Question

I have a MovieClip that is composed in a parent (non-display object) class. We register an event listener against that movieclip – a CLICK handler for example.

With event.target I can get a reference to the MovieClip from within the event handler. But how can I pull a reference to its composing class?

I could simply add a “parentClass” property on the dynamic MovieClip class, but I’m wondering if there’s a more elegant/idiomatic way of doing it that I should consider?

Answer 1

If the class that creates your MovieClip is not a display object then it cannot really be considered its parent. The parent element will be that which your MovieClip is attached to. All that the creating class contains is a reference to an object, just the same as if you then refer to the MovieClip elsewhere.

My preferred way would be to create a descendant class of MovieClip that can contain a reference to the creating class, which you would then use instead of MovieClip.

package {
    import flash.display.MovieClip;

    public class MovieClipWithRef extends MovieClip
    {
        private var _parentRef:Object;  //obviously cast this as accurately as possible

        public function MovieClipWithRef($ref:Object):void
        {
            _parentRef = $ref;
        }

        public function get parentRef():Object
        {
            return _parentRef;
        }
        //no setter makes this property read-only once set by the constructor
    }
}