Creating Interaction with ActionScript > Getting the mouse position
Getting the mouse position
You can use the _xmouse
and _ymouse
properties to find the location of the mouse pointer (cursor) in a movie. Each Timeline has an _xmouse
and _ymouse
property that returns the location of the mouse within its coordinate system.
To see the _xmouse
and _ymouse
properties within the main Timeline and in a movie clip Timeline, drag the mouse in the movie.
The following statement could be placed on any Timeline in the _level0
movie to return the _xmouse
position within the main Timeline:
x_pos = _root._xmouse;
To determine the mouse position within a movie clip, you can use the movie clip's instance name. For example, the following statement could be placed on any Timeline in the _level0
movie to return the _ymouse
position in the myMovieClip
instance:
y_pos = _root.myMovieClip._ymouse
You can also determine the mouse position within a movie clip by using the _xmouse
and _ymouse
properties in a clip action, as in the following:
onClipEvent(enterFrame){ xmousePosition = _xmouse; ymousePosition = _ymouse; }
The variables x_pos
and y_pos
are used as containers to hold the values of the mouse positions. You could use these variables in any script in your movie. In the following example, the values of x_pos
and y_pos
update every time the user moves the mouse.
onClipEvent(mouseMove){ x_pos = _root._xmouse; y_pos = _root._ymouse; }
For more information about the _xmouse
and _ymouse
properties, see their entries in the ActionScript Dictionary.