Dynamically creating objects in actionscript 3? - actionscript-3

Question

I'm fairly new to AS3, and I've been trying to make a side scrolling shooter. I made some progress but I've hit a wall on the bullets themselves. The code I've been using is:
var circle:Sprite = new Sprite();
function shoot() {
circle.graphics.beginFill(0xFF794B);
circle.graphics.drawCircle(0, 00, 7.5);
circle.graphics.endFill();
addChild(circle);
circle.x = ship_mc.x;
circle.y = ship_mc.y + 43;
}
The problem with this is it only allows for one bullet on the screen at a time. How can I change this so the bullets are created so that I can have an unlimited amount of them?

Answer 1

Create the object inside the method
function shoot() {
var circle:Sprite = new Sprite();
circle.graphics.beginFill(0xFF794B);
circle.graphics.drawCircle(0, 00, 7.5);
circle.graphics.endFill();
addChild(circle);
circle.x = ship_mc.x;
circle.y = ship_mc.y + 43;
}
Otherwise, you would only have one circle variable. This time, a new circle is created each time the method is called.
However, you will probably want to store all your circles somehow so that you can remove them later.
var allCircles: Vector.<Sprite> = new Vector.<Sprite>();
function shoot() {
var circle:Sprite = new Sprite();
circle.graphics.beginFill(0xFF794B);
circle.graphics.drawCircle(0, 00, 7.5);
circle.graphics.endFill();
addChild(circle);
circle.x = ship_mc.x;
circle.y = ship_mc.y + 43;
allCircles.push(circle);
}
Then, at a later time, you can loop through all your circles:
for each (var circle: Sprite in allCircles) {
// do something with this circle
}
And to clear all circles:
for each (var circle: Sprite in allCircles) {
removeChild(circle);
}
allCircles.clear();

Answer 2

You want to store an array of Sprites, not just one of them. First you declare your Array:
var circles:Array = new Array();
Then you change your shoot function to make a new one and then push it into the Array:
function shoot() {
var circle:Sprite = new Sprite();
circle.graphics.beginFill(0xFF794B);
circle.graphics.drawCircle(0, 00, 7.5);
circle.graphics.endFill();
circle.x = ship_mc.x;
circle.y = ship_mc.y + 43;
circles.push(circle);
addChild(circles[circles.length-1]);
}