Attack animation issue in as3 flash

Question

My problem here is that when i press the spacebar, it plays the attack animation but as soon as i release it it stops the animation process. I want it where i can simply press and release the button and then it completes the animation by itself.

function keyPressed(e:KeyboardEvent):void
    {
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.RIGHT)
          {
             rDown = true;  
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.LEFT)
          {
             lDown = true;
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.UP && onGround)
          {
             jumped = true;
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.DOWN && onGround)
          {
             crouchMode = true; 
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.SPACE && onGround)
          {
              attackMode = true;

          }
    }
    function keyReleased(e:KeyboardEvent):void
    {
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.RIGHT)
          {
             rDown = false; 
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.LEFT)
          {
             lDown = false;  
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.UP)
          {
             jumped = true;  
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.DOWN)
          {
             crouchMode = false; 
          }
        if(e.keyCode == Keyboard.SPACE)
          {
             attackMode = false; 
          }
    }
    function gameLoop(e:Event):void
    {   
        playerStart();

              }  
        }
    }
    function playerStart():void
    {
        warMage.y += grav;//Apply gravity to player

        collisionStageCheck();

        if(crouchMode)
        {
            warMage.gotoAndStop("CrouchWarmage");
            rDown = false;
            lDown = false;
        }
        if(attackMode)
        {

            if(warMage.scaleX == 1)//If we face right
            {
              warMage.x += 5;//Lunge right
            }
            if(warMage.scaleX == -1)//If we face left
            {
              warMage.x -= 5;//Lunge left   
            }
            warMage.gotoAndPlay("AttackWarmage");
        }
        if(rDown)//If we move right
        {
           warMage.x += 12;
           warMage.gotoAndStop("RunWarmage");
           warMage.scaleX = 1;
        }
        if(lDown)//If we move left
        {
           warMage.x -= 12;
           warMage.gotoAndStop("RunWarmage");
           warMage.scaleX = -1;
        }
        if(jumped)//If we jumped
        {
           warMage.y -= 30;
           warMage.gotoAndStop("JumpWarmage");
        }
        if(!rDown && !lDown && !jumped && !crouchMode && !attackMode)//If we are in neither states
        {
            warMage.gotoAndStop("idleWarmage");
        }
    }

Answer 1

The attack animation is not completing because attackMode is being set to false on the spacebar keyReleased function. Don't do that. Instead, make attackMode false on the last frame of the animation. Do this in your Main class nested inside your if (attackMode) { logic block:

if (heroMage.currentFrame == "LastFrame") 
{
    attackMode = false;
}

Obviously you'd name the last frame of the attack animation "LastFrame".

I also found a more elegant approach here , using eventDispatcher which eliminates the need to check the current frame, but adds a slight nuisance (in my opinion) of having code inside a movie clip timeline.