How to Insert a Stop on a Frame in Flash

A stop is a script/line of code used in Flash to make an animation/movie pause in its timeline when it reaches the frame containing the script. You can assign stops to the timeline of the main movie, or to the timelines of movie clips.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A working installation of Flash MX or higher.

1. To add a stop to an animation, click on the timeline on the frame where you want the movie or movie clip to pause.

2. Right-click and select "Actions" to open the Actions panel for that frame.

3. If you're working in Normal Mode, look in the left-hand navigation tree. Click Actions and then Movie Control to expand their categories.

4. Double-click on the stop command to insert it into your script.

5. If you're working in Expert Mode, you can just type the following into the script area: stop();.
   
   There are no spaces between the parentheses, and in the script there should be no period after the closing semicolon.

Tips & Warnings

• Inserting a stop doesn't permanently halt your movie. You can use other scripts, such as gotoAndPlay, to make the movie play again when the user clicks a certain element, a variable reaches a certain value, a set amount of time has passed, or other parameters.
• If working in Expert Mode, make sure to remember to end each line in your script with a semicolon (;).