The list of effects that are currently playing on the component, as an Array of EffectInstance instances.

The delegate object that handles the automation-related functionality.

Name that can be used as an identifier for this object.

An implementation of the IAutomationTabularData interface, which can be used to retrieve the data.

This value generally corresponds to the rendered appearance of the object and should be usable for correlating the identifier with the object as it appears visually within the application.

The y-coordinate of the baseline of the first line of text of the component.

This property is used to implement the baseline constraint style. It is also used to align the label of a FormItem with the controls in the FormItem.

Each component should override this property.

Used by Flex to suggest bitmap caching for the object. If cachePolicy is UIComponentCachePolicy.AUTO, then cacheHeuristic is used to control the object's cacheAsBitmap property.

Specifies the bitmap caching policy for this object. Possible values in MXML are "on", "off" and "auto" (default).

Possible values in ActionScript are UIComponentCachePolicy.ON, UIComponentCachePolicy.OFF and UIComponentCachePolicy.AUTO (default).

• A value of UIComponentCachePolicy.ON means that the object is always cached as a bitmap.
• A value of UIComponentCachePolicy.OFF means that the object is never cached as a bitmap.
• A value of UIComponentCachePolicy.AUTO means that the framework uses heuristics to decide whether the object should be cached as a bitmap.

The default value is UIComponentCachePolicy.AUTO.

The name of this instance's class, such as "Button".

This string does not include the package name. If you need the package name as well, call the getQualifiedClassName() method in the flash.utils package. It will return a string such as "mx.controls::Button".

Returns the x position of the mouse, in the content coordinate system. Content coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component's content, and include all of the component's content area, including any regions that are currently clipped and must be accessed by scrolling the component.

Returns the y position of the mouse, in the content coordinate system. Content coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component's content, and include all of the component's content area, including any regions that are currently clipped and must be accessed by scrolling the component.

The current view state of the component. Set to "" or null to reset the component back to its base state.

When you use this property to set a component's state, Flex applies any transition you have defined. You can also use the setCurrentState() method to set the current state; this method can optionally change states without applying a transition.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

See also

Gets the CursorManager that controls the cursor for this component and its peers. Each top-level window has its own instance of a CursorManager; To make sure you're talking to the right one, use this method.

Reference to the UIComponentDescriptor, if any, that was used by the createComponentFromDescriptor() method to create this UIComponent instance. If this UIComponent instance was not created from a descriptor, this property is null.

See also

A reference to the document object associated with this UIComponent. A document object is an Object at the top of the hierarchy of a Flex application, MXML component, or AS component.

Specifies whether the UIComponent object receives doubleClick events. The default value is false, which means that the UIComponent object does not receive doubleClick events.

The mouseEnabled property must also be set to true, its default value, for the object to receive doubleClick events.

The default value is false.

Whether the component can accept user interaction. After setting the enabled property to false, some components still respond to mouse interactions such as mouseOver. As a result, to fully disable UIComponents, you should also set the value of the mouseEnabled property to false. If you set the enabled property to false for a container, Flex dims the color of the container and of all of its children, and blocks user input to the container and to all of its children.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

The text that will be displayed by a component's error tip when a component is monitored by a Validator and validation fails.

You can use the errorString property to show a validation error for a component, without actually using a validator class. When you write a String value to the errorString property, Flex draws a red border around the component to indicate the validation error, and the String appears in a tooltip as the validation error message when you move the mouse over the component, just as if a validator detected a validation error.

To clear the validation error, write an empty String, "", to the errorString property.

Note that writing a value to the errorString property does not trigger the valid or invalid events; it only changes the border color and displays the validation error message.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the explicit height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true explicitHeight with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleY property.

Setting the height property also sets this property to the specified height value.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the maximum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true maxHeight with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleY property. Some components have no theoretical limit to their height. In those cases their maxHeight will be set to UIComponent.DEFAULT_MAX_HEIGHT.

The default value is NaN.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the maximum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true maxWidth with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleX property. Some components have no theoretical limit to their width. In those cases their maxWidth will be set to UIComponent.DEFAULT_MAX_WIDTH.

The default value is NaN.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the minimum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true minHeight with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleY property.

The default value is NaN.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the minimum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true minWidth with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleX property.

The default value is NaN.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the explicit width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true explicitWidth with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleX property.

Setting the width property also sets this property to the specified width value.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

The context menu for this UIComponent.

The default value is null.

Indicates whether the component can receive focus when tabbed to. You can set focusEnabled to false when a UIComponent is used as a subcomponent of another component so that the outer component becomes the focusable entity. If this property is false, focus will be transferred to the first parent that has focusEnable set to true.

