class MovieClip

Specifies the button mode of this sprite. If true, this sprite behaves as a button, which means that it triggers the display of the hand cursor when the pointer passes over the sprite and can receive a click event if the enter or space keys are pressed when the sprite has focus. You can suppress the display of the hand cursor by setting the useHandCursor property to false, in which case the pointer is displayed.

Although it is better to use the SimpleButton class to create buttons, you can use the buttonMode property to give a sprite some button-like functionality. To include a sprite in the tab order, set the tabEnabled property(inherited from the InteractiveObject class and false by default) to true. Additionally, consider whether you want the children of your sprite to be user input enabled. Most buttons do not enable user input interactivity for their child objects because it confuses the event flow. To disable user input interactivity for all child objects, you must set the mouseChildren property(inherited from the DisplayObjectContainer class) to false.

If you use the buttonMode property with the MovieClip class(which is a subclass of the Sprite class), your button might have some added functionality. If you include frames labeled _up, _over, and _down, Flash Player provides automatic state changes(functionality similar to that provided in previous versions of ActionScript for movie clips used as buttons). These automatic state changes are not available for sprites, which have no timeline, and thus no frames to label.

Specifies the display object over which the sprite is being dragged, or on which the sprite was dropped.

Specifies the Graphics object that belongs to this sprite where vector drawing commands can occur.

Designates another sprite to serve as the hit area for a sprite. If the hitArea property does not exist or the value is null or undefined, the sprite itself is used as the hit area. The value of the hitArea property can be a reference to a Sprite object. You can change the hitArea property at any time; the modified sprite immediately uses the new hit area behavior. The sprite designated as the hit area does not need to be visible; its graphical shape, although not visible, is still detected as the hit area.

Note: You must set to false the mouseEnabled property of the sprite designated as the hit area. Otherwise, your sprite button might not work because the sprite designated as the hit area receives the user input events instead of your sprite button.

A Boolean value that indicates whether the pointing hand (hand cursor) appears when the pointer rolls over a sprite in which the buttonMode property is set to true. The default value of the useHandCursor property is true. If useHandCursor is set to true, the pointing hand used for buttons appears when the pointer rolls over a button sprite. If useHandCursor is false, the arrow pointer is used instead.

You can change the useHandCursor property at any time; the modified sprite immediately takes on the new cursor appearance.

Note: In Flex or Flash Builder, if your sprite has child sprites, you might want to set the mouseChildren property to false. For example, if you want a hand cursor to appear over a Flex control, set the useHandCursor and buttonMode properties to true, and the mouseChildren property to false.

Determines whether or not the children of the object are mouse, or user input device, enabled. If an object is enabled, a user can interact with it by using a mouse or user input device. The default is true.

This property is useful when you create a button with an instance of the Sprite class (instead of using the SimpleButton class). When you use a Sprite instance to create a button, you can choose to decorate the button by using the addChild() method to add additional Sprite instances. This process can cause unexpected behavior with mouse events because the Sprite instances you add as children can become the target object of a mouse event when you expect the parent instance to be the target object. To ensure that the parent instance serves as the target objects for mouse events, you can set the mouseChildren property of the parent instance to false.

No event is dispatched by setting this property. You must use the addEventListener() method to create interactive functionality.

Returns the number of children of this object.

Determines whether the children of the object are tab enabled. Enables or disables tabbing for the children of the object. The default is true.

Note: Do not use the tabChildren property with Flex. Instead, use the mx.core.UIComponent.hasFocusableChildren property.

Throws:

Specifies whether the object receives doubleClick events. The default value is false, which means that by default an InteractiveObject instance does not receive doubleClick events. If the doubleClickEnabled property is set to true, the instance receives doubleClick events within its bounds. The mouseEnabled property of the InteractiveObject instance must also be set to true for the object to receive doubleClick events.

No event is dispatched by setting this property. You must use the addEventListener() method to add an event listener for the doubleClick event.

Specifies whether this object displays a focus rectangle. It can take one of three values: true, false, or null. Values of true and false work as expected, specifying whether or not the focus rectangle appears. A value of null indicates that this object obeys the stageFocusRect property of the Stage.

Specifies whether this object receives mouse, or other user input, messages. The default value is true, which means that by default any InteractiveObject instance that is on the display list receives mouse events or other user input events. If mouseEnabled is set to false, the instance does not receive any mouse events (or other user input events like keyboard events). Any children of this instance on the display list are not affected. To change the mouseEnabled behavior for all children of an object on the display list, use openfl.display.DisplayObjectContainer.mouseChildren.

No event is dispatched by setting this property. You must use the addEventListener() method to create interactive functionality.

Specifies whether a virtual keyboard (an on-screen, software keyboard) should display when this InteractiveObject instance receives focus.

By default, the value is false and focusing an InteractiveObject instance does not raise a soft keyboard. If the needsSoftKeyboard property is set to true, the runtime raises a soft keyboard when the InteractiveObject instance is ready to accept user input. An InteractiveObject instance is ready to accept user input after a programmatic call to set the Stage focus property or a user interaction, such as a "tap." If the client system has a hardware keyboard available or does not support virtual keyboards, then the soft keyboard is not raised.

