WP Alchemy: Attempting to echo index - php

Question

I'm attempting to show users the current index of the slide they are on. Using WP Alchemy, I can get all the labels and inputs to display their names and values correctly. However, when trying to use the_index(), I can't get the correct index to echo after adding more than 2 slides.
I've removed all my javascript to ensure it wasn't something that was conflicting with jQuery's .sortable(). After the second slide, all names and indexes outside a label or input is: _homepage_slider[slides_2][1][handle] or 1. Anything I need to do, or will it only work in inputs and labels?
<?php global $wpalchemy_media_access; ?>
<div class="my_meta_control">
<?php while($mb->have_fields_and_multi('slides_2')): ?>
<?php $mb->the_group_open(); ?>
<table class="meta-field sortable table" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td width="30" class="handle"><?php $mb->the_index() //Only echoes '1' after the second iteration ?></td>
<td width="280" class="imagefield">
<?php $mb->the_field('imgurl'); ?>
<?php $wpalchemy_media_access->setGroupName('img-n'. $mb->get_the_index())->setInsertButtonLabel('Insert'); ?>
<img data-image="mediafield-img-n<?php $mb->the_index() ?>" src="<?php bloginfo('template_url') ?>/framework/images/cm-no-image.jpg" />
<div class="media-field-input hide">
<?php echo $wpalchemy_media_access->getField(array('name' => $mb->get_the_name(), 'value' => $mb->get_the_value())); ?>
</div>
<div class="add-media-btn">
<?php echo $wpalchemy_media_access->getButton(); ?>
</div>
</td>
<td class="last-col">
<?php $mb->the_field('title'); ?>
<label for="<?php $mb->the_name(); ?>">Title</label>
<div><input type="text" id="<?php $mb->the_name(); ?>" name="<?php $mb->the_name(); ?>" value="<?php $mb->the_value(); ?>"/></div>
<?php $mb->the_field('handle'); ?>
<p>Name: <?php $mb->the_name(); //Only echoes _homepage_slider[slides_2][1][handle] after second iteration ?></p>
<p>Index: <?php $mb->the_index(); //Only echoes '1' after second iteration ?></p>
Remove Slide
</td>
</tr>
</table><!-- /.meta-field -->
<?php $mb->the_group_close(); ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<p style="margin-bottom:15px; padding-top:5px;">Add</p>
</div>

Answer 1

For any of you wondering, WP Alchemy doesn't work this way. You can add field identifiers to the name, class, id, or value attributes of an element. When echoing the index, it needs a "n" in front of it.
For example:
<?php $mb->the_field('handle'); ?>
<input type="hidden" class="anything-i-want-n<?php $mb->the_index() //This will work ?>" name="<?php $name = $mb->get_the_name() ?>" />
<?php echo $mb->the_index() //This will not ?>