The default value is true.

Gets the FocusManager that controls focus for this component and its peers. Each popup has its own focus loop and therefore its own instance of a FocusManager. To make sure you're talking to the right one, use this method.

The focus pane associated with this object. An object has a focus pane when one of its children has focus.

Number that specifies the height of the component, in pixels, in the parent's coordinates. The default value is 0, but this property will contain the actual component height after Flex completes sizing the components in your application.

Note: You can specify a percentage value in the MXML height attribute, such as height="100%", but you cannot use a percentage value for the height property in ActionScript; use the percentHeight property instead.

Setting this property causes a resize event to be dispatched. See the resize event for details on when this event is dispatched. If the component's scaleY property is not 100, the height of the component from its internal coordinates will not match. Thus a 100 pixel high component with a scaleY of 200 will take 100 pixels in the parent, but will internally think it is 50 pixels high.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

ID of the component. This value becomes the instance name of the object and should not contain any white space or special characters. Each component throughout an application should have a unique id.

If your application is going to be tested by third party tools, give each component a meaningful id. Testing tools use ids to represent the control in their scripts and having a meaningful name can make scripts more readable. For example, set the value of a button to submit_button rather than b1 or button1.

Specifies whether this component is included in the layout of the parent container. If true, the object is included in its parent container's layout. If false, the object is positioned by its parent container as per its layout rules, but it is ignored for the purpose of computing the position of the next child.

The default value is true.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

The beginning of this component's chain of inheriting styles. The getStyle() method simply accesses inheritingStyles[styleName] to search the entire prototype-linked chain. This object is set up by initProtoChain(). Developers typically never need to access this property directly.

A flag that determines if an object has been through all three phases of layout: commitment, measurement, and layout (provided that any were required).

The index of a repeated component. If the component is not within a Repeater, the value is -1.

An Array containing the indices required to reference this UIComponent object from its parent document. The Array is empty unless this UIComponent object is within one or more Repeaters. The first element corresponds to the outermost Repeater. For example, if the id is "b" and instanceIndices is [2,4], you would reference it on the parent document as b[2][4].

Determines whether this UIComponent instance is a document object, that is, whether it is at the top of the hierarchy of a Flex application, MXML component, or ActionScript component.

Set to true by the PopUpManager to indicate that component has been popped up.

Number that specifies the maximum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true maxHeight with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleY property. Some components have no theoretical limit to their height. In those cases their maxHeight will be set to UIComponent.DEFAULT_MAX_HEIGHT.

The default value is 10000.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the maximum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true maxWidth with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleX property. Some components have no theoretical limit to their width. In those cases their maxWidth will be set to UIComponent.DEFAULT_MAX_WIDTH.

The default value is 10000.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

The default height of the component, in pixels. This value is set by the measure() method.

The default minimum height of the component, in pixels. This value is set by the measure() method.

The default minimum width of the component, in pixels. This value is set by the measure() method.

The default width of the component, in pixels. This value is set by the measure() method.

Number that specifies the minimum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates. The default value depends on the component implementation.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true minHeight with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleY property.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the minimum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates. The default value depends on the component implementation.

This value is used by the container in calculating the size and position of the component. It is not used by the component itself in determining its default size. Thus this property may not have any effect if parented by Container, or containers that don't factor in this property. Because the value is in component coordinates, the true minWidth with respect to its parent is affected by the scaleX property.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

The moduleFactory that is used to create TextFields in the correct SWF context. This is necessary so that embedded fonts will work.

Whether you can receive focus when clicked on. If false, focus will be transferred to the first parent that is mouseFocusEnable set to true. For example, you can set this property to false on a Button control so that you can use the Tab key to move focus to the control, but not have the control get focus when you click on it.

The default value is true.

Depth of this object in the containment hierarchy. This number is used by the measurement and layout code. The value is 0 if this component is not on the DisplayList.

The beginning of this component's chain of non-inheriting styles. The getStyle() method simply accesses nonInheritingStyles[styleName] to search the entire prototype-linked chain. This object is set up by initProtoChain(). Developers typically never need to access this property directly.

The number of automation children this container has. This sum should not include any composite children, though it does include those children not significant within the automation hierarchy.

The owner of this UIComponent. By default, it is the parent of this UIComponent. However, if this UIComponent object is a child component that is popped up by its parent, such as the dropdown list of a ComboBox control, the owner is the component that popped up this UIComponent object.

This property is not managed by Flex, but by each component. Therefore, if you use the PopUpManger.createPopUp() or PopUpManger.addPopUp() method to pop up a child component, you should set the owner property of the child component to the component that popped it up.

