The first set of items start out already placed on the stage. Would it be best to add them at the start rather than having them already in their starting points on the stage?

If so, what would the code look like? I'm assuming it would use stage.addChild() but as the object wouldn't be on the stage, it wouldn't have an instance name, so what would I put in the addChild() instead? Also, how do I specify coordinates for where it would be added?

Thanks for the help!

Part of my code is the function update, that starts running when the "start" button is pressed. I have 6 objects that need to be sorted, and I have the following code to get rid of the old 6 items once they are properly sorted:

if (correct > 5){

                              description.alpha = 1;

                              description.text = "Success! Click anywhere to continue.";

                              addChild(nextButton);

                              nextButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, advance)

                              function advance(e:MouseEvent){

  //get rid of old things that have been sorted

                                        removeChild(waterbottle);

   removeChild(plasticbottle);

   //add new things to sort

   addChild(bananapeel);

   addChild(lightbulb);

                              }

}

I suppose after the items have been added and the next stage starts, I'd want to remove "nextButton" and its event listener.

All of my code and objects are in frame 1.

Earlier in the code I used removeChild to "hide" the nextButton.

The problem arises in an earlier part of the update function:

plasticbottle.update();

plasticbottle is in a particle-like class that falls according to gravity, and it seems that it doesn't want to be removed since the plasticbottle.update(); is still running.

The update function, which starts when the start button is pressed, works like this (pseudocode):

{

Update all the items(gravity, picking up, dropping, etc)

Count how many items have been sorted correctly

If all of the items have been correctly sorted, create a button to go to the next level

When the button is clicked, (this is where I'm having trouble) remove the old objects and add new ones)

}

The error is because once I remove the old objects, it still wants to update them, but they're no longer on the stage.

Hopefully this illustrates what I'd like to do.

That sounds like a good solution, and I'll see if I can figure out arrays. One last question then: Is it best to start with all the objects on the stage and add them all to an array (I believe the command is "push(object)") or do I keep all of the items off the stage and add them using something like "var waterbottle = new Bottle();"? And if they both work, which is preferable?

Thanks for your advice.