Lingo Dictionary > O-R > play

 

play

Syntax

sprite(whichFlashSprite).play()
play [frame] whichFrame
play movie whichMovie
play frame whichFrame of movie whichMovie
play sprite whichFlashSprite

Description

Command; branches the playback head to the specified frame of the specified movie or starts a Flash movie sprite playing. For the former, the expression whichFrame can be either a string marker label or an integer frame number. The expression whichMovie must be a string that specifies a movie file. When the movie is in another folder, whichMovie must specify a path.

The play command is like the go to command, except that when the current sequence finishes playing, play automatically returns the playback head to the frame where play was called.

If play is issued from a frame script, the playback head returns to the next frame; if play is issued from a sprite script or handler, the playback head returns to the same frame. A play sequence ends when the playback head reaches the end of the movie or when the play done command is issued.

To play a movie from a URL, use downloadNetThing or preloadNetThing() to download the file to a local disk first, and then use play to play the movie on the local disk to minimize download time.

You can use the play command to play several movies from a single handler. The handler is suspended while each movie plays but resumes when each movie is finished. Contrast this with a series of go commands that, when called from a handler, play the first frame of each movie. The handler is not suspended while the movie plays but immediately continues executing.

When play is used to play a Flash movie sprite, the Flash movie plays from its current frame if it is stopped or from its first frame if it is already on the last frame.

Each play command needs a matching play done command to avoid using up memory if the original calling script isn't returned to. To avoid this memory consumption, you can use a global variable to record where the movie should return to.

Example

This statement moves the playback head to the marker named blink:

play "blink"

Example

This statement moves the playback head to the next marker:

play marker(1)

Example

This statement moves the playback head to a separate movie:

play movie "My Drive:More Movies:" & newMovie

Example

This frame script checks to see if the Flash movie sprite in channel 5 is playing, and if it is not, it starts the movie:

on enterFrame
	if not sprite(5).playing then
		sprite(5).play()
	end if
end

See also

downloadNetThing