The default value is the value of the parent property.

The parent container or component for this component. Only UIComponent objects should have a parent property. Non-UIComponent objects should use another property to reference the object to which they belong. By convention, non-UIComponent objects use an owner property to reference the object to which they belong.

A reference to the Application object that contains this UIComponent instance. This Application object might exist in a SWFLoader control in another Application, and so on, creating a chain of Application objects that can be walked using parentApplication. The parentApplication property of an Application is never itself; it is either the Application into which it was loaded or null (for the top-level Application). Walking the application chain using the parentApplication property is similar to walking the document chain using the parentDocument property. You can access the top-level application using the application property of the Application class.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

A reference to the parent document object for this UIComponent. A document object is a UIComponent at the top of the hierarchy of a Flex application, MXML component, or AS component. For the Application object, the parentDocument property is null. This property is useful in MXML scripts to go up a level in the chain of document objects. It can be used to walk this chain using parentDocument.parentDocument, and so on. It is typed as Object so that authors can access properties and methods on ancestor document objects without casting.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the height of a component as a percentage of its parent's size. Allowed values are 0-100. The default value is NaN. Setting the height or explicitHeight properties resets this property to NaN.

This property returns a numeric value only if the property was previously set; it does not reflect the exact size of the component in percent.

This property is always set to NaN for the UITextField control.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the width of a component as a percentage of its parent's size. Allowed values are 0-100. The default value is NaN. Setting the width or explicitWidth properties resets this property to NaN.

This property returns a numeric value only if the property was previously set; it does not reflect the exact size of the component in percent.

This property is always set to NaN for the UITextField control.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Set to true after immediate or deferred child creation, depending on which one happens. For a Container object, it is set to true at the end of the createComponentsFromDescriptors() method, meaning after the Container object creates its children from its child descriptors.

For example, if an Accordion container uses deferred instantiation, the processedDescriptors property for the second pane of the Accordion container does not become true until after the user navigates to that pane and the pane creates its children. But, if the Accordion had set the creationPolicy property to "all", the processedDescriptors property for its second pane is set to true during application startup.

For classes that are not containers, which do not have descriptors, it is set to true after the createChildren() method creates any internal component children.

A reference to the Repeater object in the parent document that produced this UIComponent. Use this property, rather than the repeaters property, when the UIComponent is created by a single Repeater object. Use the repeaters property when this UIComponent is created by nested Repeater objects.

The property is set to null when this UIComponent is not created by a Repeater.

The index of the item in the data provider of the Repeater that produced this UIComponent. Use this property, rather than the repeaterIndices property, when the UIComponent is created by a single Repeater object. Use the repeaterIndices property when this UIComponent is created by nested Repeater objects.

This property is set to -1 when this UIComponent is not created by a Repeater.

An Array containing the indices of the items in the data provider of the Repeaters in the parent document that produced this UIComponent. The Array is empty unless this UIComponent is within one or more Repeaters.

The first element in the Array corresponds to the outermost Repeater. For example, if repeaterIndices is [2,4] it means that the outer repeater used item dataProvider[2] and the inner repeater used item dataProvider[4].

Note that this property differs from the instanceIndices property if the startingIndex property of any of the Repeaters is not 0. For example, even if a Repeater starts at dataProvider[4], the document reference of the first repeated object is b[0], not b[4].

An Array containing references to the Repeater objects in the parent document that produced this UIComponent. The Array is empty unless this UIComponent is within one or more Repeaters. The first element corresponds to the outermost Repeater object.

A reference to the object which manages all of the application's localized resources. This is a singleton instance which implements the IResourceManager interface.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the horizontal scaling factor.

The default value is 1.0, which means that the object is not scaled. A scaleX of 2.0 means the object has been magnified by a factor of 2, and a scaleX of 0.5 means the object has been reduced by a factor of 2.

A value of 0.0 is an invalid value. Rather than setting it to 0.0, set it to a small value, or set the visible property to false to hide the component.

The default value is 1.0.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the vertical scaling factor.

The default value is 1.0, which means that the object is not scaled. A scaleY of 2.0 means the object has been magnified by a factor of 2, and a scaleY of 0.5 means the object has been reduced by a factor of 2.

A value of 0.0 is an invalid value. Rather than setting it to 0.0, set it to a small value, or set the visible property to false to hide the component.

The default value is 1.0.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Returns an object that contains the size and position of the base drawing surface for this object.

A flag that determines if an automation object shows in the automation hierarchy. Children of containers that are not visible in the hierarchy appear as children of the next highest visible parent. Typically containers used for layout, such as boxes and Canvas, do not appear in the hierarchy.

