Unresolved loadmovie problem 2

[TFfan]

I hope I can explain this clearly. My site is roughly a rectangle:

_______________________________
| * * * *| |
| | |
| | |
| A | B |
| | |
|______________|________________|

A is a MC called backdrop. The *s are drop down menus. When the site loads it calls in cars.swf and that MC occupies side A. This is where the problem is. After cars.swf loads in, anything that is ontop of it is translucent including the menus and any graphic/MC I place on it regardless of the alpha. Ideally, I'd like my menus always on top and any text or future MCs also on top.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[oldnewbie]

Levels are like layers. Level 5 will thus be on top of levels 0 to 4. Simply make your cars movie the main movie, and load your buttons as an external movie on a higher level, level 5 for example. Afterwards, anything you load on levels 1 to 4 will be between your cars main movie and your buttons movie, as anything you load on a higher level than 5 will obviously overlap every underlying level.

Don't tell me you're using empty movie clip holders!

Regards,

 

[TFfan]

Thanks again Oldnewbie! Worked perfectly.

 

[oldnewbie]

And that's it?

Regards,

 

[TFfan]

Well I'm happy it works. But I'm curious about the blank movie clip with an empty first frame. Correct me if I'm wrong but if I unload my menu it also erases the swf file from the user's cache right?

This isn't a big deal with this site because I'm not planning on unloading my menu, but in future projects I might want to keep the swf in the cache for quicker loading.

I thought about what you said about blank movie clip holders and it got me thinking. If I loaded a movie with a blank first frame and a stop action I could keep it "loaded" and bring it in and take it away with gotoandplay actions correct? This way it would remain loaded and I could call upon it whenever I wanted...I think.

I'm new to this whole flash thing so I'm probably getting ahead of myself and like I said the method you suggested will work perfectly for this project.

 

[oldnewbie]

There's usually no need to unload a movie once it's been loaded. In fact loading a new movie on a level or in a holder movie clip will simply replace the previous movie without the need to unload it. Don't think that unloading clears the movie from the user's cache, it simply breaks the reference to that particular file in the cache, thus, if you wanted to bring it up again, it would have to be re-loaded as if it never was in the cache, although it can still be there.
Furthermore, as for movies loaded in holder clips, you can turn off the visibility of any movie loaded on any level, and turn it back on whenever you wish, eliminating the need to actually unload it. That way it does remain available at all times once it's been loaded.

For your info, you can use the following to set a level's visibility to off or on:
_level5._visible = true;
_level5._visible = false;

Regards,
And may I, this time, be blessed by your vote!

 

[TulsaJeff]

Glad to see you finally used the suggestion I gave you the other day TFfan... after getting a 2nd opinion of course;-)

Good suggestion, Old;-) Regards,
TulsaJeff

 

[SHARKY99]

Old, juste pour le fun, t'as combien de tasse Tek-Tips à date???

Tu dois avoir plusieurs set de tasses depuis le temps LOL

Salut et bonne journée ;-)

Have Fun...

Sharky99 >:O>

 

[oldnewbie]

Only one... And it arrived in Montréal in pieces! My relation is so "good" with management that in spite of all my demands, I have yet to receive another one... Which I doubt will ever come!
Maybe they should send it to StickyBit instead which I presume will soon join their "red witches" club.

Salut,

 

[TFfan]

I thought I did give you a vote, but that seems untrue (this time I made sure). Anyway, thanks again.

 

[TFfan]

Sorry TulsaJeff, I misunderstood your suggestion the last time.

 

[oldnewbie]

TFan... Thanks!
In case you're wondering about the above French bit, Sharky and I weren't referring to votes but to coffee cups, which is really another story... Makes me wonder how Sharky would be aware of those cups in the first place!

Regards,

 

[TFfan]

Heh, I'm not nearly that paranoid Old--btw, I try to be very good about votes, and I truly did think I gave you one.

A few weeks after I joined I discovered that you could give votes I went into random threads and gave the people who helped me before I knew about the voting system their due.