Masking Many Objects With 1 Mask Using `getChildAt(i).mask` Not Working

Question

I am attempting to apply a mask to all objects on the stage except for a couple. There are a lot of different objects, and the amount of them will change in the future, so I want the masking to be done dynamically.

I wrote this code:

var i;

for (i = 0; i < this.numChildren; i++) {
    if (this.getChildAt(i).name!="stage_kelp_bg" && this.getChildAt(i).name!="magnifier_mask") {
        this.getChildAt(i).mask = this.magnifier_mask;
    }
}

The above code is inside the document class's constructor method. Simply stating something like:

this.stage_kelp.mask = this.magnifier_mask;

works flawlessly, but only for that one object. Any idea what's wrong?

No errors are thrown, the objects just simply don't get masked.

Answer 1

Further research shows me that I cannot apply 1 mask to multiple objects. I have to have a mask for each object, or put all the objects into one container and mask that container.

Apparently you can use a layer to mask multiple objects on the timeline, but you can't do it programmatically without adding all the objects to one container. Unfortunately I can't do this without re-coding the entire application, so I will be using the timeline to mask things.

Answer 2

I would suggest you to better move all the movieclips to be masked in a single movieclip. This would be easier, if it's feasible in your case.

Answer 3

How about for each

for (var mc:movieClicp in this){
                  mc.mask=mask_}