FLASH: Rapid TellTargets, Multiple MouseClicks crash Flash

[Marc Hoffman]

This is a somewhat long-winded request for information.


I just worked through a complex problem in Flash.  I came up with a fix

without completely understanding what caused the problem.  If anyone on the

list can help me better understand the problem, I'd appreciate it.  You may

also find my solution of use, since it relies on an unorthodox application

of an invisible button.


THE PROJECT

I was structuring a complex game.  It takes place in a stopped frame of a

larger movie. In this game, the user is confronted with a number of buttons

that represent answers. Several buttons are "correct" guesses, the rest are

wrong. Clicking on a correct guess  1) causes a unique, associated MC to

display a graphic, 2) causes another MC to ring a bell, and 3) causes an

invisible MC to advance one frame (keeping an invisible score).  A wrong

guess 1) causes one MC to sound a buzzer and 2) causes another MC to flash

one of three warnings in sequence . After three warnings, one of the

correct guesses is revealed, to help the player out a bit.  The game

continues until the score-keeping clip determines that the total number of

correct guesses have been discovered, at which point it causes the game to

end and the main movie moves on to other interesting stuff.


THE PROBLEM

The problem was that if the player just started punching buttons like

crazy, one of two things might happen: either the score-counter did not

register all the correct hits (in which case the movie never moved ahead

after all correct guesses were made), or Flash crashed, locking up and

requiring a forced exit from the program.


FAILED SOLUTIONS

I figured the problem was that there were too many TellTargets being issued

in too short a time period, and with MCs jumping around among their

internal frames, some of the TellTargets were getting lost or interrupted

mid-execution. I tried a number of ways of using more MCs with simpler

demands made of each one.  I also tried to build in some time delays so the

commands would be spread out in time.  There was some improvement but it

still wasn't bullet-proof.


THE FIX

What I finally did was to limit the number of mouse clicks in a given time.

 I put a large invisible button in the last two frames of a MC that was

stopped in the first frame. Every time the user clicked one of the "guess"

buttons, the MC would play, positioning the invisible button over the array

of "guess" buttons, preventing them from receiving mouse events for the

duration of two frames.  Then the MC would return to its empty frame #1,

the invisible button would no longer be present, and the "guess" buttons

would be active again. This was 100% reliable.


MY QUESTION

What I would like to know is if others have had trouble with Flash seeming

not to keep up with rapid series of commands. How about Flash crashing from

too much MC activity at once? Are there situations where MCs aren't really

keeping the same frame rate, so they get out of sync?  By the way, I was

not TellTargeting anything that was not already present on the timeline,

but I wonder if a MC in action might not receive TellTargets reliably.

Ideally, I would like to understand what it is about Flash's architecture

and functioning that would cause these problems.  This is my attempt to

understand the inner workings of Flash, not just the rules for making Flash

work, so that I can have a better basis for understanding similar problems

in the future.  Any insights would be welcome!


Whew!!!



Marc Hoffman

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

marcdartfrogmedia [dot] com (mailto:marcdartfrogmedia [dot] com)

My home site is now featured in Ken Milburn's book, Flash 3 Web Animation f/x

and Design. Play a virtual marimba there: <www.dartfrogmedia.com/dartfrog>.

View my Flash3 samples: <http://www.jps.net/dartfrog/sampler>.

Read about Flash: <http://www.jps.net/dartfrog/sampler/flashinf>


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