AS3 Compiler error 1083: problem with else syntax

Question

Hey there, I'm creating a simple click and scroll for a future menu for my personal site. I have a box, I called it thing_mc, and I have 3 positions for it. I have a next and prev. button that will control thing_mc position. I'm using TweenLite to animate thing_mc, if that makes a difference.

I get a 1083 error (...else is unexpected) and (...rightparen is unexpected).

Can anyone tell me why and how I can resolve this?

Thanks

    import gs.TweenLite;

next_mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, nextListener);
prev_mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, prevListener);

//prev_mc.visible = false;

function nextListener(event:MouseEvent):void
{
    if(thing_mc.x == 400);
    {
    TweenLite.to(thing_mc, .5, {x:50, y:50});
    }
    else if //// i get error 1083 here (...else is unexpected)
    {
    TweenLite.to(thing_mc, .5, {x:-100, y:50}); //// i get error 1083 here (...rightparen is unexpected)
    }
}

function prevListener(event:MouseEvent):void
{
    if(thing_mc.x == -100);
    {
    TweenLite.to(thing_mc, .5, {x:400, y:50});
    }
    else if //// i get error 1083 here (...else is unexpected)
    {
    TweenLite.to(thing_mc, .5, {x:500, y:50}); //// i get error 1083 here (...rightparen is unexpected)
    }
}   

next_mc.buttonMode = true;
prev_mc.buttonMode = true;

Answer 1

else if //// i get error 1083 here (...else is unexpected)

You have a few options here. You can either use a second condition, if you want to use else if i.e.

else if (someCondition) { ...

or, use just else

else { ...

or use another if

if { ...

It all depends on what you want to achieve.

From what I can see, the second option (plain else) looks like what you want.

Answer 2

I am not AS expert, but the semicolon after if(thing_mc.x == 400); and if(thing_mc.x == -100); seems strange. Should rather read if(thing_mc.x == 400) and if(thing_mc.x == -100) I'd say.

Answer 3

function nextListener(event:MouseEvent):void
{
    if(thing_mc.x == 400);
    {

Don't use ; after the if brackets ;-)

Answer 4

Wats going on is the parser sees if ( cond ) ;

as if ( cond ) /empty statement/ ; //semicolon ends empty statement

(and the else if /.../ of course lacked the parenthesized conditional expr that an if requiress).

I've seen this semicolon related error a lot. It may be because semicolons are optional in some cases in as3.