I am not new to programming but I decided to learn Flash for fun this summer. I have a program that is printing Circles as children and I want it so when the user hovers over a certain circle it will remove that child. Pseudo code in case you don't get what I'm saying:
if ( mouse.x = onCircle && mouse.y = onCircle){
removeChild(thatCircle);
}
The problem is I don't know how to find what that specific child is and how to remove it.
here is my code so far:
//Import
import flash.utils.*;
//Vars
var circle:Shape = new Shape(); // The instance name circle is created
var alive;
alive = "true";
var challange;
challange = 1;
var ogtimer = setInterval(showCircle,1000*challange);
var circlesOnScreen: int;
circlesOnScreen = 0;
var cycles : int;
cycles = 0;
var base : int;
base = 0;
function showCircle(){
if (circlesOnScreen < 14){
//Variables
var ranX:Number = Math.ceil(Math.random()*475);
var ranY:Number = Math.ceil(Math.random()*790);
var circleSpriteVar:circleSprite = new circleSprite();
addChild(circleSpriteVar);
circleSpriteVar.x = ranX;
circleSpriteVar.y = ranY;
circlesOnScreen = circlesOnScreen + 1;
cycles = cycles + 1;
/*if (mouseisover circle){
circle.removeChildAt(0)
}*/
if (cycles > 3){
base = cycles * 1.15
challange = base / 10
}
}else{
gotoAndStop(3)
}
}
EDIT: Please correct your title or your description. Title says Mouse click and description says hover. These are different things.
You would need to add a MOUSE_OVER mouse listener to each of your circles and it will fire each time you hover the mouse over the circle. Then remove the circle over which the mouse is. Here's sample code (assuming Circle is a Sprite):
circle.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, onMouseOver,false,0,true);
protected function onMouseOver(event:MouseEvent):void
{
var circle:Sprite = event.currentTarget as Sprite;
circle.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, onMouseOver);
removeChild(circle);
}
Hope this answers your question. Please accept the answer if it does, or let me know if you need more information. Thanks.
Related
I am trying to do a simple light-up pegboard in flash. I have finished the general logic for 1 peg but there will be a total of 2,300 pegs and I don't want to have to add an event listener to each movieclip.
Here is my code:
import flash.events.Event;
var my_color:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
movieClip_1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, fl_MouseClickHandler);
function fl_MouseClickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
{
if (my_color.color == 0)
{
my_color.color = 0x0000FF;
event.target.transform.colorTransform = my_color;
}
else if (my_color.color == 255)
{
my_color.color = 0x00FF00;
event.target.transform.colorTransform = my_color;
}
else if (my_color.color == 65280)
{
my_color.color = 0xFF0000;
event.target.transform.colorTransform = my_color;
}
else if (my_color.color == 16711680)
{
my_color.color = 0xFFFFFF;
event.target.transform.colorTransform = my_color;
}
else if (my_color.color == 16777215)
{
my_color.color = 0x000000;
event.target.transform.colorTransform = my_color;
}
else
{
trace(my_color.color);
}
}
[
Here are 3 ways to accomplish this:
Put the code on the peg's own timeline. (or make a class file, and attach it to your peg object). This will re-use the same code for each peg instance automatically. Just take the same code you have, but use the this keyword instead of a hard reference to the movie clip:
var my_color:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
this.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, fl_MouseClickHandler);
function fl_MouseClickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
{
//.....
Make a container Sprite/MovieClip and have all the pegs be the sole children of it. Then iterate over all the children of that container and attach the listener:
//loop through all children of the container and add an event listener
var i:int = container.numChildren;
while(i--){
container.getChildAt(i).addEventListener(....);
}
This is good because you don't have to give them instance names, which would be quite tedious.
Attach a click listener to a common parent of all pegs, and use the target property of the event to see if the click was on a peg.
