Forums: Flash:

I'm a flash newbie (longtime director prog) and I was wondering if there's an easy way to set the depth of a particular clip so that it always appears on top of other clips. In lingo you can set a sprites z property to control the front to back order.

I have a dynamically generated clip that is duplicated into up to 20 instances and another clip that I want to play on top of all of these. I thought of using swapDepth with hitTest, but I don't think I need to go that in depth.

I suppose I could do a duplicate movie clip with the final one and give it a higher depth, but this means I need a dummy clip offstage to duplicate from right? Or can I duplicate an mc straight from the library? Still getting the hang of all this

Anyways, what I have so far is here.

The ripples are the instances, duped into levels 1-20, and the fish is what I want on top. It's a work in progress

using swapDepths method :

this.swapDepths(9999)

Wow, easy as that eh? I thought I'd have to swap it with another mc

Thanks swampy

Originally posted by Nat
Wow, easy as that eh? I thought I'd have to swap it with another mc

Thanks swampy

hmm I found this which is exactly what I think I'm looking for but doesn't seem to be working

I have text dynamically appearing at a new depth each time and need a movie clip playing on top....

I have the layers setup with the movie clip on top and then tried:
girl_3.swapDepths(9999);
on the clip and in the frame and neither did it. when in the frame it seems to be approved by the compiler... in the mc it shows up:
"Statement must appear within on/onClipEvent handler"

I just tried:
mcDancer.onLoad = function() {
mcDancer.swapDepths(9999);
}

and that didnt work either (I renamed girl_3 to mcDancer)

onClipEvent (load) {
mcDancer.swapDepths(9999);
}

in the clip didnt work either

I don't understand why you're placing this code on the MC itself. It's probably looking for a child of that MC called mcDancer, which I suspect is actually the MC you put the code on.



Also there is no reason to send it an arbitrary depth. You can use

mcDancer.swapDeths(this.getNextHighestDepth());

if you place the code on the timeline which the mcDancer appears on.

As well, since you're taking the time to name it mcDancer you should really be using

dancer_mc so that the code hinting in the editor works at it's fullest potential for you.

When I use this.getNextHighestDepth() I would have thought that it would actually create a new depth layer, but it doesn't seem to...

Basically, here's the deal - I have 6 layers.
When you click a layer's sidenav link, I want it to load above the previous layer so that the previous layer will be visible beneath it (I'm doing some masking).

What I seem to get, though, is that each layer loads on top, but the one underneath doesn't get switched out - so it's as if there's only 2 layers visible.

What I want is this:

You're on layer 1.
You click the layer 2 link, it rolls in over layer 1. you click on the layer 6 link, it rolls in over layer 2. You click the layer 3 link, it rolls in over layer 6.

What I'm getting is this:

You're on layer 1.
You click the layer 2 link, it rolls in over layer 1. you click on the layer 6 link, it rolls in over layer 1. you click the layer 3 link, it rolls in over layer 1.

BUT sometimes the underlying layer switches, though not in any way that I see the pattern.

code example:

on (press) {
	_root.layer_mc1.swapDepths(this.getNextHighestDepth());
	_root.layer_mc1.gotoAndPlay(1);

}

The other thing I was thinking was a simple swap with two holders, but the problem is the non-sequential aspect.

Again, thoughts?

not really following if you want to pm me fla I can take a look.;j

Try this:

on (press) {
	_root.layer_mc1.swapDepths(_root.getNextHighestDepth());
	_root.layer_mc1.gotoAndPlay(1);
}

Hey, I never learned as3, what can I say. You want to have a throwdown in photoshop or illustrator, I'm up to date.

I've got my PS7 ready to rock


So did it even work?

I'm not sure I'm completely following either.....but......

In AS2, if you call the swapDepths from the layer that is clicked on, it will move it to the top and not just over the one above it.

this.onPress = function() {
	this.swapDepths(this._parent.getNextHighestDepth());
}

Ah, I see. That would explain it.
I suspected something like this was going on.
I'll give your suggestion a go & see what ensues!

Originally posted by: arigato
Hey, I never learned as3, what can I say. You want to have a throwdown in photoshop or illustrator, I'm up to date.

I'm not scared, I just get huffy easy.
You know how tetchy designer-types get.

*moves pixels in spite*