Yet Another Flash MX Loader - Page 9

Setting a preload amount

Now, we don't always want to load the whole file before playing the movie (if fact loading it all is usually the exception – not the rule). So let's define what percentage we want to pre-load before we start playing the movie again.

Here's the code:

onClipEvent (load) {
    preLoad = (_parent.getBytesTotal() * 0.75);  //percent to preload
    _parent.stop();
}

onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
    if (_parent.getBytesLoaded() <%gt%>= preLoad) {
          _parent.play();
    }
}

preLoad is a variable that is attached to our loader movie. It contains the number of bytes that we want to load before playing the parent movie. I picked a value of 75% for starters. It can be changed at any time as required. We set it in the load event of the loader so that it is computed only once because function calls (such as the getBytesLoaded function) and instructions to multiply numbers can slow down your ActionScript code – especially if called every frame.

The enterFrame event now gets the number of bytes loaded so far and compares it to the amount that we want to pre-load. If we have enough, it starts the parent movie playing again.