Thank you for your responses. I used Timer and still could overflow with too many calls and too short a timer interval. So I simplified and tried to just make an Event based for loop class (A class that operates like a for loop, but with events to avoid gobbling up all the resources) The solution was to call the function, on it's completion call the timer; on the timer's completion call the function again and bounce them off of each other. Basically:
call function
wait
call function
wait etc.
Even if the timer is set to 0 and it freezes the swf until the all the functions are called, the function will complete before running again.
try it out:
package {
import flash.display.Sprite;
public class Efl extends Sprite { // the main class
public function Efl() {
// make four functions...
function init (o:Object):void { // akin to the first part of the for loop
o.value = 0;
}
function condition(o:Object):Boolean { // like the condition portion of the for loop
if (o.value <= 100) {
return (true);
} else {
return (false);
}
}
function next(o:Object):void { // the increment part of a for loop
o.value++;
}
function statements(o:Object):void { // the body of the for loop
trace(o.value);
}
// put the four functions in one new EventForLoop
var test1:EventForLoop = new EventForLoop(init, condition, next, statements, 1); // delay is 1 ms
test1.start(); // set it into motion
// do it again all in one line - not pretty but it works
var test2:EventForLoop = new EventForLoop(
function (o:Object):void { o.value = 0; },
function (o:Object):Boolean { if (o.value <= 50) return (true); else return (false); },
function (o:Object):void { o.value++ },
function (o:Object):void { trace("> " + o.value) },
20); // delay in 100ms
test2.start(); // start it up
// if you try this out, the two will run intertwined since the delays are different.
}
}
}
Here is the Class that runs the loop:
package {
import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.TimerEvent;
import flash.utils.Timer;
public class EventForLoop extends EventDispatcher {
// functions to call when simulating the for loop
private var initializer:Function; // is run once at the start of the loop
private var condition:Function; // returns boolean to tell the loop to continue or not
private var step:Function; // the function that runs after the loop is complete
private var statements:Function; // the actual body of the loop
private var timeout:Timer; // the timer to avaoid overflows
private var operator:Object = new Object(); // this is an object to hold and pass values across all the sub loop functions. it is the parameter passed to all four functions
// some event constants
static const NEXT:String = new String("EFLNext");
static const DONE:String = new String("EFLDone");
// constructor just loads vars and sets up timer
public function EventForLoop (init:Function, cond:Function, stepper:Function, stat:Function, delay:Number = 0) {
initializer = init;
condition = cond;
step = stepper;
statements = stat;
timeout = new Timer(delay, 1);
}
// the mail loop function...
private function next(e:Event = null):void {
// Try this and the lone afte the loop:
// trace ("start statements");
if (condition.call(null, operator)) { // if the condition is still true...
statements.call(null, operator); // do the body statements of the loop
step.call(null, operator); // increment
dispatchEvent(new Event(EventForLoop.NEXT)); // dispatch the event so that thw wait can start
} else { // condition returns false??
dispatchEvent(new Event(EventForLoop.DONE)); // tell the event dispatcher the loop is done
removeEventListener(EventForLoop.NEXT, wait); // stop event listeners
timeout.removeEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER_COMPLETE, next);
}
// trace ("finish statements\n");
// this line and the one before the if() will show that the functcion ends before starting again, even if the Timer wait 0ms
}
// very simple function that waits and ten triggers the loop again
private function wait(e:Event):void {
timeout.reset();
timeout.start();
}
// metod used to set the loop running
public function start():void {
initializer.call(null, operator); // use the initioalizer to set the operator Object
addEventListener(EventForLoop.NEXT, wait); // when the loops done, wait
timeout.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER_COMPLETE, next); // when done waiting, loop again
next(); //do the first loop
}
}
}
Cheers