To expand on this (since I'm now awake!) what method I use depends on how I want to access the child objects.
If I just want a list to iterate over/trawl through, I use an Array. If I want to access by name, I use an Object. The reasons I don't normally directly rely on the the childlist of the container object include: - I can remove/add a child but still have a reference in the Array - I can do a bunch of stuff to those clips without affecting any other children of the container, like: iterate through the array, reorder/reindex just those children, delete just those children, _count_ just those children. - I don't have to worry about checking the return types of the objects in the array, because I know what's stored in there. Whereas using getChildByName(), I know I'm getting a DisplayObject back, but don't know exactly what type - I have to check. Those last few might seem a bit peculiar - why shouldn't I know exactly what the child objects are? This comes from two places: - I may mix arrays of different children into the same container (e.g. a bunch of target clips, a bunch of draggable clips - or, for a game, the player Sprite and the enemy Sprites). Having two arrays is much better than relying on the childList in this case. - I am not the only person working on this code, and can't rely on another coder not adding in a decorative background or border to my container, or an extra graphics, or... I hope that makes sense. And is a better answer than my earlier one. :-D (mmm... sweet caffeine...) Ian On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 2:28 AM, Matt S. <mattsp...@gmail.com> wrote: > I wasnt actually the original question-asker, but thanks :) > I was just curious about the actual performance hit from getChild. > > .m > > On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 5:57 PM, Taka Kojima <t...@gigafied.com> wrote: >> I use the method I gave you earlier, adding elements to an array and >> accessing them that way. >> >> Also, you can use getChildAt() if you know the index of the children, which >> it sounds like you do if you have them named as you do... i.e. column1, >> column2, column3 >> >> On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 2:17 PM, Matt S. <mattsp...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> So as a general question, what is the preferred method if you're >>> trying to get, say, dynamically generated children, eg >>> "image1"...."image20" etc, from a container? >>> >>> .m >>> >>> On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 4:51 PM, Ian Thomas <i...@eirias.net> wrote: >>> > Yes. >>> >>> > On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 9:08 PM, Anthony Pace <anthony.p...@utoronto.ca> >>> wrote: >>> >> isn't getting a child by name very slow? >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Flashcoders mailing list >>> Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com >>> http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Flashcoders mailing list >> Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com >> http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders >> > _______________________________________________ > Flashcoders mailing list > Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com > http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders > _______________________________________________ Flashcoders mailing list Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders
