# tellTarget ("...");

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [August 18, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784 "2003-08-18T15:54:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Drunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Drunken](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Drunken)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784/1 "2003-08-18T15:54:06Z")

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heya!

I have in \_root 1 movie that have 2 movies inside it, like this:

- mainm  
- symb  
- symb2

I have a button on \_root and i want to take action in symb.

I try this int 2 ways:

\> mainm.symb.gotoandplay(2);

\> tellTargert (“mainm/symb/”) {

gotoandplay(2);  
}

but doesn’t work…

any sugestion??

thks

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784/2 "2003-08-18T16:03:45Z")

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```auto
_root.mainm.symb.gotoAndPlay(2);

```

Should work !!  
(if it doesn’t, you should check if you’ve setup the instancenames correctly!)

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784/3 "2003-08-18T16:05:06Z")

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1. Please use the [\*\*AS][/\*\*AS] tags to show code… it is much easier on the eyes.

2. is mainm the main movie clip or the main movie altogether?

If it is the main movie altogether, the syntax would be… [AS]symb.gotoAndPlay(2);[/AS]

But if mainm is a movie clip symbol on the \_root timeline, then I see nothing wrong with your code since the button is on the \_root timeline as well (and tellTarget it deprecated so don’t even worry about that anymore)

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784/4 "2003-08-18T16:17:08Z")

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ok, sorry about that

the mainm is a movie clip symbol on the \_root timeline but i have done a motion tweent with it and i think that was the reason why it didn’t work.

thks 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784/5 "2003-08-18T16:23:55Z")

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If you have done a motion tween to the objects within the clip then that might be it… you must make sure that all the clips in the keyframes have the right instance name. If you tween a movie clip symbol first without assigning an instance name to it, and then go back and assign an instance name to the first keyframe of the clip, then only that clip gets the instance name and the rest have unassigned instance names therefore cannot be targeted.

Possibly something like this is the case with you?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/telltarget/28784/6 "2003-08-18T16:29:52Z")

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yes, exactly! lol

thks 😉