Question

I have this AS2 code that does some simple animations when I rollover a mc using TweenLite.

I feel that I have a lot of repeating code.

Is there a way to be able to just specify a function like this

boxLink(a);

and have the rest of the code, with the path to the target movieclip in the function instead of in the function variable?

How can I make this code as short as possible?

Is it possible to convert a variable:String to a variable:MovieClip? How would i do that in this example?

 import gs.*;  import gs.easing.*;   function imageAlpha(mc_target:MovieClip) {     mc_target.onRollOver = function() {             TweenLite.to(mc_target,1,{_alpha:100, ease:Back.easeOut});     };      mc_target.onRollOut = function() {             TweenLite.to(mc_target,1,{_alpha:60, ease:Back.easeOut});     };  }      function boxLink(mc_function:MovieClip, mc_target:MovieClip, mc_image:MovieClip, linkURL:String) {     mc_function.onRollOver = function() {             TweenLite.to(mc_target,0.5,{_xscale:150, _yscale:150, ease:Back.easeOut});             TweenLite.to(mc_image,1,{_alpha:100, ease:Back.easeOut});     };      mc_function.onRollOut = function() {             TweenLite.to(mc_target,0.5,{_xscale:100, _yscale:100, ease:Back.easeOut});             TweenLite.to(mc_image,1,{_alpha:60, ease:Back.easeOut});     };      mc_function.onRelease = function() {             if (linkURL) {             getURL(linkURL);             }     };  }     imageAlpha(a_box.image);  imageAlpha(b_box.image);  imageAlpha(c_box.image);  imageAlpha(d_box.image);   boxLink(a_box.link1,a_box.arrow1,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(a_box.link2,a_box.arrow2,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(a_box.link3,a_box.arrow3,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no');   boxLink(b_box.link1,b_box.arrow1,b_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(b_box.link2,b_box.arrow2,b_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(b_box.link3,b_box.arrow3,b_box.image,'http://www.google.no');   boxLink(c_box.link1,c_box.arrow1,c_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(c_box.link2,c_box.arrow2,c_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(c_box.link3,c_box.arrow3,c_box.image);   boxLink(d_box.link1,d_box.arrow1,d_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(d_box.link2,d_box.arrow2,d_box.image,'http://www.google.no');  boxLink(d_box.link3,d_box.arrow3,d_box.image); 

Answer 1

Use arrays instead of named variables

a_box.link_1, a_box.link_2, ..., a_box.link_3  

becomes

a_box.link[ i ] where i = 0 to n-1, n = number of links 

Similarly for arrows.

Next, create a wrapper for boxLink()

public function  boxLinkWrapper(x:BoxType, url:string='http://www.google.no') :ReturnType {     for (i:int = 0; i < x.link.size; ++i) {         boxLink(x.link[ i ], x.arrow[ i ], x.image, url);     } } 

Also, since you have a number of such boxes, put them in an array:

var boxes:Array = new Array(); boxes.push(new Box('a')); //a_box boxes.push(new Box('b')); //b_box 

and wrap up the steps you’d need for each box:

public function  processBox(x:BoxType):SomeReturnType {     imageAlpha(d_box.image);     boxLink(a_box.link1,a_box.arrow1,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no'); } 

and run a for-loop over the array boxes, or use the forEach() member function:

boxes.forEach(processBox); 

Don’t forget to replace BoxType, SomeReturnType and ReturnType by the appropriate types. Does that help? (Note: this is untested code, but should get you started!)