/
It works how I want it, except that the first time a
thumbnail is clicked for an image, it pauses long enough to skip
the fade. If you click-through the images a second time, you'll see
that it works smoothly. My guess is that the first time the
thumbnail is clicked, the image isn't cached, yet.
I tried to fix this by creating a JavaScript file for the
page to pre-load each image and thumbnail:
0003a = new Image;
0003a.src = "images/Down-Range.jpg";
0003b = new Image;
0003b.src = "thumbnails/Down-Range.jpg";
But that didn't work. What would be the best way to do this?
I included a link to "Download ZIP" of the FLA project on
this page, too, because it wouldn't be easy for me to describe
what's happening. In a nutshell, a thumbnail click launches a
function that loads the appropriate image into the main image
holder. What seems to be happening the first time is the image
isn't loaded before the fade is finished, so the image just appears
after a short pause the first time.

Answer 1

>>What seems to be happening the first time is the
image isn't loaded before
>>the fade is finished, so the image just appears after
a short pause the
>>first time.
As has been said many times in thos forum - use the
MovieClipLoader class to
load images, and then use that class' onLoadInit method to do
things with
the loaded image. Loading is asynchronous - you _have_ to
wait until the
image is done loading before doing a fade.
Dave -
www.offroadfire.com
Head Developer
http://www.blurredistinction.com
Adobe Community Expert
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/