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1001

1008 Chapter 2: ActionScript Language Reference

Instead of using with(), you can use direct paths. If you find that paths are long and

cumbersome to type, you can create a local variable and store the path in the variable, which you

can then reuse in your code, as shown in the following ActionScript:

var shortcut = this._parent._parent.name_txt;

shortcut.text = "Hank";

shortcut.autoSize = true;

For more information on best practices in writing code and code readability, see Chapter 3,

“Avoiding the with statement,” on page 87 of Using ActionScript in Flash.

Example

The following example sets the _x and _y properties of the someOther_mc instance, and then

instructs

someOther_mc to go to Frame 3 and stop.

with (someOther_mc) {

_x = 50;

_y = 100;

gotoAndStop(3);

}

The following code snippet shows how to write the preceding code without using a with

statement.

someOther_mc._x = 50;

someOther_mc._y = 100;

someOther_mc.gotoAndStop(3);

The with statement is useful for accessing multiple items in a scope chain list simultaneously. In

the following example, the built-in

Math object is placed at the front of the scope chain. Setting

Math as a default object resolves the identifiers cos, sin, and PI to Math.cos, Math.sin, and

Math.PI, respectively. The identifiers a, x, y, and r are not methods or properties of the Math

object, but because they exist in the object activation scope of the function

polar(), they resolve

to the corresponding local variables.

function polar(r:Number):Void {

var a:Number, x:Number, y:Number;

with (Math) {

a = PI*pow(r, 2);

x = r*cos(PI);

y = r*sin(PI/2);

}

trace("area = "+a);

trace("x = "+x);

trace("y = "+y);

}

polar(3);

The following result is displayed in the Output panel.

area = 28.2743338823081

x = -3

y = 3