FLASH® LITE™ 2.x - Adobe Help and Support

The object parameter becomes the context in which the properties, variables, and functions
in the statement(s) parameter are read. For example, if object is my_array, and two of the
properties specified are length and concat, those properties are automatically read as
my_array.length and my_array.concat. In another example, if object is
state.california, any actions or statements inside the with statement are called from
inside the california instance.
To find the value of an identifier in the statement(s) parameter, ActionScript starts at the
beginning of the scope chain specified by the object and searches for the identifier at each
level of the scope chain, in a specific order.
The scope chain used by the with statement to resolve identifiers starts with the first item in
the following list and continues to the last item:
■ The object specified in the object parameter in the innermost with statement.
■ The object specified in the object parameter in the outermost with statement.
■ The Activation object. (A temporary object that is automatically created when a function
is called that holds the local variables called in the function.)
■ The movie clip that contains the currently executing script.
■ The Global object (built-in objects such as Math and String).
To set a variable inside a with statement, you must have declared the variable outside the with
statement, or you must enter the full path to the Timeline on which you want the variable to
live. If you set a variable in a with statement without declaring it, the with statement will
look for the value according to the scope chain. If the variable doesn't already exist, the new
value will be set on the Timeline from which the with statement was called.
Instead of using with(), you can use direct paths. If you find that paths are long and
cumbersome to type, you can create a local variable and store the path in the variable, which
you can then reuse in your code, as shown in the following ActionScript:
var shortcut = this._parent._parent.name_txt; shortcut.text = "Hank";
shortcut.autoSize = true;
Parameters
object:Object - An instance of an ActionScript object or movie clip.
Example
The following example sets the _x and _y properties of the someOther_mc instance, and then
instructs someOther_mc to go to Frame 3 and stop.
with (someOther_mc) {
_x = 50;
_y = 100;
208 ActionScript language elements