# Loader.load SWF without "playing" before addChild?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/loader-load-swf-without-playing-before-addchild/242809>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [October 30, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/loader-load-swf-without-playing-before-addchild/242809 "2007-10-30T16:19:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HunterSkookum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@HunterSkookum](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/HunterSkookum)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/loader-load-swf-without-playing-before-addchild/242809/1 "2007-10-30T16:19:46Z")

</div>

The setup:

parentClass.as/parentClass.fla \<-- document root, has several Loaders which load external SWFs:

externalClass.as/externalClass.fla \<-- one of the external documents

In externalClass several things reference the stage. In the _constructor_ function I have added a trace which outputs “externalClass has been initialized.” When I addChild the Loader.content, I trace “addChild: externalClass” … when I run the parentClass, this is what gets traced:

1. “externalClass hass been initialized”
2. “Loader: Event.COMPLETE callback handler”
3. “addChild: externalClass”

This causes problems because the constructor of externalClass references the stage, which doesn’t “exist” until the externalClass has been addChild’ed. Is there a way to load an external SWF in the background and “run” it later?

Thanks, I’ve been pounding my head on this for a while.

Hunter