Why does LoadMovie scale external swf clips?

programming flash
1

I have an external movie clip called “dialog_open.swf” which is exactly 525 pixels by 225 pixels in size. This movie contains no actionscript except for a stop() on frame 1.

In my main flash movie, I have the following code:

container_mc.loadMovie(“dialog_open.swf”);

container_mc has a _width of 525 and a _height of 225.

The movie loads but scales up about 33% (to about 933 pixels by 520 pixels). The Macromedia help states that my external swf should inheret container_mc’s size/scaling properties but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Anyone have a suggestion?

This is all running from a class so I can’t use an onload event to automatically resize the movie after it finishes loading (which is really annoying anyway).

My main movie is supposed to act like a desktop – it takes up the fullscreen and has Stage.scaleMode = “noScale” set.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

2

I have found that I get the same thing sometimes. I think it may be cause by you changing the _height/_width of the contianer clip before you load. I hoep this makes sense/helps.

3

Actually, I just created the movie clip:

createEmptyMovieClip(“container_mc”, getNextHighestDepth())

Then I do a call to:

container_mc.loadMovie("…

This whole thing is going into a class so I can’t even use an onLoad call (I have no idea why Macromedia doesn’t allow that). Actionscript has to be one of the buggiest languages I’ve ever used.

4

(I may be repeating what has just been said)
Urm… are you setting the dimensions of your container MC before loading the movie? If you do not resize, the container will be whatever size the movie you load into it is… if you get me.

For example: container MC is 0 by 0, as it is simply there as a location to load another MC. main page MC is 400 by 200 (for example), when this loads container MC will be 400 by 200 to accomadate it.

So if you are sizing within actionscript, don’t… thats how it works in my experience.

5

You were right. I wasn’t resizing my container_mc but I WAS resizing it’s parent movieClip.

container_mc grew in exact proportion to the amount I’d increased the parent (which is why it always came out about 40% larger). Macromedia should really add that to their documentation – don’t resize a container or you’re hooched.

Thanks for your help.