# attachMovie does not attach!
**URL:** https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870
**Category:** flash
**Created:** [July 17, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870 "2003-07-17T05:42:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@javadi82](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/javadi82)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/1 "2003-07-17T05:42:48Z")
This actionscript for “attaching” five balls refuses to work! Why?
for(i=0;i\<5;i++){
balls=attachMovie(“aball”,“b1”+i,i);
balls.\_x=100+i;
balls.\_y=100+i;
}
Note:aball is the linkage name of the movieclip.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/2 "2003-07-17T05:55:13Z")
wow you posted 3 topics at the same time…can i see the fla?
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/3 "2003-07-17T06:45:34Z")
for(i=0;i\<5;i++){
[COLOR=red]balls=attachMovie(“aball”,“b1”+i,i);[/COLOR]
balls.\_x=100+i;
balls.\_y=100+i;
}
you must change it to:
[COLOR=red]balls.attachMovie(“aball”,“b1”+i,i);[/COLOR]
e.s.x.s
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/4 "2003-07-17T07:06:12Z")
I don’t think that’s the problem, esxs. :-\
There are methods that return an Object, attachMovie returns the newly attached MovieClip (or any Symbol you attached). It’s like writing **this[“b1”+i]** so you understand… 😉
What I think, is that it’s actually working, but you need to change these lines:
[AS]balls.\_x = 100+i;
balls.\_y = 100+i;[/AS]
to:
[AS]balls.\_x = 100_i;
balls.\_y = 100_i;[/AS]
=)
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/5 "2003-07-17T07:33:47Z")
balls=attachMovie(“aball”,“b1”+i,i);
if u run the code like above,it will don’t work.because the attachMovie method don’t has a property like that…
for(i=0;i\<5;i++){
balls.attachMovie(“aball”,“b1”+i,i);
balls.\_x=100+i;
balls.\_y=100+i;
}
above code is true,but if u run this code u can’t see five balls definetely.because the balls are very close to each other…if u change the code to kode’s said:
for(i=0;i\<5;i++){
balls.attachMovie(“aball”,“b1”+i,i);
balls.\_x=100_i;
balls.\_y=100_i;
}
the result not changes, because u change the main MovieClip’s x and y coordinates. if you want to see the five balls exactly,u must change the code to:
for(i=0;i\<5;i++){
balls.attachMovie(“aball”,“b1”+i,i);
balls[“b1”+i].\_x=100_i;
balls[“b1”+i].\_y=100_i;
}
thx to kode for the idea…
e.s.x.s
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/6 "2003-07-17T07:49:51Z")
That’s funny, I could swear that MovieClip.attachMovie returns an Object. Just tested it and you’re right. thanks. =)
BTW, if you want to make things even easier, you could take advantage of the initObject parameter… 😉
[AS]attachMovie(“aball”, “b1”+i, i, {\_x:100_i, \_y:100_i});[/AS]
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/7 "2003-07-17T07:58:25Z")
yeah,
the initObject keeps the code shorter and easier to understand 😉
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/8 "2003-07-17T11:30:49Z")
i checked with the explanation of attachMovie in the Help section of Flash MX and it said that attachMovie did not “return” anything.
proof:myMovieClip.attachMovie( idName, newName, depth [, initObject] )
Returns:Nothing.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 11:33am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/9 "2003-07-17T11:33:51Z")
exactly! … 😉
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/10 "2003-07-17T11:50:55Z")
then how does
balls=attachMovie() work, when attachMovie() does not return anything!
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/11 "2003-07-17T12:04:11Z")
in your code “balls” is only gives you the
\_level0.b11, \_level0.b12, \_level0.b13 …
but this isn’t means that the attachMovie() code runs correct.
and this is not what u want to do. u want to attach movies in the balls movieClip i think. With your code, u attach your movies into the \_root movieClip…
e.s.x.s
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2003, 3:41pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/12 "2003-07-17T15:41:57Z")
> _Originally posted by javadi82_
> **i checked with the explanation of attachMovie in the Help section of Flash MX and it said that attachMovie did not “return” anything.**
It doesn’t say anything for MovieClip.createEmptyMovieClip either, althought this method **does** return the MovieClip created. 😛
**EDIT.** I checked it again, MovieClip.attachMovie **DOES** return the MovieClip too.
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/13 "2003-07-18T13:02:08Z")
To kode:
Stupid question but anyway:How did you check that attachMovie returns an object.
More stupid question:Can we tell Macromedia to change the documentation(Flash help)?
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/attachmovie-does-not-attach/25870/14 "2003-07-18T13:06:59Z")
[AS]trace(this.attachMovie(“someID”, “someInstance”, someDepth));[/AS]
You could contact them, I don’t think they will change it though. 😛