_root vs _levelN (_level0)

Question

is there a definitive forum-post or article or whatever,
about:
understanding _root and _level0 and _levelN?
for example: if a given SWF can loadMovie() another SWF into
"level17", then can that 'child' movieclip say "_parent._root"
to refer to something that might have loaded that 'first'
SWF's movieclip -- which thinks it is "_root"?
stuff like that...
okay, then what if you have some wierd superFlash contraption
that deeply loads SWFs so that nothing can be sure
it is really the "main zero top root" timeline of anything??
what kind of code is necessary to climb all over the currently
existing
flash-rigamarole-structure-of-movieclips-loaded-by-other-movieclips,
and know what the whole monster looks like (and facilitate
communication between them)?
[are we still in some kind of time-travelled past version of
some kind of Flash 17.0, a future Flash which isn't so "Flash 4"
about all this?] [[TELL TARGET always makes me think of apples and
arrows and overtures.]]
i'm not a programmer, but it sure seems that nothing but
Flash has _levels and movieclips and timelines...
and so there is no Java or C++ or Scheme paradigm or model
for what is going on in Flash... i feel like i am learning the
mechanics of something very high level, like say, Flex 17,
for which Flash 8 is just a kind of nuts and bolts level...
thus, there is indeed something quite special about being a
Flash Mechanic, something not quite here yet.
ian.

Answer 1

> is there a definitive forum-post or article or whatever,
about:
> understanding _root and _level0 and _levelN?
There is now...
There are any number of levels in the flash player, that by
default are
layered/stacks so that level 0 is behind level 1, which is
behind level 2
etc.
The first SWF movie you load goes into level 0 automatically.
You can load
other SWF's into other levels.
_levelN refers to the root of the SWF movie loaded into level
N.
_root refers to the root of the SWF for the current level (ie
the level that
owns the object that owns the script that is currently
executing)
Its really not that hard ... have you read the help?
> for example: if a given SWF can loadMovie() another SWF
into "level17",
> then
> can that 'child' movieclip say "_parent._root"
Its not a child movie clip then .. its a separate movie (not
clip) playing
in another level. It doesn't have a _parent
> okay, then what if you have some wierd superFlash
contraption that deeply
> loads SWFs so that nothing can be sure
> it is really the "main zero top root" timeline of
anything??
If you load into a level, it cannot be nested .. levels are a
simple linear
'stack' of movies, there is no nesting there.
You can load a SWF into a movieclip (INSTEAD of into a level)
.. then you
can get nesting.
> what kind of
> code is necessary to climb all over the currently
> existing
>
flash-rigamarole-structure-of-movieclips-loaded-by-other-movieclips,
> and know what the whole monster looks like (and
facilitate communication
> between them)?
_parent goes to immediate parent
_root goes to highest level parent or parent or parent for
the movie (the
root timeline)
_levelN goes to the _root for a given level number N
> i'm not a programmer, but it sure seems that nothing but
Flash has _levels
> and
> movieclips and timelines...
> and so there is no Java or C++ or Scheme paradigm or
model for what is
> going
> on in Flash...
Its very much like levels = hard disks, _root is root (top
level) folder on
the disk, _parent is the '..' link to parent folder
Anyone whoe programs anything more than very trivial will
have similar
structures of parents and children. Its got to be one of the
most basic and
useful paradigms in programming.
> thus, there is indeed something quite special about
being a Flash
> Mechanic,
> something not quite here yet.
Not really .. you jsut have to 'get it'.
Jeckyl