Some controls force their children to appear in the hierarchy when appropriate. For example a List will always force item renderers, including boxes, to appear in the hierarchy. Implementers must support setting this property to true.

The view states that are defined for this component. You can specify the states property only on the root of the application or on the root tag of an MXML component. The compiler generates an error if you specify it on any other control.

Storage for the inline inheriting styles on this object. This CSSStyleDeclaration is created the first time that the setStyle() method is called on this component to set an inheriting style. Developers typically never need to access this property directly.

The class style used by this component. This can be a String, CSSStyleDeclaration or an IStyleClient.

If this is a String, it is the name of a class declaration in an mx:Style tag or CSS file. You do not include the period in the styleName. For example, if you have a class style named ".bigText", set the styleName property to "bigText" (no period).

If this is an IStyleClient (typically a UIComponent), all styles in the styleName object are used by this component.

The default value is null.

Returns the SystemManager object used by this component.

Text to display in the ToolTip.

The default value is null.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

An Array of Transition objects, where each Transition object defines a set of effects to play when a view state change occurs.

See also

Array of properties that are currently being tweened on this object.

Used to alert the EffectManager that certain properties of this object are being tweened, so that the EffectManger doesn't attempt to animate the same properties.

A unique identifier for the object. Flex data-driven controls, including all controls that are subclasses of List class, use a UID to track data provider items.

Flex can automatically create and manage UIDs. However, there are circumstances when you must supply your own uid property by implementing the IUID interface, or when supplying your own uid property improves processing efficiency. UIDs do not need to be universally unique for most uses in Flex. One exception is for messages sent by data services.

See also

A convenience method for determining the unscaled height of the component. All of a component's drawing and child layout should be done within a bounding rectangle of this height, which is also passed as an argument to updateDisplayList().

A convenience method for determining the unscaled width of the component All of a component's drawing and child layout should be done within a bounding rectangle of this width, which is also passed as an argument to updateDisplayList().

A flag that determines if an object has been through all three phases of layout validation (provided that any were required).

Used by a validator to associate a subfield with this component.

Controls the visibility of this UIComponent. If true, the object is visible.

When setting to true, the object will dispatch a show event. When setting to false, the object will dispatch a hide event. In either case the children of the object will not emit a show or hide event unless the object has specifically written an implementation to do so.

The default value is true.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the width of the component, in pixels, in the parent's coordinates. The default value is 0, but this property will contain the actual component width after Flex completes sizing the components in your application.

Note: You can specify a percentage value in the MXML width attribute, such as width="100%", but you cannot use a percentage value in the width property in ActionScript. Use the percentWidth property instead.

Setting this property causes a resize event to be dispatched. See the resize event for details on when this event is dispatched. If the component's scaleX property is not 1.0, the width of the component from its internal coordinates will not match. Thus a 100 pixel wide component with a scaleX of 2 will take 100 pixels in the parent, but will internally think it is 50 pixels wide.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the component's horizontal position, in pixels, within its parent container.

Setting this property directly or calling move() will have no effect -- or only a temporary effect -- if the component is parented by a layout container such as HBox, Grid, or Form, because the layout calculations of those containers set the x position to the results of the calculation. However, the x property must almost always be set when the parent is a Canvas or other absolute-positioning container because the default value is 0.

The default value is 0.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Number that specifies the component's vertical position, in pixels, within its parent container.

Setting this property directly or calling move() will have no effect -- or only a temporary effect -- if the component is parented by a layout container such as HBox, Grid, or Form, because the layout calculations of those containers set the x position to the results of the calculation. However, the x property must almost always be set when the parent is a Canvas or other absolute-positioning container because the default value is 0.

The default value is 0.

This property can be used as the source for data binding.

Constructor.

Adjust the focus rectangle.

Parameters

This is an internal method used by the Flex framework to support the Dissolve effect. You should not need to call it or override it.

Queues a function to be called later.

Before each update of the screen, Flash Player or AIR calls the set of functions that are scheduled for the update. Sometimes, a function should be called in the next update to allow the rest of the code scheduled for the current update to be executed. Some features, like effects, can cause queued functions to be delayed until the feature completes.

Parameters

Performs any final processing after child objects are created. This is an advanced method that you might override when creating a subclass of UIComponent.

Deletes a style property from this component instance.

This does not necessarily cause the getStyle() method to return undefined.

Parameters

Processes the properties set on the component. This is an advanced method that you might override when creating a subclass of UIComponent.

