MovieClip(root) Not working. How to access root variable from movieclip? Flash AS3

actionscript-3flash

Ok Ive got a simple flash file, since im trying to accomplish accessing a variable from the main stage inside a movie clip. All the things Ive found from google point to MovieClip(root). But its not working for me.

On the main timeline:

var MyName:String;
MyName = "kenny";

Then I have a movieclip called MyBox, its code:

trace(MovieClip(root).MyName);

And I get this error: TypeError: Error #1034: Type Coercion failed: cannot convert flash.display::Stage@2d2df089 to flash.display.MovieClip.
at MyBox/sendpmtext()

I have also tried MovieClip(parent), MovieClip(parent.parent), MovieClip(stage), MovieClip(this.stage) and no luck. Any help please?

Best Answer

You could just do

parent["MyName"];

OR, a proper casting of the main timeline (in your context, the parent is of type MainTimeline):

MainTimeline(parent).MyName;

Parent is always a DisplayObjectContainer, which has no special properties you create. If you create custom properties, then you need to cast to the class that has those custom properties before you'll be able to access them by name. (the compiler otherwise doesn't know they exist, and gives you that error).

root refers to the topmost stage of your swf. Your main timeline is actually a child of stage, so vars/objects/methods on the main timeline are not a part of stage

If your using stage.addChild(MyBox), then stage is the parent, and not the main timeline. If for some reason you need to have stage as the parent, then you'd have to keep a reference to the mainTimeline somewhere you can access. You could create a var to do this in your MyBox timeline.

var mainTimeline:MainTimeline;

Then in the main timeline code, do this:

MyBox.mainTimeline = this;

Then you can access your var within MyBox by doing mainTimeline.MyName;

Related Solutions

Calling MovieClip(root) from a dynamic MovieClip instance produces error 1034

Your error means that the compiler doesn't know how a MovieClip and a Stage can be the same thing. Also, I'm not certain, but I believe the compiler will whine about someFunction not existing on the stage even if you casted the stage (aka root) correctly.

The proper way to solve this is by assigning a document class to your project and make someFunction a public method (class function).

The lay-mans solution (which I sometimes use when I'm being lazy) is the following

Object(this.stage).someFunction();

That works because you are type-casting this.stage in a way that makes the compiler think it's an Object instead of a Stage. Objects can have any number of undocumented properties and functions, thus allowing you to call items on the Object whether they are part of a class definition or not (and even ones that don't exist - which is where you can get yourself into trouble).

How to access object defined in parent, from child Slider movieclip

Because the structure of flash components are complex, this.parent doesn't always return the class that you expected. So, if you want to access parent object, you should use while loop instead of "this.parent.parent.parent ... ".

Like this.

var obj: Object = this;
while (obj.parent != null) {

    obj = obj.parent;

    // If "obj" is the class you expected, stop loop.
    if (obj is MovieClip) {

        // Do something like below.
        MovieClip(obj).myObj.A_function_in_the_object();
        break;
    }
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Calling MovieClip(root) from a dynamic MovieClip instance produces error 1034

How to access object defined in parent, from child Slider movieclip

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