AS3 Passing Variable Parameters to a generic Function Menu / SubItems - actionscript-3

Question

I'm no code genius, but a fan of action script.
Can you help me on this:
I have a function that depending on the object selected, will call event listeners to a set of 'sub-items' that are already on stage (I want to reuse this subitems with changed parameters upon click, instead of creating several instances and several code).
So for each selected 'case' I have to pass diferent variables to those 'sub-items', like this:
function fooMenu(event:MouseEvent):void {
switch (event.currentTarget.name)
{
case "btUa1" :
trace(event.currentTarget.name);
// a bunch of code goes here
//(just cleaned to easy the view)
/*
HELP HERE <--
here is a way to pass the variables to those subitems
*/
break;
}
}
function fooSub(event:MouseEvent):void
{
trace(event.target.data);
trace(event.currentTarget.name);
// HELP PLEASE <-> How can I access the variables that I need here ?
}
btUa1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, fooMenu);
btUa2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, fooMenu);
btTextos.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, fooSub);
btLegislacao.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, fooSub);
Anyone to help me please?
Thank very much in advance. :)

Answer 1

(I'm not sure I got your question right, and I haven't developed in AS3 for a while.)
If you want to simply create function with parameters which will be called upon a click (or other event) you can simply use this:
btUa1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function() {
fooMenu(parameters);
});
btUa2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function() {
fooMenu(other_parameters)
}):
public function fooMenu(...rest):void {
for(var i:uint = 0; i < rest.length; i++)
{
// creating elements
}
}
If you want to call event listeners assigned to something else you can use DispatchEvent
btnTextos.dispatchEvent(new MouseEvent(MouseEvent.CLICK))
Remember, you can't use btTextos.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, carregaConteudo("jocasta")); because the 2nd parameter you pass while adding Eventlistener will be considered as function itself - there are two proper ways to use addEventListener:
1:
function doSomething(event:MouseEvent):void
{
// function code
}
element.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, doSomething); //notice no brackets
2:
element.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function() { // function code });
So:
function fooSub(event:MouseEvent, bla:String):void
{
trace(event.currentTarget.name+" - "+bla);
// bla would be a clip name.
}
codebtTextos.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function(e:MouseEvent) { fooSub(e, "jocasta") } );
Or try something like this if you want content to be dynamically generated:
btUa1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function() {
createMenu(1);
});
btUa2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, function() {
createMenu(2);
});
function createMenu(id):void
{
// Switching submenu elements
switch (id)
{
case 1:
createSubmenu([myFunc1, myFunc2, myFunc3]); // dynamically creating submenus in case you need more of them than u already have
break;
case 2:
createSubmenu([myFunc4, myFunc5, myFunc6, myFunc7]);
break;
default:
[ and so on ..]
}
}
function createSubmenu(...rest):void {
for (var i:uint = 0; i < rest.length; i++)
{
var mc:SubItem = new SubItem(); // Subitem should be an MovieClip in library exported for ActionScript
mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, rest[i] as function)
mc.x = i * 100;
mc.y = 0;
this.addChild(mc);
}
}

Answer 2

Your question is rather vague; what "variables" do you want to "pass"? And what do you mean by "passing the variable to a sub item"? Usually "passing" means invoking a function.
If you can be more specific on what exactly your trying to do that would be helpful. In the meantime, here are three things that may get at what you want:
You can get any member of any object using bracket notation.
var mc:MovieClip = someMovieClip;
var xVal:Number = mc.x; // The obvious way
xVal = mc["x"]; // This works too
var propName:String = "x";
xVal = mc[propName] ; // So does this.
You can refer to functions using variables
function echo(message:String):void {
trace(message);
}
echo("Hello"); // The normal way
var f:Function = echo;
f("Hello"); // This also works
You can call a function with all the arguments in an array using function.apply
// Extending the above example...
var fArgs:Array = ["Hello"];
f.apply(fArgs); // This does the same thing
Between these three things (and the rest parameter noted by another poster) you can write some very flexible code. Dynamic code comes at a performance cost for sure, but as long as the frequency of calls is a few hundred times per second or less you'll never notice the difference.