changing stacking order of display list

[rickarooni]

I have a series of mc's that I'm adding to the a display list of "theContainer". This is a "canvas" I'm using to drag mc's around on to make various pictures.

I've set up my code so I can click any mc in that list and make it "selected". I can then, with controls outside "theContainer", change the selected clip's scale or alpha, etc.

I'd like to set up 2 buttons outside that display list so I can change the stacking order of those clips in "theContainer".

So if I add clip "a" to the display list, then add clip "b" to the display list, then add "c" and "d" and "e and "f" to it, I want to be able to move any of those clips forward or backward.

How do I go about doing this?

First I'd need to learn what the index is of the clip I want to move up or down in the display list.

To do that I'd use getChildIndex(clip). When i use a button outside the display list container i get this error: Error #2025: The supplied DisplayObject must be a child of the caller.
at flash.display:isplayObjectContainer/getChildIndex()

That's my problem, I can't know what the index is, or how to get a property to find it.

I'm looking for a way to "get the clip's index" then to "make the index, the current index + 1", to move it up in the display list.

"setChildrenIndex( dispObj, index ) would be nice if I could know what the index was and then add +1 to it like this:

setChildIndex(clip, current index + 1);

But I'm stuck with the error. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or what I need to do?

Thanks.

R

[jim_morrison3]

Whats the error you're getting ? The method (setChildIndex) is correct.

[rickarooni]

the error was : 2025 The supplied DisplayObject must be a child of the caller.

I've figured this out (with help).
final code was:

var clipLevel:int;
moveUp_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, moveClipUp);
function moveClipUp(e:MouseEvent):void{
clipLevel = select.parent.getChildIndex(select);
c1.setChildIndex(select, clipLevel + 1);
}

I needed to put: "select.parent." in front of "select.parent.getChildIndex(select);"

thanks for your response,

R