AS3 stop(); doesn't work

[Mazoonist]

If you test the movie and it works (Ctrl-Enter), who cares whether or not it works when you just play it (Enter) in the flash IDE?

[maani786]

it could not be possible that stop(); doesnot work in as3 you must doing something wrong. it is all in small letter. as is case sensitive.

in the beginning of every frame (that u are using) of your main timeline.
just put

stop(); // all in small letter

and it will work definately.

Regards
maani

[haplodotx]

I was able to duplicate this issue with a nested MovieClip with just 2 frames. Both frames have a stop();.

If I were to drag the MC manually onto the stage, the stop(); method would work and stop at the first frame. However if I were to add to the stage dynamically with addChild(), it won't.

When tracing in the frames, I found that the first frame has been skipped , none of the trace from the first frame showed up and went straight to the second. I solved it by adding an extra frame before the first stop();, it works and tracing shows that I'm on the first stopped frame.

Now, the question here is, why does this happen?

[Canazza]

can you upload the .fla file where this is happening?

[haplodotx]

I've made a simple Test.fla to show how the issue can be reproduced.

Basically, there's a button to add the container from the library. Container has a nested movieclip with 2 frames, a stop(); on each. I've placed one of the Container onto the stage and when the button is clicked, it'll add Container (again) and Container2 onto the stage as well. All for comparison purposes only. I duplicated a Container2 with a MovieClipwith 3 frames, but stop(); on the last 2 only to show what I was talking about as a solution(?).

button.buttonMode = true;
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickListener);

function clickListener(e:MouseEvent)
{
    var container:Container = new Container();
    container.x = 150;
    container.y = 150;
    addChild(container);
    
    var container2:Container2 = new Container2();
    container2.x = 150;
    container2.y = container.y + container.height + 20;
    addChild(container2);
}

[visuale]

I had the same problem. Do you have a program called Documentum on your machine? There was a conflict in a class path. I think the teck guys renamed some file in Documentum and Flash works fine now. Hope that helps!

[landon6544]

This is a very odd issue that needs to be addressed. We shouldn't have to add an extra frame into our movieclips just to get the actionscript to execute. No one likes it when you throw the "b" word around, but putting a stop(); command on the first frame on the timeline is a pretty standard solution to making buttons. If it works when you start with the clip on the stage, but not when you add it dynamically, my only assumption is that flash isn't working the way it is supposed to.

[Mazoonist]

Curiously, if you change the code in the Test.fla file, and move the lines that handle the object creation to the outside of the function, it works like it should, and stops on the first frame:

button.buttonMode = true;
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickListener);

//this was formerly being done inside of clickListener:
var container:Container = new Container();
var container2:Container2 = new Container2();

function clickListener(e:MouseEvent) {
    container.x = 150;
    container.y = 150;
    this.addChild(container);

    container2.x = 150;
    container2.y = container.y + container.height + 20;
    this.addChild(container2);
}

At first I thought it might be a garbage collection issue, and that keeping references to the containers outside the function would be enough, like so:

var container:Container;
var container2:Container;

then inside the function:

container = new container();
container2 = new container2();

But that approach didn't work. I still think it just might be a garbage collection issue, though.

[MartinSieg]

Perhaps the best solution is not to put a stop(); action into a frame on the timeline, and instead tell the clip to stop as soon as you instantiate it, as follows.

Just an idea that might help. I haven't tested the below, because I have never encountered the problem you describe.

button.buttonMode = true;
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickListener);

function clickListener(e:MouseEvent) {
     var container:Container = new Container();
     container.gotoAndStop(1);
     container.x = 150;
     container.y = 150;
     addChild(container);

     var container2:Container2 = new Container2();
     container.gotoAndStop(1);
     container2.x = 150;
     container2.y = container.y + container.height + 20;
     addChild(container2); 
}

[bham3dman]

I too have experienced this problem of stop(); not working in AS3. However, I only experience this problem when working on converted AS1/AS2 projects. If I create a new AS3 project, the stop(); command works properly.

Edit: So I have since learned that my problem actually stemmed from a lack of understanding as to the extent of code changes in AS3. A lot of the syntax has changed significantly and some commands like gotoAndPlay have subtle changes (frame number and scene are now reversed). These changes were producing errors in my existing code which apparently causes actionscript to cease processing any code in the scene (ignoring my stop(); function entirely). Once I addressed the errors, stop() worked as it always had.