Passing a variable to a function in ActionScript 2 was a fairly simple task. However, it is not so easy using ActionScript 3. There are a few more things you must do first.

In ActionScript 2, passing a string variable looked like this.

my_btn.onRelease = function(){
doThis("whatever variable you want goes here");
}

function doThis(a:String){
trace(a);
}

In ActionScript 3, this is what I need to do to get the same results.  I initially wrote the example below thinking at some point, I will have several buttons that the user will interact with such as a navigation menu.

var b:Array = [b1_btn, b2_btn, b3_btn];
var a:Array = ["zero","one","two"];

for (var i:int = 0; i<b.length; i++) {

b[i].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickedOne);
function clickedOne(e:MouseEvent):void {
for (var j:int = 0; j<a.length; j++) {
if (e.currentTarget.name == b[j].name) {
doThis(a[j])
}
}
}
}

function doThis(v:String):void {
trace(v);
}

Get the source fla file here.

If you have any questions just drop me a line.

UPDATE!!!

There’s more than one way to solve this problem.

Thanks to kcreation for this solution.

var btns:Array = [b1_btn, b2_btn, b3_btn];
var a:Array = ["zero","one","two"];

for (var b in btns) {
btns[b].name = b;
btns[b].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickedOne);
}

function clickedOne(e:MouseEvent):void {
var b:int = int(event.currentTarget.name);
doThis(a[b]);
}

function doThis(v:String):void {
trace(v);
}

Thanks to Mykola Bilokonsky for this solution.

var buttons:Array = [b1_btn, b2_btn, b3_btn];

var dict:Dictionary = new Dictionary();
dict[b1_btn] = “String Argument”;
dict[b2_btn] = new MySampleMovieClip();
dict[b3_btn] = 7

for each (var b:MovieClip in buttons) {
b.buttonMode = true;
b.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, myHandler);
}

function myHandler(e:MouseEvent):void {
var myVariable = dict[e.currentTarget];
}

Actionscript 2

import mx.transitions.Tween;
import mx.transitions.easing.*;

Actionscript 3

import fl.transitions.Tween;
import fl.transitions.easing.*;

For tween methods click here.

function loadImage() {
imgHold_mc.loadMovie(imgUrl);
}
loadImage();

-or-

var url:String = "imgUrl";
function loadImage(link:String){
imgHold.loadMovie(link);
}
loadImage(url);

If you wanted to do the same thing but using ActionScript 3, you would need to use the code bellow:

var imageLoader:Loader;
function loadImage(url:String):void {
imageLoader = new Loader();
imageLoader.load(new URLRequest(url));
imageLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, imageLoaded);
}
loadImage(imgUrl);
function imageLoaded(e:Event):void {
imgHold_mc.addChild(imageLoader);
}

-or-

var imageLoader:Loader = new Loader();
imageLoader.load(new URLRequest(url));
imgHold_mc.addChild(imageLoader);

thanks Luis :)

Anyway the purpose of this post is to point out an article I came across today the Colin Mook had written about issues with AS3 and what Adobe should do to fix them.  It’s a good read and realy hits the nail on the head.

The Charges Against ActionScript 3.0

Get it here