User Guide

Using absolute and relative target paths 25
Relative paths
A relative path depends on the relationship between the controlling Timeline and the target
Timeline. Relative paths can address targets only within their own level of Flash Player.
For example, you can’t use a relative path in an action on
_level0 that targets a Timeline
on
_level5.
In a relative path, use the keyword
this to refer to the current Timeline in the current level; use
the alias
_parent to indicate the parent Timeline of the current Timeline. You can use the
_parent alias repeatedly to go up one level in the movie clip hierarchy within the same level of
Flash Player. For example,
_parent._parent controls a movie clip up two levels in the hierarchy.
The topmost Timeline at any level in Flash Player is the only Timeline with a
_parent value that
is undefined.
An action in the Timeline of the instance
charleston, located one level below southcarolina,
could use the following target path to target the instance
southcarolina:
_parent
To target the instance eastCoast (one level up) from an action in charleston, you could use
the following relative path:
_parent._parent
To target the instance atlanta from an action in the Timeline of charleston, you could use the
following relative path:
_parent._parent.georgia.atlanta
Relative paths are useful for reusing scripts. For example, you could attach the following script to
a movie clip that magnifies its parent by 150%:
onClipEvent (load) {
_parent._xscale = 150;
_parent._yscale = 150;
}
You can reuse this script by attaching it to any movie clip instance.
Whether you use an absolute or a relative path, you identify a variable in a Timeline or a property
of an object with a dot (
.) followed by the name of the variable or property. For example, the
following statement sets the variable
name in the instance form to the value "Gilbert":
_root.form.name = "Gilbert";
Writing target paths
To control a movie clip, loaded movie, or button, you must specify a target path. In order to
specify a target path for a movie clip or button, you must assign an instance name to the movie
clip or button. A loaded document doesn’t require an instance name because you use its level
number as an instance name (for example,
_level5).