Working with Movie Clips and Buttons > Movie clips and buttons overview |  |

Movie clips and buttons overview

A movie clip is like a mini-movie in Macromedia Flash MX: it has its own Timeline and properties. A movie clip symbol in the library can be used multiple times in a Flash document; each use is called an instance of the movie clip. To distinguish instances from each other, you must assign each instance a name. Movie clip instances can be nested inside each other to create a hierarchy.

Each movie clip has a position in the hierarchical tree of Timelines called the display list. Movies that are loaded into the Flash Player with the `loadMovie` action also have independent Timelines and a position in the display list. You can use ActionScript to send messages between movie clips so that they can control each other. For example, an action on the last frame of one movie clip's Timeline could tell another movie clip to play.

You control movie clips using actions and methods of the MovieClip object. To control a movie clip, you must address it by using a target path, which indicates its unique location in the display list. You can use the methods of the MovieClip object to drag a movie clip, dynamically add a movie clip to a document, turn a movie clip into a mask, and draw lines and fills on the Stage.

Just like each movie clip instance, each button instance is an ActionScript object with its own properties and methods. You can give a button an instance name and manipulate it with ActionScript. Each movie clip and button in a Flash document are objects with properties and methods that can be changed by ActionScript to create complex, nonlinear animation and powerful interactivity.