# Movieclip that tells flash to remove itself from an Array that it has been added to

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/movieclip-that-tells-flash-to-remove-itself-from-an-array-that-it-has-been-added-to/294364>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [August 13, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/movieclip-that-tells-flash-to-remove-itself-from-an-array-that-it-has-been-added-to/294364 "2009-08-13T02:42:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ThreeDollarBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ea924/32.png) [@ThreeDollarBill](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/ThreeDollarBill)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/movieclip-that-tells-flash-to-remove-itself-from-an-array-that-it-has-been-added-to/294364/1 "2009-08-13T02:42:09Z")

</div>

the code below simply creates a timer that fires 20 times…  
everytime the timer fires, it runs a function that:  
1.) adds a movieclip on stage…  
2.) adds the movieclip / to an array called enemyArray

once on stage, the movieclip creates a timer, which, when fired, will run a function that will remove itself from the stage…

an enterframe event is also created, which simply updates a textfield on stage and makes it display the current length of enemyArray…

MY PROBLEM IS… how do i tell flash to remove the movieclip (or movieclip reference, not really sure how to call it) from the enemyArray after it removes itself from stage?

on the main timeline:

```auto
var enemyArray:Array = new Array();
var timeToCreateEnemy:Timer;

// set up timer that will fire every 2 seconds, 20 times
timeToCreateEnemy = new Timer(2000, 20)
timeToCreateEnemy.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, createEnemy);
timeToCreateEnemy.start();

addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, frameEntered);

// function that will create an enemy when timer fires
function createEnemy(event:TimerEvent):void
{
    var enemyShip:MovieClip = new Enemy();
    enemyArray.push(enemyShip); // put this enemy into the array
    enemyShip.x = Math.round(Math.random() * stage.stageWidth);
    enemyShip.y = Math.round(Math.random() * stage.stageHeight);
    addChild(enemyShip);
}

// update textfield on how many items are in the array
function frameEntered(event:Event):void
{
    theText.text = String(enemyArray.length);
}

```

inside the Enemy class:

```auto
package
{
    import flash.display.*;
    import flash.events.*;
    import flash.utils.Timer;
    
    public class Enemy extends MovieClip
    {
        var timeToRemoveMe:Timer;
        
        public function Enemy()
        {
            initEnemy();
        }
        
        /*set up a timer that will fire once after a random number
        of seconds ranging from 1 to 10*/
        
        function initEnemy():void
        {
            timeToRemoveMe = new Timer(Math.ceil(Math.random() * 10000), 1);
            timeToRemoveMe.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, removeMe);
            timeToRemoveMe.start();
        }
        
        // removes enemy from stage
        function removeMe(event:TimerEvent):void
        {
            timeToRemoveMe.removeEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, removeMe);
            MovieClip(root).removeChild(this);
            
            /*IMPORTANT PART... need to put some sort of code here that will also remove
            this item from the "enemyArray" Array on stage*/
        
        }
    }
}

```