How do I display a button at a certain time, then have it disappear again in Actionscript 3? - actionscript-3

Question

I am trying to make a game that involves hitting keys/clicking buttons at the right time. I want to have the button/indicator hidden until the right time but am having a bit of trouble getting it to display. This is the code I have for it so far.
var count:Number = 5;
var myTimer:Timer = new Timer(1000, count);
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, countdown);
myTimer.start();
function countdown(event:TimerEvent): void {
timer_txt.text = String((count)-myTimer.currentCount);
}
btnthing.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btnclick);
btnthing.visible=false;
while (((count)-myTimer.currentCount)==1) {
btnthing.visible=true;
}
function btnclick(e:MouseEvent): void {
if (((count)-myTimer.currentCount) == 1) {
myTimer.stop();
btnthing.visible=false;
time_txt.text = "Yay!";
} else {
myTimer.stop();
gotoAndStop(3);
}
}
So far my code starts the timer and displays a countdown. If I remove the part that hides/shows the button, everything works fine.
var count:Number = 5;
var myTimer:Timer = new Timer(1000, count);
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, countdown);
myTimer.start();
function countdown(event:TimerEvent): void {
timer_txt.text = String((count)-myTimer.currentCount);
}
btnthing.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, btnclick);
function btnclick(e:MouseEvent): void {
if (((count)-myTimer.currentCount) == 1) {
myTimer.stop();
btnthing.visible=false;
timer_txt.text = "Yay!";
} else {
myTimer.stop();
gotoAndStop(3);
}
}
If anyone could help me get this right that would be awesome. Thanks!

Answer 1

You're not using the 'while' loop correctly. Change it to a 'if' statement and put it inside the countdown function like this:
function countdown(event:TimerEvent): void
{
timer_txt.text = String((count)-myTimer.currentCount);
if (((count)-myTimer.currentCount)==1) {
btnthing.visible=true;
}
}
so that your code tests for the currentCount on each tick of the timer and finally does something about it.
Read up on 'while' loops - they don't do exactly what you think they do and it's easy to get 'em into infinite repitions if you don't increment the thing that you're changing within the loop.