XML Driven rotating banner ad question

Question

Hi everyone i a very ametur flash designer,
At the moment i am trying to make a flash banner that rotates banners out randomly and also when the guest sees the a banner they are intrested in they can click on it and it will take them to the respective link. I followed some tutorials out there on how to use xml and flash together and came up with this for my flash code:
// set random # variables - each must be 0 for first 'while' loop below
var randomNum = 0;
var randomNumLast = 0;
// parent container
var container_mc = this.createEmptyMovieClip("container",0);
// movie clip containers
container_mc.createEmptyMovieClip("loader1_mc",2);
container_mc.createEmptyMovieClip("loader2_mc",1);
// preload watcher
this.createEmptyMovieClip("watcher_mc",100);
// load xml
images_xml = new XML();
images_xml.ignoreWhite=true;
images_xml.onLoad = parse;
images_xml.load("images.xml");
function parse(success) {
    if (success) {
        imageArray = new Array();
        var root = this.firstChild;
        _global.numPause = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.timer * 1000);
        _global.order = this.firstChild.attributes.order;
        _global.looping = this.firstChild.attributes.looping;
        _global.fadetime = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.fadetime);
        _global.xpos = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.xpos);
        _global.ypos = Number(this.firstChild.attributes.ypos);
        var imageNode = root.lastChild;
        var s=0;
        while (imageNode.nodeName != null) {
            imageData = new Object;
            imageData.path = imageNode.attributes.path;
            imageArray[s]=imageData;
            imageNode = imageNode.previousSibling;
            s++;
        // place parent container
        container_mc._x = _global.xpos;
        container_mc._y = _global.ypos;
        // parse array
        imageArray.reverse();
        imageGen(imageArray);
    } else {
        trace('problem');
// depth swapping
function swapPlace(clip,num) {
    eval(clip).swapDepths(eval("container_mc.loader"+num+"_mc"));
function loadImages(data,num) {
    if (i==undefined || i == 2) {
        i=2;
        createLoader(i,data,num);
        i=1;
    } else if (i==1) {
        createLoader(i,data,num);
        i=2;
function createLoader(i,data,num) {
    thisLoader=eval("container_mc.loader"+i+"_mc");
    thisLoader._alpha=0;
    thisLoader.loadMovie(data[num].path);
    watcher_mc.onEnterFrame=function () {
        var picLoaded = thisLoader.getBytesLoaded();
        var picBytes = thisLoader.getBytesTotal();
        if (isNaN(picBytes) || picBytes < 4) {
            return;
        if (picLoaded / picBytes >= 1) {
            swapPlace("container_mc.loader2_mc",1);
            alphaTween = new mx.transitions.Tween(thisLoader, "_alpha", mx.transitions.easing.Regular.easeOut,0,100,_global.fadetime,true);
            timerInterval = setInterval(imageGen,_global.numPause,data);
            delete this.onEnterFrame;
function imageGen(data) {
    // random, or sequential?
    if (_global.order=="random") {
        // choose random # between 0 and total number of images
        while (randomNum == randomNumLast) {
            randomNum = Math.floor(Math.random() * data.length);
            trace(randomNum);
        loadImages(data,randomNum);
        randomNumLast = randomNum;
    } else if (_global.order=="sequential") {
        // start at 0, increment to total number of images, then drop back to zero when done
        if (p==undefined || p==data.length && _global.looping=="yes") { p=0; } else { break; }
        loadImages(data,p);
        p++;
    } else {
        trace ("order attribute in xml isn't correct - must specify either 'random' or 'sequential'");
    clearInterval(timerInterval);
stop();
XML:
<gallery timer="5" order="random" fadetime="2" looping="yes" xpos="0" ypos="0">
<image path="images/12_02.png" />
<image path="images/600x300callawway_kodak.jpg" />
<image path="images/BurnerBucksTemplate_600x300.jpg" />
<image path="images/DEI-594-X-250-copy.png" />
<image path="images/Wilson_DFY_600X300.jpg" />
<image path="images/sky_golf.jpg" />
</gallery>
Now everything works right so far, my question is how would i make the banners/images into links so when the banner is clicked i can add a link to it so they are taken to that product.

Answer 1

That code does not go on the button like you would do with on(release) code.  That code will go with the rest of the code you showed.  You will assign an instance name to that button... if you use the code I showed, that instance name will be "btn"--you assign it by selecting the button on the stage and entering it into the Properties panel where it says <Instance Name>.  You will also declare the urlVAriable where that code is...
var urlVariable:String;
As for the xml end of things, I will leave you to solve with a little help.  Look at the parse function and try to see how the current xml information is captured and later utilized.   You will essentially create another parameter in each xml node to go with the current "path" parameter.  You can call it "link" or something like that, and it will contain the url that clicking the button will lead to.
<gallery timer="5" order="random" fadetime="2" looping="yes" xpos="0" ypos="0">
<image path="images/12_02.png" link="http://www.somesite.com" />
<image path="....
</gallery>
When you parse the xml you will add the link value as another property of the imageData object that you create.
        while (imageNode.nodeName != null) {
            imageData = new Object;
            imageData.path = imageNode.attributes.path;
            imageData.link = imageNode.attributes.link;
            imageArray[s]=imageData;
            imageNode = imageNode.previousSibling;
            s++;
The rest I will leave for you to sink your teeth into... you need to dig into the code that is used to present the banners and see where assigning the value of the link to the urlVariable needs to happen.