Shorten function code and convert variable.

Question

I have this AS2 code that does some simple animations when I rollover a mc using TweenLite.

I feel that I have a lot of repeating code.

Is there a way to be able to just specify a function like this

boxLink(a);

and have the rest of the code, with the path to the target movieclip in the function instead of in the function variable?

How can I make this code as short as possible?

Is it possible to convert a variable:String to a variable:MovieClip? How would i do that in this example?

 import gs.*;
 import gs.easing.*;


function imageAlpha(mc_target:MovieClip) {
    mc_target.onRollOver = function() {
            TweenLite.to(mc_target,1,{_alpha:100, ease:Back.easeOut});
    };

    mc_target.onRollOut = function() {
            TweenLite.to(mc_target,1,{_alpha:60, ease:Back.easeOut});
    };
 }



  function boxLink(mc_function:MovieClip, mc_target:MovieClip, mc_image:MovieClip, linkURL:String) {
    mc_function.onRollOver = function() {
            TweenLite.to(mc_target,0.5,{_xscale:150, _yscale:150, ease:Back.easeOut});
            TweenLite.to(mc_image,1,{_alpha:100, ease:Back.easeOut});
    };

    mc_function.onRollOut = function() {
            TweenLite.to(mc_target,0.5,{_xscale:100, _yscale:100, ease:Back.easeOut});
            TweenLite.to(mc_image,1,{_alpha:60, ease:Back.easeOut});
    };

    mc_function.onRelease = function() {
            if (linkURL) {
            getURL(linkURL);
            }
    };
 }



 imageAlpha(a_box.image);
 imageAlpha(b_box.image);
 imageAlpha(c_box.image);
 imageAlpha(d_box.image);

 boxLink(a_box.link1,a_box.arrow1,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(a_box.link2,a_box.arrow2,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(a_box.link3,a_box.arrow3,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no');

 boxLink(b_box.link1,b_box.arrow1,b_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(b_box.link2,b_box.arrow2,b_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(b_box.link3,b_box.arrow3,b_box.image,'http://www.google.no');

 boxLink(c_box.link1,c_box.arrow1,c_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(c_box.link2,c_box.arrow2,c_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(c_box.link3,c_box.arrow3,c_box.image);

 boxLink(d_box.link1,d_box.arrow1,d_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(d_box.link2,d_box.arrow2,d_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
 boxLink(d_box.link3,d_box.arrow3,d_box.image);

Answer 1

Use arrays instead of named variables

a_box.link_1, a_box.link_2, ..., a_box.link_3

becomes

a_box.link[ i ] where i = 0 to n-1, n = number of links

Similarly for arrows.

Next, create a wrapper for boxLink()

public function 
boxLinkWrapper(x:BoxType, url:string='http://www.google.no') :ReturnType {
    for (i:int = 0; i < x.link.size; ++i) {
        boxLink(x.link[ i ], x.arrow[ i ], x.image, url);
    }
}

Also, since you have a number of such boxes, put them in an array:

var boxes:Array = new Array();
boxes.push(new Box("a")); //a_box
boxes.push(new Box("b")); //b_box

and wrap up the steps you'd need for each box:

public function 
processBox(x:BoxType):SomeReturnType {
    imageAlpha(d_box.image);
    boxLink(a_box.link1,a_box.arrow1,a_box.image,'http://www.google.no');
}

and run a for-loop over the array boxes, or use the forEach() member function:

boxes.forEach(processBox);

Don't forget to replace BoxType, SomeReturnType and ReturnType by the appropriate types. Does that help? (Note: this is untested code, but should get you started!)