T-W > trace

trace

Syntax

trace(expression);

Arguments

expression A statement to evaluate. When you test the movie, the results of the expression argument are displayed in the Output window.

Description

Action; evaluates the expression and displays the results in the Output window in test-movie mode.

Use trace to record programming notes or to display messages in the Output window while testing a movie. Use the expression parameter to check if a condition exists, or to display values in the Output window. The trace action is similar to the alert function in JavaScript.

Player

Flash 4 or later.

Example

This example is from a game in which a draggable movie clip instance named rabbi must be released on a specific target. A conditional statement evaluates the _droptarget property and executes different actions depending on where rabbi is released. The trace action is used at the end of the script to evaluate the location of the rabbi movie clip, and display the results in the Output window. If rabbi doesn't behave as expected (for example, if it snaps to the wrong target), the values sent to the Output window by the trace action will help you determine the problem in the script.

on(press) {
rabbi.startDrag();
}
on(release) {
if(eval(_droptarget) != target) {
	  rabbi._x = rabbi_x;
	  rabbi._y = rabbi_y;
} else {
rabbi_x = rabbi._x;
rabbi_y = rabbi._y;
target = "_root.pasture";
}
trace("rabbi_y = " + rabbi_y);
trace("rabbi_x = " + rabbi_x);
stopDrag();
}