Webmaster Forum / Flash / General Flash Topics / July 2008

You can use that tutorial, but it's not a very good method. Why not just
learn to do it the right way and be done with it? Use the MovieClipLoader
class.

Here's a much better tutorial:
http://www.kirupa.com/developer/actionscript/moviecliploader.htm

If you just read the Help on the MovieClipLoader class, there are some good
examples. The loadClip method shows you how to specify the url and target
clips.

Essentially what you do is have a single preloader movie that will load your
main content. The preloader needs nothing but a blank clip on stage
(content) and a progress bar clip if you want one.

Then you just add the preloader code on frame 1:

var mcl = new MovieClipLoader();
var lis = new Object();

lis.onLoadProgress = function(target, bl, bt){
   //update progress bar
}

lis.onLoadInit = function(target){
   //target is loaded and ready
}

mcl.addListener(lis);
mcl.loadClip("yourContent.swf", content);

That loads your swf into the empty 'content' clip. When onLoadInit fires,
content is ready to go - hide the progress bar etc, call an activate method
in the loaded movie, etc.

You can make it dynamic using FlashVars or SWFObject, so that your preloader
can load any content you request. This is how many games sites do it, so you
always see the same preloader - and you never need to worry about doing that
goofy frame-based method.