User Guide

TextField 1197

_parent (TextField._parent property)

public _parent : MovieClip

A reference to the movie clip or object that contains the current text field or object. The

current object is the one containing the ActionScript code that references

_parent.

Use

_parent to specify a relative path to movie clips or objects that are above the current text

field. You can use

_parent to climb up multiple levels in the display list as in the following:

_parent._parent._alpha = 20;

Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 6

Example

The following ActionScript creates two text fields and outputs information about the

_parent of each object. The first text field, first_txt, is created on the main Timeline. The

second text field,

second_txt, is created inside the movie clip called holder_mc.

this.createTextField("first_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 10, 160,

22);

first_txt.border = true;

trace(first_txt._name+"'s _parent is: "+first_txt._parent);

this.createEmptyMovieClip("holder_mc", this.getNextHighestDepth());

holder_mc.createTextField("second_txt", holder_mc.getNextHighestDepth(),

10, 40, 160, 22);

holder_mc.second_txt.border = true;

trace(holder_mc.second_txt._name+"'s _parent is:

"+holder_mc.second_txt._parent);

The following information is displayed in the Output panel:

first_txt's _parent is: _level0

second_txt's _parent is: _level0.holder_mc

The MovieClip.getNextHighestDepth() method used in this example requires Flash Player

7 or later. If your SWF file includes a version 2 component, use the version 2 components

DepthManager class instead of the

MovieClip.getNextHighestDepth() method.