Assist with game logic please, if statements (maths vs hitTestPoint) - actionscript-3

Question

I've got an enemy and I will like this enemy to walk up to the player when it sees the hero.
if(enemy is walking right && hero is in the range of the enemy)
{ enemy walk towards player
if(enemy touches player)
{enemy attacks //enemies goes straight through the player and ends up on the left side of player}
if(enemy is walking left && hero is in the range of the enemy)
{ enemy walk towards player
if(enemy touches player)
{enemy attacks //enemies goes straight through the player and ends up on the right t side of player}
This is the pseudo code and from this I initiated the code below
for (var o:int = 0; o < aHellHoundArray.length; o++)
{
//var currentHound:HellHound = aHellHoundArray[o];
var hound:HellHound = aHellHoundArray[o];
hound.hellLoop();
if (_character.x + 150 < hound.x && _character.x > hound.x - 600)
{
hound.moveLeft = true;
hound.moveRight = false;
}
else
if (_character.x + 50 < hound.x && _character.x > hound.x - 200 && rightKey || !rightKey)
{
hound.moveRight = false;
hound.moveLeft = false;
hound.attackLeft = true;
trace("attack");
}
else
{
hound.attackLeft = false;
}
This is the hound class
/**
* ...
* #author Moynul Hussain
*/
public class HellHound extends MovieClip
{
TweenPlugin.activate([BlurFilterPlugin]);
public var movementSpeed:Number = 3;
public var moveLeft:Boolean;
public var moveRight:Boolean;
public var attack:Boolean;
public var attackLeft:Boolean;
private var resetPos:Point;
private var DashAmount:Number = 20;
public function HellHound()
{
addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init)
}
private function init(e:Event):void
{
removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
resetPos = new Point(x, y);
}
public function reset():void
{
x = resetPos.x;
y = resetPos.y;
}
public function hellLoop():void
{
if (attackLeft)
{
TweenMax.to(this, 0.25, { blurFilter: { blurX:20 }} );
TweenMax.to(this, 1, { x:"-100" } );
}
if (!attackLeft)
{
TweenMax.to(this, 0.5, { blurFilter: { blurX:0, blurY:0 }} );
}
if (moveLeft)
{
this.x -= 2;
this.scaleX = 1;
this.gotoAndStop("run");
}
if (moveRight)
{
this.x += 2;
this.scaleX = -1;
this.gotoAndStop("run");
}
if (!moveLeft && !moveLeft && !attack)
{
// TweenLite.to(this,0,{blurFilter:{blurX:0}});
// TweenLite.to(this,0,{blurFilter:{blurY:1000}});
TweenMax.to(this, 0.5, { blurFilter: { blurX:0, blurY:0 }} );
}
}
public function dontMove():void
{
moveLeft = false;
moveRight = false;
}
}
}
The problem is that when the the hound passes the player it is still going left. Because attack Left is still true.
I've tried doing this
if (_character.x + 150 < hound.x && _character.x > hound.x - 600)
{
hound.moveLeft = true;
hound.moveRight = false;
}
else
if (_character.x + 50 < hound.x && _character.x > hound.x - 200 && rightKey || !rightKey)
{
hound.moveRight = false;
hound.moveLeft = false;
hound.attackLeft = true;
trace("attack");
}
else
{
hound.attackLeft = false;
}
to make it false, but no dice.
Any tips of directions,
I want to stop the hound from attacking when he's gone through the player

Answer 1

Here:
if (attackLeft)
{
TweenMax.to(this, 0.25, { blurFilter: { blurX:20 }} );
TweenMax.to(this, 1, { x:"-100" } );
}
You're handling/consuming the attack at this point, so you should then set attackLeft = false at the end.
Another small point:
if (attackLeft)
{ ... }
if (!attackLeft)
{ ... }
You should change this to
if (attackLeft)
{ ... }
else
{ ... }
since it's only ever going to execute one or the other block of code and this will save you evaluating attackLeft twice. It's a trivial difference in this case but is good practice for when it does matter.