Detecting the Mouse Angle - Page 6

How to Find The Mouse Location (cont)

Comment: ----------------------------------------------
Comment:     add back full circle values
Comment:     I also change the "0" point on the compass to the right hand side, with angle increasing counter clockwise.
Comment: ----------------------------------------------
If (mouse_x>=0 and mouse_y<0)
	Set Variable: "angle" = angle
End If
If (mouse_x<0 and mouse_y<0)
	Set Variable: "angle" = (90-angle)+90
End If
	If (mouse_x<0 and mouse_y>=0)
Set Variable: "angle" = angle+180
End If
If (mouse_x>=0 and mouse_y>=0)
Set Variable: "angle" = (90-angle)+270
End If

Why do we need this? Hey. There is probably a more efficient way to make this whole code work. I'm certainly no programmer. But remember that the angle we calculated is between 0 and 90 degrees. Well, a full circle has 360 degrees. So how do we tell when to add 90, 180, or 270 degrees? Easy. Which quadrant was the mouse in? If the x and y values were both positive, then it was in the bottom right hand corner. (Flash coordinates start in the top left corner and increase down to the right.) So why is there a 90-angle phrase in the math there? I don't know. It's probably obvious to a mathematician. I just found that the numbers worked perfectly only by adding that in there.