Question on Variable Syntax

Report · Apr 03, 2009

Hi.

I am trying to get a variable to load into my flash movie from the html page in which it is located.

In the Object tag I am placing:
<param name="movie" value="images/navigation.swf?Section=about" />
In the Embed tag I am placing:
src="images/navigation.swf?Section=about"

In the first frame of the Actions layer of my movie I have:
stop()
baseRate = 12;
thisPage = Section;

In the movie clip from which I am calling the variable I have:
onClipEvent(load) {
if (thisPage = about){
this._alpha = 100;
}else{
this._alpha = 0;
}
}

The movie is recognizing that there is an conditional statement but is not passing the variable. I am assuming my syntax at least is incorrect someplace.
Thank you.

Report · Apr 03, 2009

MikiNack,

At this point ...

> <param name="movie" value="images/navigation.swf?Section=about" />

... you're passing in a string. The string instructs Flash to define a
variable named Section and set its value to the (string) value "about". So
far, so good.

> In the movie clip from which I am calling the variable I have:
> onClipEvent(load) {
> if (thisPage = about){

There are two issues here. First, you're checking to see if thisPage
equals about -- but that word, "about", isn't in quotes, which means it
isn't a string. But the variable you passed in is a string, so you'll need
to wrap the word "about" in quotes. In addition to that, you'll need to use
the equality operator (==), instead of the equals sign. In ActionScript,
the equals sign *sets* a value to something, while the double equals sign
*checks* if one value matches another.

onClipEvent(load) {
if (thisPage == "about") { ...

See the difference?

While you're at it, honestly ... you may as well just check for the
original variable name you passed in, Section. It doesn't hurt anything to
set thisPage = Section in previous code, but it doesn't help anything,
either. You can skip the "thisPage = Section" line and simply change your
on() code to look like this:

onClipEvent(load) {
if (Section == "about") { ...

David Stiller
Co-author, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers
http://tinyurl.com/dpsFoundationFlashCS4
"Luck is the residue of good design."

Report · Apr 06, 2009

Thank you - I will give this a try.

MN

Report · Apr 08, 2009

Still not working.

Here is what I have in the flash:

onClipEvent(load) {
    if (section == "about"){
        this._alpha = 100;
    }else{
    this._alpha = 0;
    }
}

On the page I have:

When I publish the test - the _alpha is 0 so Flash is reading the conditional statement. But the variable "about" is not being passed at all.

Thanks

Report · Apr 09, 2009

I think I have it working now - I changed it to this:

onClipEvent(load) {
    if (_level0.section=="about"){
        this._alpha = 100;
    }else{
    this._alpha = 0;
    }
}

adding the '_level0' did the trick - now I will try it in my real application!

MikiNack