current selection cannot have actions applied to it

[Daniel Sam]

hey guys, need help, im new with flash
I just opened a new actionscript 3.0 file and im trying to apply an action to a button but it wont let me, i,ve tried it in an actionscript 2.0 file and works fine but when i do it on an actionscript 3.0 file i keep getting the"current selection cannot have actions applied to it" message, same thing happens when i try to apply an action to a movieclip.
Any ideas why? Help very much appretiated.

[DiamondDog]

Sounds as though you may have the button (or some other object) selected when you open the Actions window.

De-select the button by clicking on an empty part of the stage, and THEN open the actions window.

Any good?

[Cookra]

we have all been at this one!

In AS3 you cant apply script to the objects directly...

You have to ref them from the Timeline or via a class, OH NO you say! Welcome to AS3.

it does sound like a nightmare, but the whole application has been rebuilt to enable a stronger OOP approach.

[MSFX]

even in AS2 its wiser to place your code on the timeline rather than on the objects themselves...

so change this:

on(release)
{
    trace("clicked");
}

to this for AS2:

buttonNameHere.onRelease = function()
{
    trace("clicked");
}

to this for AS3:

buttonNameHere.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clicked);

function clicked(e:MouseEvent):void
{
    trace("clicked");
}

[Cookra]

Agreed!

[Daniel Sam]

thanks a lot guys, that saves me a big headache!!

[MSFX]

welcome It may be worth getting a book or two or jump on to Lynda if your coming to AS3..