You do not call this method directly. Flex calls the commitProperties() method when you use the addChild() method to add a component to a container, or when you call the invalidateProperties() method of the component. Calls to the commitProperties() method occur before calls to the measure() method. This lets you set property values that might be used by the measure() method.

Some components have properties that affect the number or kinds of child objects that they need to create, or have properties that interact with each other, such as the horizontalScrollPolicy and horizontalScrollPosition properties. It is often best at startup time to process all of these properties at one time to avoid duplicating work.

Converts a Point object from content coordinates to global coordinates. Content coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component's content, and include all of the component's content area, including any regions that are currently clipped and must be accessed by scrolling the component. You use the content coordinate system to set and get the positions of children of a container that uses absolute positioning. Global coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper-left corner of the stage, that is, the outermost edge of the application.

Parameters

See also

Converts a Point object from content to local coordinates. Content coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component's content, and include all of the component's content area, including any regions that are currently clipped and must be accessed by scrolling the component. You use the content coordinate system to set and get the positions of children of a container that uses absolute positioning. Local coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component.

Parameters

See also

Returns a set of properties that identify the child within this container. These values should not change during the lifespan of the application.

Parameters

Create child objects of the component. This is an advanced method that you might override when creating a subclass of UIComponent.

A component that creates other components or objects within it is called a composite component. For example, the Flex ComboBox control is actually made up of a TextInput control to define the text area of the ComboBox, and a Button control to define the ComboBox arrow. Components implement the createChildren() method to create child objects (such as other components) within the component.

From within an override of the createChildren() method, you call the addChild() method to add each child object.

You do not call this method directly. Flex calls the createChildren() method in response to the call to the addChild() method to add the component to its parent.

Creates a new object using a context based on the embedded font being used.

This method is used to solve a problem with access to fonts embedded in an application SWF when the framework is loaded as an RSL (the RSL has its own SWF context). Embedded fonts may only be accessed from the SWF file context in which they were created. By using the context of the application SWF, the RSL can create objects in the application SWF context that will have access to the application's embedded fonts.

Call this method only after the font styles for this object are set.

Parameters

Creates the object using a given moduleFactory. If the moduleFactory is null or the object cannot be created using the module factory, then fall back to creating the object using a systemManager.

Parameters

Creates an id reference to this IUIComponent object on its parent document object. This function can create multidimensional references such as b[2][4] for objects inside one or more repeaters. If the indices are null, it creates a simple non-Array reference.

Parameters

Deletes the id reference to this IUIComponent object on its parent document object. This function can delete from multidimensional references such as b[2][4] for objects inside one or more Repeaters. If the indices are null, it deletes the simple non-Array reference.

Parameters

Returns a UITextFormat object corresponding to the text styles for this UIComponent.

Dispatches an event into the event flow. The event target is the EventDispatcher object upon which the dispatchEvent() method is called.

Parameters

Shows or hides the focus indicator around this component.

UIComponent implements this by creating an instance of the class specified by the focusSkin style and positioning it appropriately.

Parameters

Programatically draws a rectangle into this skin's Graphics object.

The rectangle can have rounded corners. Its edges are stroked with the current line style of the Graphics object. It can have a solid color fill, a gradient fill, or no fill. A solid fill can have an alpha transparency. A gradient fill can be linear or radial. You can specify up to 15 colors and alpha values at specified points along the gradient, and you can specify a rotation angle or transformation matrix for the gradient. Finally, the rectangle can have a rounded rectangular hole carved out of it.

This versatile rectangle-drawing routine is used by many skins. It calls the drawRect() or drawRoundRect() methods (in the flash.display.Graphics class) to draw into this skin's Graphics object.

Parameters

Called by the effect instance when it stops playing on the component. You can use this method to restore a modification to the component made by the effectStarted() method when the effect started, or perform some other action when the effect ends.

Parameters

Called by the effect instance when it starts playing on the component. You can use this method to perform a modification to the component as part of an effect. You can use the effectFinished() method to restore the modification when the effect ends.

Parameters

Ends all currently playing effects on the component.

Executes the data bindings into this UIComponent object. Workaround for MXML container/bindings problem (177074): override Container.executeBindings() to prefer descriptor.document over parentDocument in the call to BindingManager.executeBindings(). This should always provide the correct behavior for instances created by descriptor, and will provide the original behavior for procedurally-created instances. (The bug may or may not appear in the latter case.) A more complete fix, guaranteeing correct behavior in both non-DI and reparented-component scenarios, is anticipated for updater 1.

Parameters

Called after printing is complete. For the UIComponent class, the method performs no action. Flex containers override the method to restore the container after printing.

This method is normally not used by application developers.

