User Guide

138 Chapter 2: ActionScript Language Reference
Button.getDepth()
Availability
Flash Player 6.
Usage
my_btn.getDepth() : Number
Returns
An integer.
Description
Method; returns the depth of a button instance.
Example
If you create myBtn1_btn and myBtn2_btn on the Stage, you can trace their depth using the
following ActionScript:
trace(myBtn1_btn.getDepth());
trace(myBtn2_btn.getDepth());
If you load a SWF file called buttonMovie.swf into this document, you could trace the depth of a
button,
myBtn4_btn, inside that SWF file using another button in the main SWF.
this.createEmptyMovieClip("myClip_mc", 999);
myClip_mc.loadMovie("buttonMovie.swf");
myBtn3_btn.onRelease = function(){
trace(myClip_mc.myBtn4_btn.getDepth());
};
You might notice that two of these buttons have the same depth value, one in the main SWF file
and one in the loaded SWF file. This is misleading, because buttonMovie.swf was loaded at depth
999, which means that the button it contains will also have a depth of 999 relative to the buttons
in the main SWF file. Keep in mind that each movie clip has its own internal z-order, which
means that each movie clip has its own set of depth values. The two buttons may have the same
depth value, but the values only have meaning in relation to other objects in the same z-order. In
this case, the buttons have the same depth value, but the values relate to different movie clips: the
depth value of the button in the main SWF file relates to the z-order of the main Timeline, while
the depth value of the button in the loaded SWF file relates to the internal z-order of the
myClip_mc movie clip.