AS3: cloning MovieClips.

[sspecter]

How the hell I clone MovieClip instances in AS3??? I am trying it for a whole day and can't figure it out :( I am losing my sanity here.

I saw some answers on Google. One of them using ByteArray and the other one using ObjectUtil. Here are them:

With ByteArray:

var bytes:ByteArray = new ByteArray(); bytes.writeObject(movie); bytes.position = 0; var clone:MovieClip=bytes.readObject();

The problem with this is that bytes.readObject() always return null no matter what I do.

With ObjectUtils:

registerClassAlias("flash.display.MovieClip",MovieClip); var clone:MovieClip = ObjectUtil.cloneObject(movie) as MovieClip;

The problem with this one is that my actionscript 3 don't find ObjectUtil anywhere. Even in the package it is suposed to be: mx.utils.

What am I doing wrong?

[sspecter]

A instance of a instance??? :o
I want to clone a MovieClip instance, not create a new MovieClip object.

[sspecter]

And I can't create a custom MovieClip class through linkage: I need clone it because I am trying to use many instances of a bitmap image I am loading. So I can't create a class of it.

[GuyWithHisComp]

Voila!
First result on Google.

duplicateMovieClip Replacement by Senocular.

[sspecter]

It is not working. Have you tested it???

I will copy-paste my code just so you can test it yourself:

function duplicateDisplayObject(target:DisplayObject, autoAdd:Boolean = false):DisplayObject { // create duplicate var targetClass:Class = Object(target).constructor; var duplicate:DisplayObject = new targetClass(); // duplicate properties duplicate.transform = target.transform; duplicate.filters = target.filters; duplicate.cacheAsBitmap = target.cacheAsBitmap; duplicate.opaqueBackground = target.opaqueBackground; if (target.scale9Grid) { var rect:Rectangle = target.scale9Grid; // Flash 9 bug where returned scale9Grid is 20x larger than assigned rect.x /= 20, rect.y /= 20, rect.width /= 20, rect.height /= 20; duplicate.scale9Grid = rect; } // add to target parent's display list // if autoAdd was provided as true if (autoAdd && target.parent) { target.parent.addChild(duplicate); } return duplicate; } var square2:MovieClip=duplicateDisplayObject(square,false) as movieClip; square2.x+=100; this.addChild(square2);

(paste it in 1st frame and create a MovieClip named "square".

Damn, I am getting very pissed! I already have 3 solutions, and none of them work. If it don't work why people keep posting these solutions?!?! I can't believe people spread non-working solutions all over the Internet.

Something must be missing

Any help?

[sspecter]

there is a little error above. where you see:

var square2:MovieClip=duplicateDisplayObject(square,false) as movieClip;

put

var square2:MovieClip=duplicateDisplayObject(square,false) as MovieClip;

[sspecter]

No one?

[GustTheASGuy]

Like it was said, just call the instances constructor and copy all relevant properties.

[sspecter]

At 12/23/07 09:27 AM, GustTheASGuy wrote: Like it was said, just call the instances constructor and copy all relevant properties.

And as I said before I can't do it because I can't create a class that draws a loaded image.

...
I think you guys are thinking of the normal way to do it (define a class derived from MovieClip with the graphics in Linkage, and then instantiate it).

But as already I posted, I can't do this as I am trying to duplicate a image I am loading.

And, if you see the code I posted above, I am already am trying to copy the whole MovieClip, property by property. But no success, because it seem there is no way to copy the graphic content.

I appreciate you people trying to help but it seems you guys are not reading my posts well.

Any question if you are not understanding what I want don't be afraid to ask.

[GustTheASGuy]

So stuff like 'new (instance.contructor) ()' creates a blank display object?

[sspecter]

At 12/23/07 09:52 AM, GustTheASGuy wrote: So stuff like 'new (instance.contructor) ()' creates a blank display object?

Yeah. It don't copy the original's graphics.
And in my test I am not even loading anything. I am just creating a single framed square as a the MovieClip to be copied.
You can test it yourself. Just copy-paste the code above to frame1 and create a MovieClip called "square"

I refined my test to a smaller version:

var targetClass:Class = Object(square).constructor; var clone:MovieClip= new targetClass(); clone.x=10; clone.y=10;

just copy it and paste it in frame1 and create a MovieClip called square. The result is, although clone is in coordinate 10,10, nothing appear in it because clone don't copy the graphics of "square".