Parameters

See also

The event handler called when a UIComponent object gets focus. If you override this method, make sure to call the base class version.

Parameters

The event handler called when a UIComponent object loses focus. If you override this method, make sure to call the base class version.

Parameters

Provides the automation object at the specified index. This list should not include any children that are composites.

Parameters

Finds the type selectors for this UIComponent instance. The algorithm walks up the superclass chain. For example, suppose that class MyButton extends Button. A MyButton instance will first look for a MyButton type selector then, it will look for a Button type selector. then, it will look for a UIComponent type selector. (The superclass chain is considered to stop at UIComponent, not Object.)

Returns a layout constraint value, which is the same as getting the constraint style for this component.

Parameters

A convenience method for determining whether to use the explicit or measured height

A convenience method for determining whether to use the explicit or measured width

Gets the object that currently has focus. It might not be this object. Note that this method does not necessarily return the component that has focus. It may return the internal subcomponent of the component that has focus. To get the component that has focus, use the focusManager.focus property.

Returns the item in the dataProvider that was used by the specified Repeater to produce this Repeater, or null if this Repeater isn't repeated. The argument whichRepeater is 0 for the outermost Repeater, 1 for the next inner Repeater, and so on. If whichRepeater is not specified, the innermost Repeater is used.

Parameters

Gets a style property that has been set anywhere in this component's style lookup chain.

This same method is used to get any kind of style property, so the value returned may be a Boolean, String, Number, int, uint (for an RGB color), Class (for a skin), or any kind of object. Therefore the return type is simply specified as *.

If you are getting a particular style property, you will know its type and will often want to store the result in a variable of that type. No casting from * to that type is necessary.

var backgroundColor:uint = getStyle("backgroundColor");

If the style property has not been set anywhere in the style lookup chain, the value returned by getStyle() will be undefined. Note that undefined is a special value that is not the same as false, "", NaN, 0, or null. No valid style value is ever undefined. You can use the static method StyleManager.isValidStyleValue() to test whether the value was set.

Parameters

Converts a Point object from global to content coordinates. Global coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper-left corner of the stage, that is, the outermost edge of the application. Content coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component's content, and include all of the component's content area, including any regions that are currently clipped and must be accessed by scrolling the component. You use the content coordinate system to set and get the positions of children of a container that uses absolute positioning.

Parameters

See also

Returns a box Matrix which can be passed to the drawRoundRect() method as the rot parameter when drawing a horizontal gradient.

For performance reasons, the Matrix is stored in a static variable which is reused by all calls to horizontalGradientMatrix() and verticalGradientMatrix(). Therefore, you should pass the resulting Matrix to drawRoundRect() before calling horizontalGradientMatrix() or verticalGradientMatrix() again.

Parameters

Finalizes the initialization of this component.

This method is the last code that executes when you add a component to a parent for the first time using addChild() or addChildAt(). It handles some housekeeping related to dispatching the initialize event. If you are writing a component, you should not need to override this method.

Initializes the internal structure of this component.

Initializing a UIComponent is the fourth step in the creation of a visual component instance, and happens automatically the first time that the instance is added to a parent. Therefore, you do not generally need to call initialize(); the Flex framework calls it for you from UIComponent's override of the addChild() and addChildAt() methods.

The first step in the creation of a visual component instance is construction, with the new operator:

      var okButton:Button = new Button();

After construction, the new Button instance is a solitary DisplayObject; it does not yet have a UITextField as a child to display its label, and it doesn't have a parent.

The second step is configuring the newly-constructed instance with the appropriate properties, styles, and event handlers:

      okButton.label = "OK";
      okButton.setStyle("cornerRadius", 0);
      okButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickHandler);

The third step is adding the instance to a parent:

      someContainer.addChild(okButton);

A side effect of calling addChild() or addChildAt(), when adding a component to a parent for the first time, is that initialize gets automatically called.

This method first dispatches a preinitialize event, giving developers using this component a chance to affect it before its internal structure has been created. Next it calls the createChildren() method to create the component's internal structure; for a Button, this method creates and adds the UITextField for the label. Then it dispatches an initialize event, giving developers a chance to affect the component after its internal structure has been created.

Note that it is the act of attaching a component to a parent for the first time that triggers the creation of its internal structure. If its internal structure includes other UIComponents, then this is a recursive process in which the tree of DisplayObjects grows by one leaf node at a time.

If you are writing a component, you should not need to override this method.

Initializes this component's accessibility code.

This method is called by the initialize() method to hook in the component's accessibility code, which resides in a separate class in the mx.accessibility package. Each subclass that supports accessibility must override this method because the hook-in process uses a different static variable in each subclass.

