I am still seeing a lot of confusion over this issue, so i thought i would try to clarify. You can no longer use eval() on the left side of a statement. However, this only applies when publishing as a Flash 6 or greater SWF. This change was made in to be more consistent with ECMA-262.

Couple of points:

• As long as you are publishing as a Flash 5 movie, you can still use eval() on the left side, even if using Flash MX.
• The Flash 6 player will correctly play Flash 5 files with eval() on the left side of a statement.
• The only time this should be a problem, is if you have a Flash 5 movie with eval() on the left side, and try to publish it as a Flash 6 movie. You cannot do this.

Here are links to technotes that describe the issue:

• Eval() on the left side of an argument causes error
• Macromedia Flash MX Top 5 Topics

As a general rule, you should use this["foo"] instead of eval("foo"), even when authoring for Flash 5.

Update [5/14/02] : The technote has been updated. You can read a summary of the changes in the post.