Assuming you have right-clicked your peg library object, gone to properties and checked "export for actionscript" and given it the Class name "MyPeg", you could do this:
commonParent.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, parentClick);
function parentClick(e:Event):void {
if(e.target is MyPeg){
//it's a PEG, do something
}
}
Now, depending on how your peg object is structured, target could also refer to a child of your peg (instead of the peg itself). To avoid this if it's applicable, you can disable mouse input on the children of the peg. So on the first frame of your peg object, you could this: this.mouseChildren = false;
Now, even better (less tedious) would be to instantiate your pegs through code too. So as mentioned earlier, export your peg for actionscript in it's properties, and give it a class name ("MyPeg" for my example). Then something along these lines:
var curRow:int = 0;
var curCol:int = 0;
var totalRows:int = 25;
var totalCols:int = 92;
var startingY:int = 10;
var startingX:int = 10;
var padding:int = 2; //gap between pegs
var curPeg:MyPeg;
while(true){
//create the peg, and add it to the display.
curPeg = new MyPeg();
addChild(curPeg);
//add the click listener to this peg
curPeg.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, fl_mouseClickHandler);
//assign the position of this peg
curPeg.x = startingX + (curCol * (curPeg.width + padding));
curPeg.y = startingY + (curRow * (curPeg.height + padding));
//increment the column
curCol++;
//check if we've reached the last column in the row
if(curCol >= totalCols - 1){
//yes, so reset the column to 0 and increment the row
curCol = 0;
curRow++;
//break out of the loop if the curRow exceeds or is equal to the total rows var
if(curRow >= totalRows) break;
}
}
This way you could change your grid size simply by modifying the number assigned to totalCols and totalRows - no need to tediously move around 2300 objects in FlashPro.
One way to do it is loop through all the children of the parent of your 2300 pegs.
for (var i:int=0; i<numChildren; i++) {
var clip = getChildAt(i);
if (clip.name.indexOf('movieClip_')==0) {
clip.addEventListener((MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, fl_MouseClickHandler);
}
}
Another way to do it is to add a handler to the entire parent clip and then in the handler check and see if what was clicked is one of your pegs. But you have to disable mouseChildren on the child clips for that to work.
Note that you may want to look at replacing that big if/then statement with switch/case, which is clearer and more compact in this type of situation.
I am stuck at a very basic problem which I am not quite able to figure out. I have 4 alienships and a crosshair which moves around with the mouse. I want to change the color of my crosshair to red when it is near one of the alienships. Both my alienships and crosshair are classes which extend movieclip. I use them in my main document class inside a main game loop which is triggered by the Enter_Frame event listener.
Here is my logic that checks for the same
private var objColor:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
private function overlayCursorMove() : void {
var initialColor:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
initialColor.color = 0xD3D3D3;
for(var i = 0; i < alienShipArray.length; i++){
var currentShip:AlienShip = alienShipArray[i];
if(currentShip.getDistance(overlayCursor.x - currentShip.x, overlayCursor.y - currentShip.y) <= 30 ){
overlayCursor.transform.colorTransform = objColor;
}
else if(currentShip.getDistance(overlayCursor.x - currentShip.x, overlayCursor.y - currentShip.y) > 30 ){
overlayCursor.transform.colorTransform = initialColor;
}
}
}
Below is the custom getDistance function inside the AlienShip class
public function getDistance(delta_x:Number, delta_y:Number):Number
{
return Math.sqrt((delta_x*delta_x)+(delta_y*delta_y));
}
overlayCursor is my crosshair which moves around with my mouseX and mouseY positions. I have 4 alienships on my stage and all of them are stored inside the alienShipArray.
I am just calculating the distance between my crosshair and the currentship position to check if its less than a certain amount to change the crosshair color else if distance is greater change it back to previous color.
Surprisingly the logic only works for the very last ship in the array that is when the loop reaches i = 3 ( alienShipArray[3] ). For the rest of the ship the color of the crosshair stays the same!
You need to break out of your loop when you encounter an intersection, otherwise your loop will continue to run and the other non-intersecting aliens will cause the else if part of your condition to test true, and your crosshair will be changed back to its initial color.
That would explain why your code only works with the last alien in the loop, as there are no further iterations in that instance to reset the color.
