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How to Control Independent Timelines in Flash

In any Flash development work process, it is essential to run multiple movie clips or SWFs at the same time. To do so, it is necessary to run the Timelines of these movie clips or SWFs in tandem. Flash ActionScript is used to control the working of these Timelines and the process is achieved through some defined target paths.

In Flash, it is possible to load external SWF files (each with individual Timeline) into a specified level using the loadmovie() action. Instead of working with a single larger Flash file, the loadMovie() action loads individual SWF files on demand. This feature is very useful in Flash game development where one single Flash movie clip may have a number of different Timelines, each of which can work independently from others.

The movie clip instances are named in the Property Inspector and the "Insert a Target Path" button is used to control and find them. The process gives the clips temporary addresses with respect to the frames used in the entire animation. The interactive actions given to the animation work by locating or targeting the path to each movie clip Timeline so that separate instructions can be given to stop or play the clips. A Flash Designer can accomplish this by using the name of the main Timeline followed by a dot and the name of the instance of individual movie clips. Each Timeline can also be located with a relative path where the 'this' keyword is used to refer to the current Timeline.

For every animation design in Flash, there is a main timeline located at level '0' in the Flash Player and it is called the Base Level. One can set additional Timelines in the form of SWF files placed in Levels and each Level can be addressed in the absolute form (such Level 0 as 'level0'). Once the level is set, the SWF inherits the property assigned for the Level and thus exhibits the specific action assigned to it.

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