Pivot an obect in the direction of the mouse as3 - actionscript-3

Question

I am trying to have an object pivot in the direction of the mouse while being dragged. For example i would like the car to point in the direction it is being dragged. All I have right now is the drag and drop code.
car.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, pickUp);
car.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, dropIt);
function pickUp(event:MouseEvent):void {
event.target.startDrag(true);
event.target.parent.addChild(event.target);
}
function dropIt(event:MouseEvent):void {
event.target.stopDrag();
}

Answer 1

Once you start dragging the object, you can start listening for MouseMove events. As you do so, you compare the current mouse position to the previous mouse position and determine the angle between the two. Then, use that angle as the rotation for the object:
car.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, pickUp);
car.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, dropIt);
var oldPoint:Point;
function pickUp(event:MouseEvent):void
{
event.target.startDrag(true);
event.target.parent.addChild(event.target);
oldPoint = new Point(mouseX, mouseY);
// start listening to mouse move events
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE, onMouseMove);
}
function dropIt(event:MouseEvent):void
{
oldPoint = null;
event.target.stopDrag();
// stop listening to mouse move events
stage.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_MOVE, onMouseMove);
}
function onMouseMove(event:MouseEvent):void
{
if(!oldPoint)
{
return;
}
var newPoint:Point = new Point(mouseX, mouseY);
// get the angle between the two points and set it as the rotation
car.rotation = point_direction(oldPoint, newPoint);
}
function point_direction(p1:Point, p2:Point):Number
{
return Math.atan2(p2.y - p1.y, p2.x - p1.x) * (180 / Math.PI);
}
NOTE: (Per #Vesper's comment) When the mouse is going left to right, this will produce a rotation of 0. This means that you'll want the graphics of your car object facing towards the right.