Something like the following should do it (untested):
private var objColor:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
private function overlayCursorMove() : void {
var initialColor:ColorTransform = new ColorTransform();
initialColor.color = 0xD3D3D3;
for(var i:uint = 0; i < alienShipArray.length; i++) {
var currentShip:AlienShip = alienShipArray[i];
// Reset cursor back to initial color
overlayCursor.transform.colorTransform = initialColor;
if(currentShip.getDistance(overlayCursor.x - currentShip.x, overlayCursor.y - currentShip.y) <= 30 ) {
// Intersection found, change the cursor color
overlayCursor.transform.colorTransform = objColor;
// And break out of the loop so further iterations don't reset it
break;
}
}
// No intersections found, cursor remains in its initial state
}
I am currently building a project where I have a map with a number of ship and aircraft. What I am trying to achieve is to check the Line of Sight distance between them.
I have set up a LOS Calculator which checks the height of one platform and the height of a second platform then gives a response. That works fine.
I then wanted to addCircle based on the result from this calculator. So if the result was 10 it would draw a circle 10cm in radius. If the result was 100 then it would draw it at 100, you get the picture. This works.
My problem now is that I need to be able to click on one platform either before or after I have made the calculation and the .addCircle be added to that movieClip. I have set up an array to store the movieclips instance names and traced that. I have added a field on stage so that you can click on a platform and it will recognise the platform clicked. I am just lost as to how to get the circle into the movieClip that has been clicked.
I am very new to AS3 so this is starting todo my head in. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The code I have is attached below. I hope I have inserted this properly. Thanks again
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
stage.focus=ht1;
// creation of array containing movieclips and code that adds the clicked movieclip to Array-platformClicked
var platformArray:Array = [arunta_mc, f15_mc];
var platformClicked = [];
var selectedPlatform:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
for(var i:int = 0; i < platformArray.length; i++) {
platformArray[i].buttonMode = true;
platformArray[i].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, item_onClick);
}
function item_onClick(event:MouseEvent):void {
var selectedPlatformArray:Array = platformArray.filter(checkName);
selectedPlatform = selectedPlatformArray[0];
myText.text = event.currentTarget.name + " was clicked";
var platformClicked = String(event.currentTarget.name);
trace(platformClicked);
}
function checkName(item:MovieClip, index:int, array:Array):Boolean
{
return(item.name == platformClicked);
}
//setup of LOS Calculator code
var counter:Number=1;
operator_txt.text = "+";
ht1.restrict="-0123456789.";
ht2.restrict="-0123456789.";
var myresult:Number;
var test = [];
//start of code when equal button is pressed
equal_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, equalhandler);
var newCircle:Shape = new Shape();//defines circle to be drawn
function equalhandler(event:MouseEvent):void{
newCircle.graphics.lineStyle(1, 0x000000);
newCircle.graphics.beginFill(0x435632);
newCircle.alpha = .1;
//start of result code
result_txt.text = String(int((1.23*(Math.sqrt(Number(parseFloat(ht1.text)+parseFloat(ht2.text)+""))))));
var test = String(int((1.23*(Math.sqrt(Number(parseFloat(ht1.text)+parseFloat(ht2.text)+""))))));
trace(test);
//end of result code
newCircle.graphics.drawCircle(0,0,test);//add circle based on LOS calculation
newCircle.graphics.endFill();
//var selectedPlatform:MovieClip = selectedPlatformArray[0];
selectedPlatform.addChild(newCircle);//this is where I need to add newCircle to the movieClip that is clicked
trace(selectedPlatform);
//trace(platformClicked);
}
//start of code for the clear button
clear_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clearhandler);
function clearhandler(event:MouseEvent):void{
ht1.text=ht2.text=result_txt.text="";
removeChild(newCircle);
var test = [];
}
You can use the filter() method to check each item's name, like so:
var selectedPlatformArray:Array = platformArray.filter(checkName);
and somewhere in your code, define the checkName function
function checkName(item:MovieClip, index:int, array:Array):Boolean
{
return (item.name == platformClicked);
}
selectedPlatformArray will now contain all elements that return true for the checkName function, and as long as you don't have multiple MovieClips with the same name the array should only contain one element, which you can retrieve simply by accessing the first element of the array:
var selectedPlatform:MovieClip = selectedPlatformArray[0];
Alternatively, you can also use the getChildByName() function, like so:
var selectedPlatform:MovieClip = stage.getChildByName(platformClicked);
However this depends on where the objects are added to, and if they're not all in the same container (or not added at all), then this isn't the best option. It's a quick and simple solution for small projects though.
