About loaded SWF files and the root Timeline

The ActionScript property _root specifies or returns a reference to the root Timeline of a SWF file. If you load a SWF file into a movie clip in another SWF file, any references to _root in the loaded SWF file resolve to the root Timeline in the host SWF file, not that of the loaded SWF file. This can sometimes lead to unexpected behavior at runtime, for example, if the host SWF file and the loaded SWF file both use _root to specify a variable.

In Flash Player 7 and later, you can use the MovieClip._lockroot property to force references to _root made by a movie clip to resolve to its own Timeline, rather than to the Timeline of the SWF file that contains that movie clip. For more information, see Specifying a root Timeline for loaded SWF files.