Question

I created an AS file and used it as a class, inside it I called buttons and slideshow images.

After that I decided to create an intro by moving the timeline. My problem is that all the objects are displayed from the very first frame, is there a way to make the entire class start after certain frame?

Code for reference:

    package {

  import flash.display.Loader;
  import flash.net.URLRequest;
  import flash.events.Event;
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  import flash.events.MouseEvent;
  import flash.display.MovieClip;


  public class play extends MovieClip {

    private var loader:Loader = new Loader();

    private var images:Array = ["img/Layer_1.jpg", "img/Layer_2.jpg", "img/Layer_3.jpg", "img/Layer_4.jpg", "img/Layer_5.jpg", "img/Layer_6.jpg", "img/Layer_7.jpg", "img/Layer_9.jpg", "img/Layer_10.jpg", "img/Layer_11.jpg", "img/Layer_12.jpg", "img/Layer_13.jpg", "img/Layer_14.jpg"];
    private var triangleButton:triangle = new triangle;
    private var squareButton:square = new square;
    private var crossButton:cross = new cross;
    private var circleButton:circle = new circle;


    public function play() {
      loadNextImage();

      addChild(loader);
      loader.x = 137;
      loader.y = 65;

      //Buttons
      addChild(triangleButton);
      triangleButton.width = 28;
      triangleButton.scaleY = triangleButton.scaleX;
      triangleButton.x = 804;
      triangleButton.y = 107;
      triangleButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, slideGames);


      addChild(circleButton);
      circleButton.width = 28;
      circleButton.scaleY = circleButton.scaleX;
      circleButton.x = 825;
      circleButton.y = 130;
      circleButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, slideGames);

      addChild(crossButton);
      crossButton.width = 28;
      crossButton.scaleY = crossButton.scaleX;
      crossButton.x = 804;
      crossButton.y = 155;
      crossButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, slideGames);

      addChild(squareButton);
      squareButton.width = 28;
      squareButton.scaleY = squareButton.scaleX;
      squareButton.x = 780;
      squareButton.y = 130;
      squareButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, slideGames);


    }
    public function slideGames(event:MouseEvent):void {
      loadNextImage();
    }

    public function loadNextImage() : void {
      // Increment the image
      _imageIndex++;

      // If we've reached the end of the array, start over
      if (_imageIndex >= images.length) {
        _imageIndex = 0;
      }

      // Now get the image source from the array and tell the loader to load it
      var imageSource : String = images[_imageIndex] as String;
      loader.load(new URLRequest(imageSource));
    }
    // Next image to display
    protected var _imageIndex : int = -1;
  }
}

Answer 1

Yes, instead of initializing everything in the constructor of your class (play()), you can move it to another function, and call that from the timeline. I am assuming you are using the play class as the document class.

So instead of

public function play() {

you would rename it to

public function play_start() {

Create an empty constructor named play() at this point if you want to.

In the flash IDE, select the frame where you want the items to appear, then create a keyframe there.
Select the keyframe and go to the Actions panel (F9) and enter the following code:

this.play_start();

once the playhead is at the keyframe, your code should be executed.