Thanks
Jack

I am interested in applying the “advanced align” drag-and-drop example to a much larger list of MCs. This will mean that some of the items will not be visible and hence (i) allowing for scrolling through the list with some arrow buttons and (ii) automatically scrolling the boxes when you want to move an item into a position that is currently not visible (eg if you drag one box towards the far right the items will automatically start scrolling so that you can drop the item where you want it).

Do you have a recommendation for the best way to do this? I am not sure whether to display the entire list starting from the appropriate x position and mask what I don’t want visible, or whether it is better to use a scrollbox.

Thank you for any advice you can provide.

…Jim

I did this which sets it up but now when I move an object it gets all messed up

//CONSTRUCTOR
i  ;
searchWordBox.x=(searchWordBox.width   SEARCHWORDS_SPACING) * int(i % _cols) 15;
searchWordBox.y=(searchWordBox.height   SEARCHWORDS_SPACING) * int(i / _cols) 15;

//Align boxes, onLoop
b.x  = (b.xDest - b.x   int(i % _cols 15)) / 2;
b.y  = (0 - b.y   int(i % _cols   15)) / 2;

could really use the help. Thanks.

public function init(searchwords:Array):void
{
  trace("MainViewBasic init");
  var i:int;
  var j:int;

  container.x = 10;
  container.y = 40;

  //For each searchword
  for each (var word:String in searchwords)
  {
	//How many search words there are
	NUM_SEARCHWORDS  ;

	//Adds the search word
	var searchWordBox:SearchWordBox = new SearchWordBox();
	var searchWordTxt:TextField = new TextField;

	//Adds the text
	searchWordTxt.text = word;  (  i);

	//Sets the text format
	searchWordTxt.setTextFormat( searchWordBox.searchWordTextFormat );

	//Adds searchWordTxt to search word box, this is the text
	searchWordBox.addChild(searchWordTxt);

	//Adds searchWordBox to container
	container.addChild(searchWordBox);

	//Adds container to powerWordsBoxContainer - powerWordsBox
	powerWordsBoxContainer.powerWordsBox.addChild(container);

	//trace(searchWordTxt.textWidth);
	//powerWordsBoxContainer.powerWordsBox.searchWordBox.width = 50;
	trace(container.width);

	_searchWords.push(searchWordBox);
	//searchWordContainer.name = "searchWordContainer"   i;

	searchWordBox.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, onStageUp, false, 0, true);
	setupDraggableBox(searchWordBox);

  }
  //Adds objects
  addChild(powerWordsBoxContainer);
  onStageUp();
}

function setupDraggableBox(mc:SearchWordBox):void
{

  // local variable for use with zeno's paradox
  mc.xDest = mc.x;

  mc.buttonMode = true;
  mc.mouseChildren = false;
  mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, onDown, false, 0, true);
  //_searchWords.push(mc);
}

function onDown(evt:MouseEvent):void
{
  removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onLoop);
  container.addChild(MovieClip(evt.currentTarget));
  evt.currentTarget.startDrag();
}

function onStageUp(evt:MouseEvent = null):void
{

  stopDrag();
  addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onLoop, false, 0, true);

}

function onLoop(evt:Event):void
{

  //sort the boxes array by the x property of each clip
  _searchWords.sortOn("x", Array.NUMERIC);

  //make sure the first box always eases to the same position (10, 40);
  _searchWords[0].x  = (0 - _searchWords[0].x) / 2;
  _searchWords[0].y  = (0 - _searchWords[0].y) / 2;

  //align boxes
  for (var i:int = 1; i <NUM_SEARCHWORDS; i  )
  {
	var b:MovieClip=_searchWords[i];
	var prev:MovieClip=_searchWords[i-1];

	b.xDest=prev.x prev.width;
	b.x  = (b.xDest - b.x) / 2;
	b.y  = (0 - b.y) / 2;
  }

}

thank you

// alignment code
box1.buttonMode =box2.buttonMode =box3.buttonMode = true;

box1.x = 54;
box1.y = 47;

setupRollOver1(box1.mask1);
setupRollOver2(box2.mask2);
setupRollOver3(box3.mask3);

function setupRollOver1(mc:MovieClip):void {
	// add a local variable to each clip for use with Zeno's paradox
	mc.scaleDest1 = 1;
	mc.buttonMode = true;
	mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER, onOver1, false, 0, true);
	mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OUT, onOut1, false, 0, true);
	mc.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onScale1, false, 0, true);
}
function onScale1(evt:Event):void {
	var mc:MovieClip = MovieClip(evt.target);
	mc.scaleY  = (mc.scaleDest1 - mc.scaleY) / 3.5;
}
function onOver1(evt:MouseEvent):void {
	evt.target.scaleDest1 = 3;
}
function onOut1(evt:MouseEvent):void {
	evt.target.scaleDest1 = 1;
}

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function setupRollOver2(mc:MovieClip):void {
	// add a local variable to each clip for use with Zeno's paradox
	mc.scaleDest2 = 1;
	mc.buttonMode = true;
	mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER, onOver2, false, 0, true);
	mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OUT, onOut2, false, 0, true);
	mc.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onScale2, false, 0, true);
}
function onScale2(evt:Event):void {
	var mc:MovieClip = MovieClip(evt.target);
	mc.scaleY  = (mc.scaleDest2 - mc.scaleY) / 3.5;
}
function onOver2(evt:MouseEvent):void {
	evt.target.scaleDest2 = 6;
}
function onOut2(evt:MouseEvent):void {
	evt.target.scaleDest2 = 1;
}

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function setupRollOver3(mc:MovieClip):void {
	// add a local variable to each clip for use with Zeno's paradox
	mc.scaleDest3 = 1;
	mc.buttonMode = true;
	mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER, onOver3, false, 0, true);
	mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OUT, onOut3, false, 0, true);
	mc.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onScale3, false, 0, true);
}
function onScale3(evt:Event):void {
	var mc:MovieClip = MovieClip(evt.target);
	mc.scaleY  = (mc.scaleDest3 - mc.scaleY) / 3.5;
}
function onOver3(evt:MouseEvent):void {
	evt.target.scaleDest3 = 6;
}
function onOut3(evt:MouseEvent):void {
	evt.target.scaleDest3 = 1;
}

addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, onLoop, false, 0, true);
function onLoop(evt:Event):void {
	// position box1 based on box0's x and width properties
	box2.y = (box1.y   box1.mask1.height);
	box2.x = box1.x;

	box3.y = (box2.y   box2.mask2.height);
	box3.x = box2.x;
}

//---------------- no errors but it doesn't work  ----------------------
box1.subMenu.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, menuUp);
function menuUp(e:MouseEvent):void{
	trace("It is not enough room to swing a cat");
}