Anyway, whatever method you use you can then easily add the circle to it in your equalHandler function as usual:
selectedPlatform.addChild(newCircle);
I'd recommend checking out the documentation for both filter() and getChildByName(), to get a better understanding of how they work, since my examples only showed how you'd use them in this specific situation.
Complete code that you should have:
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
stage.focus=ht1;
// creation of array containing movieclips and code that adds the clicked movieclip to Array-platformClicked
var platformArray:Array = [arunta_mc, f15_mc];
var platformClicked:String = "";
var selectedPlatform:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
for(var i:int = 0; i < platformArray.length; i++) {
platformArray[i].buttonMode = true;
platformArray[i].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, item_onClick);
}
function item_onClick(event:MouseEvent):void {
var selectedPlatformArray:Array = platformArray.filter(checkName);
selectedPlatform = selectedPlatformArray[0];
myText.text = event.currentTarget.name + " was clicked";
platformClicked = String(event.currentTarget.name);
trace(platformClicked);
}
function checkName(item:MovieClip, index:int, array:Array):Boolean
{
return(item.name == platformClicked);
}
//setup of LOS Calculator code
var counter:Number=1;
operator_txt.text = "+";
ht1.restrict="-0123456789.";
ht2.restrict="-0123456789.";
var myresult:Number;
var test:String = "";
//start of code when equal button is pressed
equal_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, equalhandler);
var newCircle:Shape = new Shape();//defines circle to be drawn
function equalhandler(event:MouseEvent):void{
newCircle.graphics.lineStyle(1, 0x000000);
newCircle.graphics.beginFill(0x435632);
newCircle.alpha = .1;
//start of result code
result_txt.text = String(int((1.23*(Math.sqrt(Number(parseFloat(ht1.text)+parseFloat(ht2.text)+""))))));
test = String(int((1.23*(Math.sqrt(Number(parseFloat(ht1.text)+parseFloat(ht2.text)+""))))));
trace(test);
//end of result code
newCircle.graphics.drawCircle(0,0,test);//add circle based on LOS calculation
newCircle.graphics.endFill();
//var selectedPlatform:MovieClip = selectedPlatformArray[0];
selectedPlatform.addChild(newCircle);//this is where I need to add newCircle to the movieClip that is clicked
trace(selectedPlatform);
//trace(platformClicked);
}
//start of code for the clear button
clear_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clearhandler);
function clearhandler(event:MouseEvent):void{
ht1.text=ht2.text=result_txt.text="";
selectedPlatform.removeChild(newCircle);
test = "";
}
Hi was hoping someone could help me with this MOUSE_OVER event issue
I'm triggering the appearance of a tooltip via MOUSE_OVER on a button and I'm finding it keeps getting triggered if I keep the mouse pointer over the tooltip. Both the tooltip and button are MovieClips
How can I prevent this?
Here's a snippet of my code:
for(var i:Number=0; i < MapContainer.numChildren; i++) {
var Country:MovieClip = MapContainer.getChildAt(i) as MovieClip;
if(Country){ // make sure its a movieclip
trace('Found movieclip');
addInfoBubble(Country);
Country.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, countryMouseOver);
Country.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, countryMouseOut);
}
}
function showInfoBubble(Country:MovieClip){
var bubble = getChildByName(Country.name+"Info");
trace("bubble name " + bubble);
bubble.visible = true;
TweenLite.to(bubble, .5, {alpha:1});
}
function hideInfoBubble(Country:MovieClip){
var bubble = getChildByName(Country.name+"Info");
bubble.alpha = 0;
bubble.visible = false;
//removeChild(CountryInfo);
//CountryInfo = null;
}
function countryMouseOver(e:Event):void{
trace('countryMouseOver '+e.target);
var countryMc = e.target;
var localPos:Point = new Point(countryMc.x,countryMc.y);
var globalPos:Point = countryMc.localToGlobal(localPos);
trace('local pos: '+localPos+ ' global pos:'+globalPos);
TweenLite.to(countryMc, 1, {tint:mouseOverColor});
showInfoBubble(countryMc);
}
function countryMouseOut(e:Event):void{
trace('countryMouseOut '+e.target);
var countryMc = e.target;
var localPos:Point = new Point(countryMc.x,countryMc.y);
var globalPos:Point = countryMc.localToGlobal(localPos);
trace('local pos: '+localPos+ ' global pos:'+globalPos);
TweenLite.to(countryMc, 1, {tint:mouseOutColor});
hideInfoBubble(countryMc);
}
Thanks
Wherever you create the bubble MovieClip (looks like it's in addInfoBubble), set bubble.mouseEnabled = false;.
