# Special button function?
**URL:** https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122
**Category:** Uncategorized
**Created:** [May 12, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122 "2008-05-12T19:33:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@newsteve](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/newsteve)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122/1 "2008-05-12T19:33:25Z")
hello,
i am creating a series of navigational menus in flash, all linked to each other. when the user presses a button on one menu, another pops up but the original menu also stays on screen. On the original menu, I would like all of the non-pressed buttons’ alpha to degrade by half. I realize that I can just specify which specific buttons’ alpha I would like to degrade within the onRelease function of the button, but this could get cumbersome over many menus and buttons. Is there a function that can be written which would degrade the alpha of all buttons EXCEPT for the one that was just pressed?
Thanks for any help.
PS Im using AS 2 for this.
---
### Author:  [@sparkdemon](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sparkdemon)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2008, 10:20am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122/2 "2008-05-13T10:20:23Z")
// assuming that your movieclips are called btn1,btn2,btn3…btn6
// and you want to change the alpha of all other to 40% except the selected one
for(var i=1;i\<=6;i++)
{
var mc:MovieClip=this[“btn”+i];
mc.id=i;
mc.onRollOver=rollIn;
mc.onRollOut=reset;
}
function rollIn()
{
fadeAllBut(this.id);
}
function reset()
{
for(var i=1;i\<=6;i++)
{
var mc:MovieClip=this[“btn”+i];
mc.\_alpha=100;
}
}
function fadeAllBut(id)
{
for(var i=1;i\<=6;i++)
{
var mc:MovieClip=this[“btn”+i];
if(i!=id)
{
mc.\_alpha=40;
}
}
}
// please let me know if you have any problems with this
---
### Author:  [@newsteve](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/newsteve)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122/3 "2008-05-21T15:52:07Z")
I just got back to this problem,
Thanks for your help. The code below worked. However,
I was wondering if you (or anyone) knew how I could put all of this into a function which will work when I rollover the desired button. The problem is that I also want other things to happen, specific to each button, when you rollover them. For example when I put this code:
btn1.onRelease = function(){
gotoAndPlay(2);
}
the movie will move to frame 2 but it will ignore the code for the fading buttons, and Im not sure why…?
Any help would be great, thanks.
[quote=sparkdemon;2325472]// assuming that your movieclips are called btn1,btn2,btn3…btn6
// and you want to change the alpha of all other to 40% except the selected one
for(var i=1;i\<=6;i++)
{
var mc:MovieClip=this[“btn”+i];
mc.id=i;
mc.onRollOver=rollIn;
mc.onRollOut=reset;
}
function rollIn()
{
fadeAllBut(this.id);
}
function reset()
{
for(var i=1;i\<=6;i++)
{
var mc:MovieClip=this[“btn”+i];
mc.\_alpha=100;
}
}
function fadeAllBut(id)
{
for(var i=1;i\<=6;i++)
{
var mc:MovieClip=this[“btn”+i];
if(i!=id)
{
mc.\_alpha=40;
}
}
}
// please let me know if you have any problems with this[/quote]
---
### Author:  [@randomagain](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/randomagain)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122/4 "2008-05-21T15:59:24Z")
timeline is \*\*\*\* and \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* to make a point
you shouldn’t be trying to move around the timeline with even basic AS
you will need to make pages \_visible = false and \_visible = true
with the same priniple as the button code
…
plus it is in a function… two plus
---
### Author:  [@newsteve](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/newsteve)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122/5 "2008-05-21T16:06:28Z")
> [@randomagain;2329183](#):
>
> timeline is \*\*\*\* and \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* to make a point
Not sure what you mean with all those asteriks…??? Or much else of what you are trying to say… pretend Im in grade 4…
[quote=randomagain;2329183]
you shouldn’t be trying to move around the timeline with even basic AS
you will need to make pages \_visible = false and \_visible = true
with the same priniple as the button code
…
plus it is in a function… two plus[/quote]
---
### Author:  [@newsteve](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/newsteve)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122/6 "2008-05-21T16:22:44Z")
Oh I see…
All of the menus are appearing/disappearing by toggling on or off the visibility.
However I also want an arrow to appear that kind of indicates which menu button was pressed to get to the newer menu which appears… the way I can think of doing this is via the timeline, with the arrow in different positions depending on the frame.
Im sure there is a way to make said arrow appear on stage with \_visible = true as well, and I could modify its x and y coordinates, but I would have have the cooridinates correspond to the current coordinates of the button that was just pushed, but that kind of actionscript is a little above my level.
So this can all lead to a nice question:
I have 4 menus with 5 buttons in each menu. Only the top menu (menu1) is visible at the beginning. User hits any of the 5 buttons in menu1 and onRelease:
- button that is hit stays at 100% alpha, others fade to 50%
- red arrow appears below button that was hit.
- 2nd level menu appears below
(process of course starts all over again for this new menu).
Menu’s disappearing/reappearing is no problem. Im halfway there on the alpha fade issue, but have no idea how to do this arrow…
Anyone…?
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@sparkdemon](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sparkdemon)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/special-button-function/260122/7 "2008-05-22T06:09:32Z")
import mx.transitions.Tween;
//i assume that your arrow remains on the root level.
//press on any button or menu item
var tw:Tween=new Tween(arrow\_clip, “\_x”, mx.transitions.easing.None.easeIn,arrow\_clip.\_x,\_root.\_xmouse,2, true);
// put the above code in a function and call it with every menu item click (when it is selected);