Car won't move

[Xionraseri]

Could Someone tell me why my car (instance name 'thing') wont move and i get the default in the switch (thing.dir)?

//carMove
//move the car random direction and speed

init();

function init(){
	//direction constants
	NORTH = 0;
	NORTHEAST = 1;
	EAST = 2;
	SOUTHEAST = 3;
	SOUTH = 4;
	SOUTHWEST = 5;
	WEST = 6;
	NORTHWEST = 7;
	
	//initialization
	//randomly position car
	car._x = Math.random() * Stage.width;
	car._y = Math.random() * Stage.height;
	car.dir = Math.random() *8;
	car.dir = Math.floor(car.dir);
	car.speed = Math.random() * 10;
	turn(car);
	
	/* debugging code
	trace ("dir: " + car.dir);
	trace ("rot: " + car._rotation);
	trace ("dx: " + car.dx);
	trace ("dy: " + car.dy);
	*/
} //end init

function turn(thing){
	thing._rotation = thing.dir * 45;
	
	switch (thing.dir){
		case NORTH:
			thing.dx = 0;
			thing.dy = -1;
			break;
			
		case NORTHEAST:
			thing.dx = .7;
			thing.dy = -.7;
			break;
			
		case EAST:
			thing.dx = 1;
			thing.dy = 0;
			break;
			
		case SOUTHEAST:
			thing.dx = .7;
			thing.dy = .7;
			break;
			
		case SOUTH:
			thing.dx = 0;
			thing.dy = 1;
			break;
			
		case SOUTHWEST:
			thing.dx = -.7;
			thing.dy = .7;
			break;
			
		case WEST:
			thing.dx = -1;
			thing.dy = 0;
			break;
			
		case NORTHWEST:
			thing.dx = -.7;
			thing.dy = -.7;
			break;
			default:
				trace("There's a problem here...");
	}//end switch
	thing.dx *= thing.speed;
	thing.dy *= thing.speed;
} //end turn

function move(thing){
	//moves thing, wrapping around boundaries
	
	//move
	thing._x += thing.dx;
	thing._y += thing.dy;
	
	//check boundaries - wrap all directions
	if (thing._x > Stage.width){
		thing._x = 0;
	}//end if
	
	if (thing._x < 0){
		thing._x = Stage.width;
	}//end if
	
	if (thing._y > Stage.height){
		thing._y = 0;
	} //end if
	
	if (thing._y < 0){
		thing._y = Stage.height;
	}//end if
}//end move

thing.onEnterFrame = function(){
	move(car);
}//end car enterframe

[ASWC]

that's not a pretty code to be honest. but mainly your problem come from the fact that a lot of your variables are initialized for car and not thing, so when you call thing.dx there's nothing because the variable does not exist.

car._x = Math.random() * Stage.width;
car._y = Math.random() * Stage.height;
car.dir = Math.random() *8;
car.dir = Math.floor(car.dir);
car.speed = Math.random() * 10;

change all that for "thing" instead of "car" for a start. this code has a lot of problem to be honest.

[Xionraseri]

I know, i am a complete noob, started like 2 weeks ago. I following this tutorial book, and thing is i originally had instance name car. It didnt work, so i just changed it to thing to see if it would do anything. I had the same problem. Then i go and change it back to what i originally had, "car" and it works...i am confused, but thanks anyway.