Also, as you can see from the StackOverflow syntax highlighting, by convention variables usually start with a lower-case name, classes with an upper-case name (Country parameters should be country).
So I'm trying to shoot multiple bullets out of my body and it all works except I have an odd problem of just one bullet showing up and updating to set position for the new ones.
I have a move able player thats supposed to shoot and I test this code by moving the player and shooting. Im taking it step by step in creating this.
The result of tracing the bulletContainer counts correctly in that its telling me that movieclips ARE being added to the stage; I Just know it comes down to some kind of logic that im forgetting.
Here's My Code (The Bullet it self is a class)
UPDATE*
Everything in this code works fine except for I stated earlier some code seems reduntned because I've resorted to a different approaches.
BulletGod Class:
public class bulletGod extends MovieClip{
//Register Variables
//~Global
var globalPath = "http://127.0.0.1/fleshvirusv3/serverside/"
//~MovieCLips
var newBullet:bulletClass = new bulletClass();
//~Boolean
var loadingBulletInProgress:Number = 0;
var shootingWeapon:Number = 0;
//~Timers
var fireBulletsInterval = setInterval(fireBullets, 1);
var bulletFireEvent;
//~Arrays
var bulletArray:Array = new Array();
var bulletType:Array = new Array();
var bulletContainer:Array = new Array();
//~Networking
var netBulletRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest(globalPath+"bullets.php");
var netBulletVariables:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
var netBulletLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
//~Bullet Image Loader
var mLoader:Loader = new Loader();
var mRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest();
public function bulletGod() {
//Load every bullet for every gun
//Compile data to be requested
netBulletVariables.act = "loadBullets"
netBulletRequest.method = URLRequestMethod.POST
netBulletRequest.data = netBulletVariables;
netBulletLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
netBulletLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, getBulletImages);
netBulletLoader.load(netBulletRequest);
}
private function getBulletImages(bulletImageData:Event){
//Request every bullet URL image
//Set vars
var bulletData = bulletImageData.target.data;
//Load images
for(var i:Number = 0; i < bulletData.numBullets; i++){
bulletArray.push(bulletData["id"+i.toString()]);
bulletType.push(bulletData["bullet"+i.toString()]);
//trace(bulletData["id"+i]+"-"+bulletData["bullet"+i]);
}
//All the arrays have been set start firing the image loader/replacer
var imageLoaderInterval = setInterval(imageReplacer, 10);
}
private function imageReplacer(){
//Check to see which image needs replacing
if(!loadingBulletInProgress){
//Begin loading the next image
//Search for the next "String" in the bulletType:Array, and replace it with an image
for(var i:Number = 0; i < bulletType.length; i++){
if(getQualifiedClassName(bulletType[i]) == "String"){
//Load this image
mRequest = new URLRequest(globalPath+"ammo/"+bulletType[i]);
mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loadImage);
mLoader.load(mRequest);
//Stop imageReplacer() while we load image
loadingBulletInProgress = 1;
//Stop this for() loop while we load image
i = 999;
}
}
}
}
private function loadImage(BlackHole:Event){
//Image has loaded; find which array slot it needs to go into
for(var i:Number = 0; i <= bulletType.length; i++){
if(getQualifiedClassName(bulletType[i]) == "String"){
//We found which array type it belongs to; now replace the text/url location with the actual image data
var tmpNewBullet:MovieClip = new MovieClip;
tmpNewBullet.addChild(mLoader);
//Add image to array
bulletType[i] = tmpNewBullet;
//Restart loadingBullets if there are more left
loadingBulletInProgress = 0;
//Stop for() loop
i = 999;
}
}
}
//###############################################################################################################################################
private function fireBullets(){
//If player is holding down mouse; Fire weapon at rate of fire.
