AS3 Stop external swf

Question

Hi I'm loading an external swf into a MovieClip, and I want it to stop until I choose to play. Currently it plays upon loading immediately.

var mc:MovieClip;

var swfLoader:Loader = new Loader();
swfLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener (Event.COMPLETE, eventLoaded); 
var request:URLRequest;
request = new URLRequest("external.swf");
swfLoader.load (request);

function        eventLoaded(e:Event): void
{
   mc = e.target.content as MovieClip;
// does not stop the clip
   mc.Stop ();
}

So I tried adding a Event.ENTER_FRAME to the movieclip and stop it there, that will stop but it will play the first frame. Is there a way to get it to stay stopped when loaded until I choose Play?

Answer 1

It's actually very close to what Jochen Hilgers suggested. However, in this instance, the event you want is actually INIT instead of COMPLETE . INIT is fired when the content is not yet fully loaded but is ready for use (and will start playing on its own).

Attach the event with

loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.INIT, handleReady );

And handle it with

public function handleReady( initEvent:Event ):void{
        MovieClip(initEvent.currentTarget.content).stop();
}

You'll notice that you can cast the content property of currentTarget as a MovieClip and stop it even before it has been attached to the stage.

It is important to note that it is not safe to use the content property in a PROGRESS event (or any time prior to an INIT or COMPLETE event). You will get an error to the effect that the object is not ready.

Answer 2

I wrote this simple TestCase and it works fine... the loaded swf is quite simple, just a tween on the main timeline.

package {
    import flash.display.Loader;
    import flash.display.MovieClip;
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.events.Event;
    import flash.net.URLRequest;

    public class Test extends Sprite
    {
        private var loader:Loader = new Loader;

        public function Test()
        {
            loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, handleLoaded );
            loader.load( new URLRequest( 'testFile.swf' ) );    
        }

        public function handleLoaded( event:Event ):void
        {
            addChild( loader.content );
            var mc:MovieClip = loader.content as MovieClip ;
            mc.stop();
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

I was looking for a similar problem/solution, but my problem was little diferent. I know this was not your issue, but looks fair to share my solution. When I tried to do

    event.currentTarget.stop(); // AS1&AS2 -> BAD swf to import

with the content of a loader, my Flash IDE showed me this error:

"Property stop not found on flash.display.AVM1Movie and there is no default value."

This happened to me because the swf I imported was created using AS1, and not AS3 as the main movie ( so I decompiled the swf to a fla and recompiled using as3, it was an output from After Effects). Now I know AVM1 and AVM2 are classes that represent actionscript 1 and 2 files.