Lingo Dictionary > T-Z > tell |
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tell
Syntax
tell
whichWindow
to
statement
(s)
tell
whichWindow
statement(s)
end
Description
Command; communicates statements to the window specified by whichWindow
.
The tell
command is useful for allowing movies to interact. It can be used within a main movie to send a message to a movie playing in a window, or to send a message from a movie playing in a window to the main movie. For example, the tell
command can let a button in a control panel call a handler in a movie playing in a window. The movie playing in a window may react to the first movie handler by executing the handler. The movie playing in the window may interact with the main movie by sending a value back to the movie.
When you use the tell
command to send a message to a movie playing in a window, identify the window object by using the full pathname or its number in windowList
. If you use windowList
, use the expression getAt(the windowList
, windowNum
)
, where windowNum
is a variable that contains the number of the window's position in the list. Because the opening and closing of windows may change the order of windowList
, it is a good idea to store the full pathname as a global variable when referencing windows with getAt
in windowList
.
Example
A multiple-line tell
command resembles a handler and requires an end tell
statement:
global childMovie tell window childMovie go to frame "Intro" the stageColor = 100 sprite(4).member = member "Diana Ross" updateStage end tell
Example
When a message calls a handler, a value returned from the handler can be found in the global result
property after the called handler is done. These statements send the childMovie
window the message calcBalance
and then return the result:
global childMovie tell window childMovie to calcBalance -- a handler name myBalance = result() -- return value from calcBalance handler
Example
When you use the tell
command to send a message from a movie playing in a window to the main movie, use the stage
system property as the object name:
tell the stage to go frame "Main Menu"
When you use the tell
command to call a handler in another movie, make sure that you do not have a handler by the same name in the same script in the local movie. If you do, the local script will be called. This restriction applies only to handlers in the same script in which you are using the tell
command.
Example
This statement causes the Control Panel window to instruct the Simulation movie to branch to another frame:
tell window "Simulation" to go frame "Save"
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