# setProperty and enable

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [April 7, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748 "2006-04-07T13:08:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![imported\_mattyway](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/imported_mattyway/32/1383_2.png) [@imported\_mattyway](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/imported_mattyway)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748/1 "2006-04-07T13:08:07Z")

</div>

is it possible to use the setProperty function with the enable property like this:

```auto

setProperty(_root.blah, enable, false);

```

all this does is returns errors:

```auto
**Error** Scene=Scene 1, layer=Layer 1, frame=1:Line 1: Property name expected in GetProperty.
     setProperty(_root.blah, enable, false);

Total ActionScript Errors: 1 Reported Errors: 1

```

is there a way to fix this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![btibia](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/btibia/32/1625_2.png) [@btibia](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/btibia)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748/2 "2006-04-07T13:18:07Z")

</div>

i don’t understand what you want to do?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![imported\_mattyway](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/imported_mattyway/32/1383_2.png) [@imported\_mattyway](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/imported_mattyway)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748/3 "2006-04-07T13:32:59Z")

</div>

i wish to enable and disable a button using setProperty. i should have made that more clear in the first post, my bad.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![btibia](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/btibia/32/1625_2.png) [@btibia](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/btibia)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748/4 "2006-04-07T13:58:18Z")

</div>

the code for enable/disable is like this:

```auto

your_movieclip.enabled =true/false;

```

of

```auto

setProperty("your_movieclip",enabled,true/false);

```

the rest i think you can figure it out your self

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![imported\_mattyway](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/imported_mattyway/32/1383_2.png) [@imported\_mattyway](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/imported_mattyway)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748/5 "2006-04-07T23:59:40Z")

</div>

is it possible to use a variable in a path, ie:

```auto
_root.my_variable.enabled = true/false

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rhamej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@rhamej](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/rhamej)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748/6 "2006-04-08T02:39:53Z")

</div>

It would just be

```auto

_root.my_variable = true/false

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![imported\_mattyway](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/imported_mattyway/32/1383_2.png) [@imported\_mattyway](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/imported_mattyway)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/setproperty-and-enable/184748/7 "2006-04-08T14:16:22Z")

</div>

ah i meant using the value of a variable in a path but i found the way to do it:

```auto

_root.myVar = "myPlace";
_root.myPlace = "hello";
trace (_root.myPlace);
_root[myVar] = "goodbye";
trace (_root.myPlace);

```

note the \_root[myVar]