Working with Movie Clips and Buttons > Using actions and methods to control movie clips > Loading and unloading additional movies

 

Loading and unloading additional movies

To play additional movies without closing the Flash Player, or to switch movies without loading another HTML page, you can use the loadMovie action or method. You can also use loadMovie to send variables to a CGI script, which generates a SWF file as its CGI output. When you load a movie, you can specify a level or movie clip target into which the movie will load. If you load a movie into a target, the loaded movie inherits the properties of the targeted movie clip. Once the movie is loaded, you can change those properties.

The unloadMovie action and method remove a movie previously loaded by loadMovie. Explicitly unloading movies with unloadMovie ensures a smooth transition between movies and may decrease the memory required by the Flash Player.

Use the loadMovie action to do any of the following:

Play a sequence of banner ads that are SWF files by placing a loadMovie action at the end of each SWF file to load the next movie.

Develop a branching interface that lets the user choose among several different SWF files.

Build a navigation interface with navigation controls in level 0 that load other levels. Loading levels produces smoother transitions than loading new HTML pages in a browser.