AS3 Loader keeps reloading same swf over and over

Question

I have a flash animation made on the main timeline of the SWF with a couple of layers, some functions and some keyframe labels. For example, i have a movieclip of a star that come across the screen and then triggers a dispatchEvent for the main timeline to go to frame label "next".

Here is a sample of the actionscript used on the main timeline :

Stars.addEventListener("fadeInTitle",_fadeInTitle);

function _fadeInTitle(e:Event):void {
    Title.gotoAndPlay("fadeIn");
    Stars.removeEventListener("fadeInTitle",_fadeInTitle);
}

stop();

That SWF alone works perfectly. Problem comes when I try to load this SWF into another one. What happens is the loader keeps reloading the SWF over and over, overlapping them and the actionscript that's on the main timeline of the loaded SWF is ignored, the timeline plays continuously. Here is the code i use to load the SWF :

import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.display.Loader;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.ProgressEvent;

function startLoad(){
    var mLoader:Loader = new Loader();
    var mRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("Fly.swf");
    mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onCompleteHandler);
    mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, onProgressHandler);
    mLoader.load(mRequest);
}

function onCompleteHandler(loadEvent:Event){
    addChild(loadEvent.target.content);
}

function onProgressHandler(mProgress:ProgressEvent){
    var percent:Number = mProgress.bytesLoaded/mProgress.bytesTotal;
}

startLoad();

There's nothing special there. Just a simple loader.

I have found a workaround by putting the entire animation inside one main movieclip and put that movieclip on the main timeline (one keyframe, one layer, no actionscript) and then load it. That way it works fine but it feel more like a patch than a solution. I would really like to know why it's bugging when you try to load an external SWF that use the main timeline with multiple layers, keyframes and actionscript.

Any help/hint will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot for reading.

m

Answer 1

First take the loader instantiation out of a function, it is not necessary. Second, kill your listeners in the onComplete function. Third, if this loader code is on the timeline of your loader shell, make sure that there is not more than one frame, or if there is (not sure why there would be though) place a stop on the frame containing the loader code. Or even better, use a Document class to contain your loader code rather than putting it on the timeline. My best guess is you were calling startLoad() over again somehow. Also, make sure you have the flash debug player installed so you are getting proper error reporting when viewing this in a browser.

var mLoader:Loader = new Loader();
var mRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("Fly.swf");
mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onCompleteHandler);
mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, onProgressHandler);
mLoader.load(mRequest);


function onCompleteHandler(loadEvent:Event)
{
    mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.removeEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onCompleteHandler);
    mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.removeEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, onProgressHandler);
    addChild(loadEvent.target.content);
}

function onProgressHandler(mProgress:ProgressEvent)
{
    var percent:Number = mProgress.bytesLoaded/mProgress.bytesTotal;
}