User Guide

Using inheritance in behaviors 289
Using inheritance in behaviors
Behaviors can have ancestor scripts in the same way that parent scripts do. (Ancestor scripts are
additional scripts whose handlers and properties a parent script can call on and use.)
• The ancestor’s handlers and properties are available to the behavior.
• If a behavior has the same handler or property as an ancestor script, then the script uses the
property or handler in the behavior instead of the one in the ancestor.
For more information about the concept of ancestors and inheritance, see the Scripting Reference
topics in the Director Help Panel.
To make a script an ancestor, do one of the following:
• Declare that ancestor is a property in the property statement at the beginning of the
behavior’s Score script.
For example, the statement
property ancestor declares that ancestor is a property.
• Include a statement that specifies which script is the ancestor. Put the statement in an on
beginSprite
handler in the behavior.
For example, this handler makes the script Common Behavior an ancestor of the behavior
when Director first enters the sprite:
--Lingo syntax
on beginSprite
sprite(me.spriteNum).ancestor = script("Common Behavior").new()
end
This handler will let the behavior also use the handler in the script Common Behavior.