Initializes various properties which keep track of repeated instances of this component.

An MXML <mx:Repeater/> tag can cause repeated instances of a component to be created, one instance for each item in the Repeater's data provider. The instanceIndices, repeaters, and repeaterIndices properties of UIComponent keep track of which instance came from which data item and which Repeater.

This method is an internal method which is automatically called by the Flex framework. You should not have to call it or override it.

Parameters

Marks a component so that its updateDisplayList() method gets called during a later screen update.

Invalidation is a useful mechanism for eliminating duplicate work by delaying processing of changes to a component until a later screen update. For example, if you want to change the width and height, it would be wasteful to update the component immediately after you change the width and then update again with the new height. It is more efficient to change both properties and then render the component with its new size once.

Invalidation methods rarely get called. In general, setting a property on a component automatically calls the appropriate invalidation method.

Marks a component so that its commitProperties() method gets called during a later screen update.

Invalidation is a useful mechanism for eliminating duplicate work by delaying processing of changes to a component until a later screen update. For example, if you want to change the text color and size, it would be wasteful to update the color immediately after you change it and then update the size when it gets set. It is more efficient to change both properties and then render the text with its new size and color once.

Invalidation methods rarely get called. In general, setting a property on a component automatically calls the appropriate invalidation method.

Marks a component so that its measure() method gets called during a later screen update.

Invalidation is a useful mechanism for eliminating duplicate work by delaying processing of changes to a component until a later screen update. For example, if you want to change the text and font size, it would be wasteful to update the text immediately after you change it and then update the size when it gets set. It is more efficient to change both properties and then render the text with its new size once.

Invalidation methods rarely get called. In general, setting a property on a component automatically calls the appropriate invalidation method.

Typically overridden by components containing UITextField objects, where the UITextField object gets focus.

Parameters

The event handler called for a keyDown event. If you override this method, make sure to call the base class version.

Parameters

The event handler called for a keyUp event. If you override this method, make sure to call the base class version.

Parameters

Converts a Point object from local to content coordinates. Local coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component. Content coordinates specify a pixel position relative to the upper left corner of the component's content, and include all of the component's content area, including any regions that are currently clipped and must be accessed by scrolling the component. You use the content coordinate system to set and get the positions of children of a container that uses absolute positioning.

Parameters

See also

Calculates the default size, and optionally the default minimum size, of the component. This is an advanced method that you might override when creating a subclass of UIComponent.

You do not call this method directly. Flex calls the measure() method when the component is added to a container using the addChild() method, and when the component's invalidateSize() method is called.

When you set a specific height and width of a component, Flex does not call the measure() method, even if you explicitly call the invalidateSize() method. That is, Flex only calls the measure() method if the explicitWidth property or the explicitHeight property of the component is NaN.

In your override of this method, you must set the measuredWidth and measuredHeight properties to define the default size. You may optionally set the measuredMinWidth and measuredMinHeight properties to define the default minimum size.

Most components calculate these values based on the content they are displaying, and from the properties that affect content display. A few components simply have hard-coded default values.

The conceptual point of measure() is for the component to provide its own natural or intrinsic size as a default. Therefore, the measuredWidth and measuredHeight properties should be determined by factors such as:

• The amount of text the component needs to display.
• The styles, such as fontSize, for that text.
• The size of a JPEG image that the component displays.
• The measured or explicit sizes of the component's children.
• Any borders, margins, and gaps.

In some cases, there is no intrinsic way to determine default values. For example, a simple GreenCircle component might simply set measuredWidth = 100 and measuredHeight = 100 in its measure() method to provide a reasonable default size. In other cases, such as a TextArea, an appropriate computation (such as finding the right width and height that would just display all the text and have the aspect ratio of a Golden Rectangle) might be too time-consuming to be worthwhile.

The default implementation of measure() sets measuredWidth, measuredHeight, measuredMinWidth, and measuredMinHeight to 0.

Measures the specified HTML text, which may contain HTML tags such as <font> and <b>, assuming that it is displayed in a single-line UITextField using a UITextFormat determined by the styles of this UIComponent.

Parameters

Measures the specified text, assuming that it is displayed in a single-line UITextField using a UITextFormat determined by the styles of this UIComponent.

Parameters

Moves the component to a specified position within its parent. Calling this method is exactly the same as setting the component's x and y properties.

If you are overriding the updateDisplayList() method in a custom component, you should call the move() method rather than setting the x and y properties. The difference is that the move() method changes the location of the component and then dispatches a move event when you call the method, while setting the x and y properties changes the location of the component and dispatches the event on the next screen refresh.