if(shootingWeapon >= 1){
if(bulletFireEvent == null){
//Start shooting bullets
bulletFireEvent = setInterval(allowShooting, 500);
}
}
if(shootingWeapon == 0){
//The user is not shooting so stop all bullets from firing
if(bulletFireEvent != null){
//Strop firing bullets
clearInterval(bulletFireEvent);
bulletFireEvent = null
}
}
}
private function allowShooting(){
//This function actually adds the bullets on screen
//Search for correct bullet/ammo image to attach
var bulletId:Number = 0;
for(var i:Number = 0; i < bulletArray.length; i++){
if(bulletArray[i] == shootingWeapon){
//Bullet found
bulletId = i;
//End For() loop
i = 999;
}
}
//Create new bullet
//Create Tmp Bullet
var tmpBulletId:MovieClip = new MovieClip
tmpBulletId.addChild(newBullet);
tmpBulletId.addChild(bulletType[bulletId]);
//Add To Stage
addChild(tmpBulletId)
bulletContainer.push(tmpBulletId); //Add to array of bullets
//Orientate this bullet from players body
var bulletTmpId:Number = bulletContainer.length
bulletTmpId--;
bulletContainer[bulletTmpId].x = Object(root).localSurvivor.x
bulletContainer[bulletTmpId].y = Object(root).localSurvivor.y
//addChild(bulletContainer[bulletTmpId]);
}
//_______________EXTERNAL EVENTS_______________________
public function fireBullet(weaponId:Number){
shootingWeapon = weaponId;
}
public function stopFireBullets(){
shootingWeapon = 0;
}
}
}
BulletClass:
package com{
import flash.display.*
import flash.utils.*
import flash.net.*
import flash.events.*
public class bulletClass extends MovieClip {
public var damage:Number = 0;
public function bulletClass() {
//SOME MOVEMENT CODE HERE
}
public function addAvatar(Obj:MovieClip){
this.addChild(Obj);
}
}
}
Well ... if I may say so, this code looks quite wrong. Either something is missing from the code or this code will never make the bullets fly.
First off, you can set x and y of the new bullet directly (replace everything after "orientate this bullet from players body" with this):
tmpBulletId.x = Object(root).localSurvivor.x;
tmpBulletId.y = Object(root).localSurvivor.y;
Perhaps this already helps, but your code there should already do the same.
But to let these bullets fly into any direction, you also need to add an event listener, like so:
tmpBulletId.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, moveBullet);
function moveBullet(e:Event) {
var movedBullet:MovieClip = MovieClip(e.currentTarget);
if (movedBullet.x < 0 || movedBullet.x > movedBullet.stage.width ||
movedBullet.y < 0 || movedBullet.y > movedBullet.stage.height) {
// remove move listener, because the bullet moved out of stage
movedBullet.removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME);
}
// remove the comment (the //) from the line that you need
MovieClip(e.currentTarget).x += 1; // move right
// MovieClip(e.currentTarget).y -= 1; // move up
// MovieClip(e.currentTarget).x -= 1; // move left
// MovieClip(e.currentTarget).y += 1; // move down
}
This example lets your bullet fly to the right. If you need it flying into another direction, just comment out the line with the "move right" comment and uncomment one of the other lines.
This is of course a very simple example, but it should get you started.
I hope this helps, and that my answer is not the wrong answer to the question.
As far as I have expirienced it you can have only one copy of MovieClip object added to specific child. Best approach is to use ByteArray for the clip source and instantiate new MovieClip and pass the ByteArray as a source. It have something to do with child/parent relation since a DisplayObject can have only one parent (and a way to detach the object from scene too).
Well i ended up writeing the whole code from scratch for a 3rd time and ran into a similar problem and just for reference to anybody else that comes to a problem thats random as this one i found that problem was likly does to a conversion error somewhere that doesn't necessarily break any compiling rules. Just that i was calling a movieclip and not the class it self.