How to add Movie Clips to Array? - arrays

Question

Hey everyone so I have been at this for awhile now and I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this. So I have an array of Movie Clip Objects calledouterPlanets and they are added to an array called aPlanetArray so these planets in the array are added to the stage and have spacing between them all. When the Player touches the screen the character jumps on another planet and the planets scroll down on the +y axis to keep the character positioned to the center.
I add 10 planets to the stage because for performance Issues I don't want to add a lot and lose FPS so my idea was when the array is getting low such as the planet array is <= 5 then add more planets to the top position of the last last planet. Hope I am making sense. Think of it like a stack of blocks the blocks fall down one by one and more is added to the top of them as more fall down so its never ending.
Here is how I add them to the stage:
//Instantiate Arrays
aPlanetArray = new Array();
//Numbers
xSpacing = 100;
ySpacing = 200;
startPoint = new Point((stage.stageWidth / 2), (stage.stageHeight / 2) );
addOuterPlanets();
private function addOuterPlanets():void
{
for (var i:int = 0; i < nPlanets; i++)
{
outerPlanets = new mcOuterPlanets();
outerPlanets.x = startPoint.x + (xSpacing * i);
outerPlanets.y = startPoint.y - (ySpacing * i);
stage.addChild(outerPlanets);
aPlanetArray.push(outerPlanets);
}
}
The only thing I can come up with at the moment is this:
if (aPlanetArray.length <= 5)
{
addOuterPlanets();
}
This adds a new set of planets but of course just adds them to the center of the stage and not on top of the other planets. Any idea how to accomplish this?
Current Progress:
private function collisionPlanetHandler():void
{
for (var i:int = 0; i < aPlanetArray.length; i++)
{
var currentPlanet:mcOuterPlanets = aPlanetArray[i];
planetContainer.addChild(aPlanetArray[i]);
if (character.hitTestObject(currentPlanet) && !nextlevel)
{
trace("HIT");
yDown = (stage.stageHeight / 2) - (currentPlanet.y - 200); //have object tween to center of stage or where was last positioned
//tap back to false
tap = false;
nextlevel = true;
if (!bNullObject) // have null object so doesnt loop again and cause error for planet == null
{
planet.destroy();
planet = null;
}
bNullObject = true;
planetHit = currentPlanet; // to land on correct planet
aPlanetArray.splice(i, 1);
randomRotation = randomNumber(1, 2); //Stop in random rotation for next planet
TweenLite.to(planetContainer, 2.0, { y:yDown, ease:Elastic.easeOut } );
planetIncrement -= 300;
addPlanet(randomNumber((stage.stageWidth/2) - 220, ((stage.stageWidth/2)) + 220), planetIncrement);
}
}
}

Answer 1

example code
function gameSetup():void{
setupUsers();
loadSounds();
createLevel(_level1);
addInitialPlanets();
addCharacter();
}
private function addInitialPlanets():void{
for (var i:int = 0; i < nPlanets; i++){
addPlanet(startPoint.x + xSpacing * i, startPoint.y + ySpacing * i);
}
}
private function addPlanet(xPos:Number, yPos:Number):void{
p = new mcOuterPlanets();
// var p:mcOuterPlanets = new mcOuterPlanets(); // this is preferred method
p.x = xPos;
p.y = yPos;
stage.addChild(p);
// addChild(p); // this is preferred method
aPlanetArray.push(p);
}
Now when you need to add another planet above the others do
addPlanet(xPos, yPos);
// where xPos is desired X and yPos is desired y
You see what is happening here? I'm positioning the planet by using a separate function. You can offload other tasks related to add a planet as well. Imagine something like this:
addPlanet(xPos, yPos, color, size, speed, ringCount);
Get the idea?
Also you'll want to remove the planets that are far below the player to prevent slowdown. Or you could simply move the ones far below up to the top to recycle them instead of creating new planets all the time.

Answer 2

Draft example...
#Nathan , Neal Davis is right as usual, but I'd push the Vector, then addChild at its current index... Avoid the Arrays if You can. (if the instances are made by the same Class).
var aPlanetArray:<Vector>.MovieClip = new <Vector>.MovieClip(10);
// or new <Vector>.MovieClip(); if You don't want to restrict the amount of items in the Vector.
// or new <Vector>.McOuterPlanets() if McOuterPlanets is a Class.
private function addOuterPlanets():void {
for (var i:int = 0; i < nPlanets; i++){
aPlanetArray.push(new mcOuterPlanets());
aPlanetArray[i].x = startPoint.x + (xSpacing * i);
aPlanetArray[i].y = startPoint.y - (ySpacing * i);
addChild(aPlanetArray[i]);
};
[EDIT]
If you choose to make a Vector of MovieClip (var aPlanetArray:<Vector>.MovieClip = new <Vector>.MovieClip(10)),
You must use aPlanetArray[i] as McOuterPlanets to get the methods of
Your McOuterPlanets methods!
So, in the case of a Vector of MovieClip (aPlanetArray == .MovieClip), if You want to use the methods of McOuterPlanets methods You have to do :
var outerP : McOuterPlanets = aPlanetArray[someIndex] as McOuterPlanets;.
Then You may call outerP.someMethodOfMcOuterPlanets();
Just because McOuterPlanets extends the MovieClip Class.
Never use Vectors if You have to add different types of datas in Your Vector, use the Array Class instead.
This will works but this is tricky an total nonsense!
Example :
var vectorOfStrings:Vector.<String> = Vector.<String>([["a","b","c"],["d","e","f"]]);
// this works and Your Vector contains only Strings so OK.
trace("");
trace("length of the Vector = " + vectorOfStrings.length);
trace("vectorOfStrings.toString() = " + vectorOfStrings.toString());
trace("vectorOfStrings[0] = " + vectorOfStrings[0]);
trace("vectorOfStrings[1] = " + vectorOfStrings[1]);
var vectorOfArrays:Vector.<Array> = Vector.<Array>([["a","b","c"],[1,2,3]]);
// this works but this is tricky an total nonsense
// use the Array Class instead!
trace("\n NEVER DO THIS! Use the Array Class instead!");
trace(" NONSENSE!");
trace("length of the Vector = " + vectorOfArrays.length);
trace("vectorOfArrays.toString() = " + vectorOfArrays.toString());
trace("vectorOfArrays[0] = " + vectorOfArrays[0]);
trace("vectorOfArrays[1] = " + vectorOfArrays[1]);
[/EDIT]
I hope this may help.
Check to the reference for :
ActionScript 3 fundamentals: Arrays
ActionScript 3 fundamentals: Associative arrays, maps, and dictionaries
ActionScript 3 fundamentals: Vectors and ByteArrays