Variable = library item's properties

Question

Hi.
I have several Movie Clips on my project's library and I need
to retrieve their properties in order to assign them to certain
variables. at a given point I will attach those MCs to the stage,
but I needed their widths, heights, etc. before, in order to
calculate the positions where I'll attach them and other MCs. So
what I need to know is if there is a way to retrieve those
properties directly from the library, perhaps using linkage ids or
something of the kind, without needing to have the MCs attached.
Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

maguskrool,
> This is sort of a game and the objective is to fill the
Stage
> with as many MCs as possible. You begin with a random
> MC and when you place it a new random one appears
> and so forth. You can't place MCs over others already
> placed.
// more, snipped
Your description is thorough, which isn't common enough in
questions
posted here.
I applaud that. The "trick" you mention -- of
attaching
clips invisibly, then gathering data -- is a good one.
The fact remains, for better or worse, that your data are
not accessible
until the movie clips have been attached. They simply aren't
available to
ActionScript until present on the Stage.
You mention "all those arrays," but I only see that one
array is
necessary. In fact, you don't actually *need* arrays at all,
since you
could create a single "container" clip at the very beginning,
set its
MovieClip._visible property to false, then attach the other
clips as sub
clips of that. Once gathered there, you could loop through
the container
clip's properties using the typeof operator to determine
which ones are
movie clips, then access widths and heights as needed.
Personally, I
*would* use an array, but just one. Create that container
clip and set its
_visible to false, then as you attach each Library clip, push
that clip's
instance name into the array. In one swoop, you have access
to each clip's
width and height.
var hiddenClips:Array = new Array();
container._visible = false;
hiddenClips.push(
container.attachMovie(
"libClipA",
"mcClipA",
container.getNextHighestDepth()
hiddenClips.push(
container.attachMovie(
"libClipB",
"mcClipB",
container.getNextHighestDepth()
// etc.
Then later ...
hiddenClips[0]._width
hiddenClips[1]._height
// etc.
David
stiller (at) quip (dot) net
Dev essays:
http://www.quip.net/blog/
"Luck is the residue of good design."