[GustTheASGuy]

Um if you cast it to Object wouldn't the constructor returned be Object?

[sspecter]

At 12/23/07 10:31 AM, GustTheASGuy wrote: Um if you cast it to Object wouldn't the constructor returned be Object?

Don't think so, as "new targetClass()" return a MovieClip and not an Object.

Anyway, I've changed it from "Object(square).constructor" to "square.constructor" and "MovieClip(square).constructor". But I am not having any improvement. :(

[Fickludd]

i didn't exactly read the whole thread so maybe I'm not getting you. But:

If you have loaded a Bitmap and want to copy it, you can do:

var copyBitmap:Bitmap = new Bitmap(loadedBitmap.bitmapData);

Or, if you want to change the loaded bitmap without changing the copy:

var copyBitmap:Bitmap = new Bitmap(new BitmapData); copyBitmap.bitmapData.draw(loadedBitmap);

Take these with reservations for syntax, I didn't check it up. But you get te general idea... Is that what you want to do?

[sspecter]

At 12/23/07 11:55 AM, Fickludd wrote: Is that what you want to do?

Yeah... kind of. Thanks a lot, man!!!
Copying Bitmaps as you've shown I was able to build a workaround that let me copy the bitmaps as I wanted it.

But it solve only half of my problems. I still need to know how to duplicate a MovieClip as I am not really working only with bitmap images, but also with imported swf movies. Here is what I want to do:

I want to import a external swf (on runtime, using Loader) and use it how many times I want it. For example, Put 5 or 6 instances of it on screen after loading it.

[Fickludd]

At 12/23/07 01:37 PM, sspecter wrote: I want to import a external swf (on runtime, using Loader) and use it how many times I want it. For example, Put 5 or 6 instances of it on screen after loading it.

Mkey, and you only want to load one copy, since it's stupid to use more bandwidth than necesary...

I thought about it a while but I only came up with one possible solution (and here possible in the sense that I have no idea if it will work).

Say that you have a MovieClip A you want get access to like you described. What if you had A in the library of an otherwise empty .fla and set the linkage to "export for action script" with identifier "A". Then compile the .fla to .swf and import that .swf with a Loader. Wouldn't you have access to the imported .swf's library item A then, and be able to create how many you like with:

var newA:A = new A();

?

Haven't tested this becuse I've other stuff going on, but I think it's worth a shot! Tell me if it works!

[sspecter]

At 12/23/07 04:55 PM, Fickludd wrote:

At 12/23/07 01:37 PM, sspecter wrote: I want to import a external swf (on runtime, using Loader) and use it how many times I want it. For example, Put 5 or 6 instances of it on screen after loading it.

Mkey, and you only want to load one copy, since it's stupid to use more bandwidth than necesary...

I thought about it a while but I only came up with one possible solution (and here possible in the sense that I have no idea if it will work).

Say that you have a MovieClip A you want get access to like you described. What if you had A in the library of an otherwise empty .fla and set the linkage to "export for action script" with identifier "A". Then compile the .fla to .swf and import that .swf with a Loader. Wouldn't you have access to the imported .swf's library item A then, and be able to create how many you like with:

var newA:A = new A();

?

Haven't tested this becuse I've other stuff going on, but I think it's worth a shot! Tell me if it works!

You are half way right. But there is a little problem because your MovieClip don't see the classes of a external MovieClip. So if you do "var newA:A = new A();" the compilator will throw hell on you.

A guy in another forum gave me a link with the solution. I will post here to people with same problem as I. It looks like you have to do something like this:

var loader:Loader=new Loader(); loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onLoad); loader.load(new URLRequest("external.swf")); ... function onLoad(e:Event):void{ var myExternalClass:Class= e.target.applicationDomain.getDefinition("MyExternalClassName"); var myClassInstance:DisplayObject= new myExternalClass(); root.addChild(myClassInstance); }

The secret is using applicationDomain.getDefinition from the loaded swf. It access all external classes in library so you can instantiate it as much as you want.

I didn't tested it yet but it really looks like it works.

[Fickludd]

Great, bookmarked so I know when I need it :D.