ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Name

updateAfterEvent( ) Global Function — render the contents of the Stage between frames

Availability

Flash 5

Synopsis

updateAfterEvent( )

Description

The user-input clip event handlers (mouseMove, mouseDown, mouseUp, keyDown, and keyUp) often occur between frame renderings in the Flash Player. To force the screen to reflect visual changes that occur during a user-input clip event handler, we invoke updateAfterEvent( ) within any of those handlers. Note, however, that updateAfterEvent( ) is not an arbitrary screen-refreshing tool; it works only within the user-input clip events. Outside of onClipEvent( ) handlers, it has no effect.

Example

The following script attached to a movie clip causes the clip to follow the mouse pointer and refreshes the screen every time the pointer moves. Because we refresh the screen every time the pointer moves, the clip following the pointer animates very smoothly:

onClipEvent (mouseMove) {
  _x = _root._xmouse;
  _y = _root._ymouse;
  updateAfterEvent( );
}

Bugs

Note that the Flash 5 ActionScript Dictionary incorrectly describes the updateAfterEvent( ) function as accepting a clip event as an argument. It does not accept any arguments.

See Also

See Section 10.14 in Chapter 10