Parameters

Propagates style changes to the children. You typically never need to call this method.

Parameters

Returns true if the chain of owner properties points from child to this UIComponent.

Parameters

Called by Flex when a UIComponent object is added to or removed from a parent. Developers typically never need to call this method.

Parameters

Prepares an IFlexDisplayObject for printing. For the UIComponent class, the method performs no action. Flex containers override the method to prepare for printing; for example, by removing scroll bars from the printed output.

This method is normally not used by application developers.

Parameters

See also

Builds or rebuilds the CSS style cache for this component and, if the recursive parameter is true, for all descendants of this component as well.

The Flex framework calls this method in the following situations:

• When you add a UIComponent to a parent using the addChild() or addChildAt() methods.
• When you change the styleName property of a UIComponent.
• When you set a style in a CSS selector using the setStyle() method of CSSStyleDeclaration.

Building the style cache is a computation-intensive operation, so you should avoid changing styleName or setting selector styles unnecessarily.

This method is not called when you set an instance style by calling the setStyle() method of UIComponent. Setting an instance style is a relatively fast operation compared with setting a selector style.

You should not need to call or override this method.

Parameters

For each effect event, registers the EffectManager as one of the event listeners. You typically never need to call this method.

Parameters

Replays the specified event. A component author should probably call super.replayAutomatableEvent in case default replay behavior has been defined in a superclass.

Parameters

Resolves a child by using the id provided. The id is a set of properties as provided by the createAutomationIDPart() method.

Parameters

This method is called when a UIComponent is constructed, and again whenever the ResourceManager dispatches a "change" Event to indicate that the localized resources have changed in some way.

This event will be dispatched when you set the ResourceManager's localeChain property, when a resource module has finished loading, and when you call the ResourceManager's update() method.

Subclasses should override this method and, after calling super.resourcesChanged(), do whatever is appropriate in response to having new resource values.

Resumes the background processing of methods queued by callLater(), after a call to suspendBackgroundProcessing().

Refer to the description of suspendBackgroundProcessing() for more information.

Sizes the object. Unlike directly setting the width and height properties, calling the setActualSize() method does not set the explictWidth and explicitHeight properties, so a future layout calculation may result in the object returning to its previous size. This method is used primarily by component developers implementing the updateDisplayList() method, by Effects, and by the LayoutManager.

Parameters

Sets a layout constraint value, which is the same as setting the constraint style for this component.

Parameters

Set the current state.

Parameters

See also

Sets the focus to this component. The component may in turn pass focus to a subcomponent.

Note: Only the TextInput and TextArea controls show a highlight when this method sets the focus. All controls show a highlight when the user tabs to the control.

Sets a style property on this component instance.

This may override a style that was set globally.

Calling the setStyle() method can result in decreased performance. Use it only when necessary.

Parameters

Called when the visible property changes. You should set the visible property to show or hide a component instead of calling this method directly.

Parameters

Detects changes to style properties. When any style property is set, Flex calls the styleChanged() method, passing to it the name of the style being set.

This is an advanced method that you might override when creating a subclass of UIComponent. When you create a custom component, you can override the styleChanged() method to check the style name passed to it, and handle the change accordingly. This lets you override the default behavior of an existing style, or add your own custom style properties.

If you handle the style property, your override of the styleChanged() method should call the invalidateDisplayList() method to cause Flex to execute the component's updateDisplayList() method at the next screen update.

Parameters

Flex calls the stylesInitialized() method when the styles for a component are first initialized.

This is an advanced method that you might override when creating a subclass of UIComponent. Flex guarantees that your component's styles will be fully initialized before the first time your component's measure and updateDisplayList methods are called. For most components, that is sufficient. But if you need early access to your style values, you can override the stylesInitialized() function to access style properties as soon as they are initialized the first time.

Blocks the background processing of methods queued by callLater(), until resumeBackgroundProcessing() is called.

These methods can be useful when you have time-critical code which needs to execute without interruption. For example, when you set the suspendBackgroundProcessing property of an Effect to true, suspendBackgroundProcessing() is automatically called when it starts playing, and resumeBackgroundProcessing is called when it stops, in order to ensure that the animation is smooth.

Since the LayoutManager uses callLater(), this means that commitProperties(), measure(), and updateDisplayList() will not get called in between calls to suspendBackgroundProcessing() and resumeBackgroundProcessing().

It is safe for both an outer method and an inner method (i.e., one that the outer methods calls) to call suspendBackgroundProcessing() and resumeBackgroundProcessing(), because these methods actually increment and decrement a counter which determines whether background processing occurs.