Multiple instances of one object ?

[Newsgroup_User]

Hi,

Does anybody know how to create many instances of loaded object? I need to
add preloaded image from external source (Loader class) to many MCs (using
addChild()). When I call method addChild() do second object, image
dissapears from first object because its name of instance is exactly always
the same. In order to avoid this problem I decided to clone this image each
time I adding it to MC. Unfortunately I don't know how to create another
instance of image without repeating loading it again from the network.

Thanks for the help,
Marek

[Kalisto]

Hi,
you can store instanced clip in array. Than you can do what you want with instances.
I look into your site and see wath the problem is. The way to solve it dependent of implementation of animation.
If I must do this effect I will make a dummy MovieClip ( to store the chossen bitmat ) and make a MovieClip( for example: animClip ) with this effect. When a bitmap is choosen i will create a instance of animClip and store its reference into array( if I need to hold this reference for some reason ). Then I will place a bitmap in dummy clip. Into last frame of animation I will call a function ( or rise an event ) to now which animation is ended.
I think you do someting like this.

[Newsgroup_User]

Hi Kalisto,

> Hi,
> you can store instanced clip in array. Than you can do what you want with
> instances.
> I look into your site and see wath the problem is. The way to solve it
> dependent of implementation of animation.

Did you mean:

arr=new Array();
arr.push(myMc);
arr.push(myMc);
arr.push(myMc);
...

I think that it will not working because
arr[0].name==arr[1].name==arr[2].name...
All cells of array will refer to the same MC with the same instance name.

[Kalisto]

no I mean something like this
private var m_arr: Array = new Array(); ( m_ for member of class )

private function attachClip( animMC: MovieClip )
{
var mc:MovieClip = MovieClip( this.addChild( animMC ) ); // You may not cast if you no need of MovieClip than use displayObject as type for mc;
m_arr.push( mc );
}


animMC is off-screen element ( if you find this way heplful I think I can write a function returns animMC )

Of course this is an example for my previous post. I don't know how you make animations and for this reason i may confuse you instead helping you

[Newsgroup_User]

> private function attachClip( animMC: MovieClip )
> {
> var mc:MovieClip = MovieClip( this.addChild( animMC ) ); // You may
> not
> cast if you no need of MovieClip than use displayObject as type for mc;
> m_arr.push( mc );
> }
>
> Of course this is an example for my previous post. I don't know how you
> make
> animations and for this reason i may confuse you instead helping you

The MovieClip class constructor has no parameters so I can't use it as a
method of clonning MCs.

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/ActionScriptLangRefV3/flash/display/MovieClip.html#MovieClip()

[Kalisto]

HI, please tell me you what you mean under "clone"? In AS3 every item in library is associated with class ( can be custom class or can be created automatically by flash ). You may have many INSTANCES of this class in stage with different names.

[Newsgroup_User]

> HI, please tell me you what you mean under "clone"? In AS3 every item in
> library is associated with class ( can be custom class or can be created
> automatically by flash ). You may have many INSTANCES of this class in
> stage
> with different names.


Ok. Lets analyse example below. loadFileClass will be a class loading, for
example, picture file with passed as argument name.

class myClass extends MovieClip
{
private var myState:Number;

public function setState(state:Number)
{
var externalFileObject;
myState=state;
externalFileObject=new loadFileClass("file"+myState.".jpg");
addChild(externalFileObject);
externalFileObject=new loadFileClass("file"+(myState+1).".jpg");
addChild(externalFileObject);
}

public function myClass()
{

}
}

var mcB, mcA=new myClass();
mc.setState(5);

mcB=clone(mcA);

I expect here to have mcB object having the same attached another object,
having the same myState value but with different instance name.

[Newsgroup_User]

The OOP way of cloning is to have the Object clone itself. Using your
example:

public interface ICloneable
{
function clone():Object;
}

class myClass extends MovieClip implements ICloneable
{
private var myState:Number;

public function setState(state:Number)
{
var externalFileObject;
myState=state;
externalFileObject=new loadFileClass("file"+myState.".jpg");
addChild(externalFileObject);
externalFileObject=new loadFileClass("file"+(myState+1).".jpg");
addChild(externalFileObject);
}

public function myClass()
{
}
public function clone():Object
{
var result:myClass = new myClass();

// set member values

// in this case, copying myState to the clone would
// not produce the desired effect, so we'll call the setState
// method.
result.setState(myState);

return myClass;
}
}


var mcB, mcA=new myClass();
mcA.setState(5);

mcB = myClass(mcA.clone());

//or

var mcB:MovieClip
var mcA:MovieClip = new myClass();
mcA.setState(5);

mcB = (mcA is IClonable) ? MovieClip(IClonable(mcA).clone()) : new
myClass();




Another look at cloning in AS3:
http://niko.informatif.org/blog/2007_07_20_clone_an_object_in_as3

[Newsgroup_User]

Thanks Raymond for your help. This is what I looked for 🙂

[Newsgroup_User]

Maybe something like this:

function getLoaderImageCopy(loader:Loader):Bitmap
{
var o:DisplayObject = loader.content;
// see BitmapData ctor for additional args
var img:BitmapData = new BitmapData(o.width, o.height);
img.draw(o);
var bmp:Bitmap = new Bitmap(img);
return bmp;
}
var newImg:Bitmap = getLoaderImageCopy(myLoader);
this.addChild(newImg);

[Newsgroup_User]

U¿ytkownik "Raymond Basque" <nospam-rbasque-at-jednm-dot-com@nospam.com>
napisa³ w wiadomo¶ci news:fsdik3$ht8$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Maybe something like this:
>
> function getLoaderImageCopy(loader:Loader):Bitmap
> {
> var o:DisplayObject = loader.content;
> // see BitmapData ctor for additional args
> var img:BitmapData = new BitmapData(o.width, o.height);
> img.draw(o);
> var bmp:Bitmap = new Bitmap(img);
> return bmp;
> }
> var newImg:Bitmap = getLoaderImageCopy(myLoader);
> this.addChild(newImg);

Thanks Raymond. It works fine and solves my problem :-)
By the way - is any way to clone not bitmap movie clips? Sometimes MC has
complex structure and contains attached a couple of another MC's including
bitmaps and other objects.

[nolty]

I came across Object.constructor in the docs today -- I don't know if you could use it usefully for a DisplayObject that came from a loader.

Bob

[Newsgroup_User]

>I came across Object.constructor in the docs today -- I don't know if you
>could use it usefully for a DisplayObject that came from a loader.

Hi Bob,

Raymond's answer solved my problem and it works fine. It seems that each
object type must be cloned in separate way.