FLASH: Setting text fields in a MC as the instance is created

[DeJarnett, Gary]

I�m needing a pop-up keypad for some of my work and wanted to make it a

short Flash movie where each key �unfolded� from the previous key until the

keypad is built.  It�s hard to explain, but I have uploaded calc.fla to

ftp://206.107.180.51/GaryDJ/calc.fla <ftp://206.107.180.51/GaryDJ/calc.fla>

.  Anyone interested in helping out with this question will probably need to

be looking at it to understand.


On the main stage, there is an instance (Calc) of a movie clip

(movOpenCalc).  If you open this movie clip and play it, you�ll see the

�unfolding� effect I�m after.  Each button is an instance (ins1, ins2, etc�)

of the movie clip movCalc.  For example, to see ins1, go to frame 2 in layer

1 after hiding layers above it.  To see where ins2 appears, go to frame 11

after hiding layers above layer 2.   Each button has a variable text field

(txtCalc) which will hold the digit of the number of that keypad button.  It

is initially the number 4, but as each instance is created, I want to move

the real keypad number into that field.  For example, after creating the

first button, I move a 1 to the text field on that instance.  That works

fine.  On all subsequent buttons, though, the number I move to the text

field never gets loaded (see frame 11 of the top layer (named code), it

says, Set Variable: "Calc/ins2:txtCalc" = 2.  This statement is executed in

frame 11, because that is where this instance first appears (while the 3rd

button is �unfolding�).


If anyone can explain why a 2 is not moved into the text field on the second

instance, I would appreciate it.  I�ve studied tell targeting and thought I

had it down, but I must be missing a concept somewhere.  A second question

is why my tell target on the first frame of the timeline of the main movie

is not playing movOpenCalc when I test it.  I have Go to and Play ("Begin")

and Begin is the second frame of the movie clip, so the Stop action in the

first frame should be ignored.  Again, I�m obviously missing something.

Feel free to tell me which part of John�s book I need to reread in order to

get this stuff straight in my head.  If it would help in your explanation,

I�d also be glad for you to replace the broken version with a modified

version at the FTP site.


Thanks for all your help in the past, and for listening to this problem,


Gary (

dejarnettttu [dot] edu

 <

dejarnettttu [dot] edu (mailto:dejarnettttu [dot] edu)

> )


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