The InteractiveObject instance dispatches softKeyboardActivating, softKeyboardActivate, and softKeyboardDeactivate events when the soft keyboard raises and lowers.

Note: This property is not supported in AIR applications on iOS.

Defines the area that should remain on-screen when a soft keyboard is displayed. If the needsSoftKeyboard property of this InteractiveObject is true, then the runtime adjusts the display as needed to keep the object in view while the user types. Ordinarily, the runtime uses the object bounds obtained from the DisplayObject.getBounds() method. You can specify a different area using this softKeyboardInputAreaOfInterest property.

Specify the softKeyboardInputAreaOfInterest in stage coordinates.

Note: On Android, the softKeyboardInputAreaOfInterest is not respected in landscape orientations.

Specifies whether this object is in the tab order. If this object is in the tab order, the value is true; otherwise, the value is false. By default, the value is false, except for the following: For a SimpleButton object, the value is true. For a TextField object with type = "input", the value is true. * For a Sprite object or MovieClip object with buttonMode = true, the value is true.

Specifies the tab ordering of objects in a SWF file. The tabIndex property is -1 by default, meaning no tab index is set for the object.

If any currently displayed object in the SWF file contains a tabIndex property, automatic tab ordering is disabled, and the tab ordering is calculated from the tabIndex properties of objects in the SWF file. The custom tab ordering includes only objects that have tabIndex properties.

The tabIndex property can be a non-negative integer. The objects are ordered according to their tabIndex properties, in ascending order. An object with a tabIndex value of 1 precedes an object with a tabIndex value of 2. Do not use the same tabIndex value for multiple objects.

The custom tab ordering that the tabIndex property defines is flat. This means that no attention is paid to the hierarchical relationships of objects in the SWF file. All objects in the SWF file with tabIndex properties are placed in the tab order, and the tab order is determined by the order of the tabIndex values.

Note: To set the tab order for TLFTextField instances, cast the display object child of the TLFTextField as an InteractiveObject, then set the tabIndex property. For example:

cast(tlfInstance.getChildAt(1), InteractiveObject).tabIndex = 3;

To reverse the tab order from the default setting for three instances of a TLFTextField object (tlfInstance1, tlfInstance2 and tlfInstance3), use:

cast(tlfInstance1.getChildAt(1), InteractiveObject).tabIndex = 3;
cast(tlfInstance2.getChildAt(1), InteractiveObject).tabIndex = 2;
cast(tlfInstance3.getChildAt(1), InteractiveObject).tabIndex = 1;

Indicates the alpha transparency value of the object specified. Valid values are 0 (fully transparent) to 1 (fully opaque). The default value is 1. Display objects with alpha set to 0 are active, even though they are invisible.

See also:

• Fading objects

A value from the BlendMode class that specifies which blend mode to use. A bitmap can be drawn internally in two ways. If you have a blend mode enabled or an external clipping mask, the bitmap is drawn by adding a bitmap-filled square shape to the vector render. If you attempt to set this property to an invalid value, Flash runtimes set the value to BlendMode.NORMAL.

The blendMode property affects each pixel of the display object. Each pixel is composed of three constituent colors(red, green, and blue), and each constituent color has a value between 0x00 and 0xFF. Flash Player or Adobe AIR compares each constituent color of one pixel in the movie clip with the corresponding color of the pixel in the background. For example, if blendMode is set to BlendMode.LIGHTEN, Flash Player or Adobe AIR compares the red value of the display object with the red value of the background, and uses the lighter of the two as the value for the red component of the displayed color.

The following table describes the blendMode settings. The BlendMode class defines string values you can use. The illustrations in the table show blendMode values applied to a circular display object(2) superimposed on another display object(1).

BlendMode Constant	Illustration	Description
BlendMode.NORMAL		The display object appears in front of the background. Pixel values of the display object override those of the background. Where the display object is transparent, the background is visible.
BlendMode.LAYER		Forces the creation of a transparency group for the display object. This means that the display object is pre-composed in a temporary buffer before it is processed further. This is done automatically if the display object is pre-cached using bitmap caching or if the display object is a display object container with at least one child object with a blendMode setting other than BlendMode.NORMAL. Not supported under GPU rendering.
BlendMode.MULTIPLY		Multiplies the values of the display object constituent colors by the colors of the background color, and then normalizes by dividing by 0xFF, resulting in darker colors. This setting is commonly used for shadows and depth effects. For example, if a constituent color (such as red) of one pixel in the display object and the corresponding color of the pixel in the background both have the value 0x88, the multiplied result is 0x4840. Dividing by 0xFF yields a value of 0x48 for that constituent color, which is a darker shade than the color of the display object or the color of the background.
BlendMode.SCREEN		Multiplies the complement (inverse) of the display object color by the complement of the background color, resulting in a bleaching effect. This setting is commonly used for highlights or to remove black areas of the display object.
BlendMode.LIGHTEN		Selects the lighter of the constituent colors of the display object and the color of the background (the colors with the larger values). This setting is commonly used for superimposing type. For example, if the display object has a pixel with an RGB value of 0xFFCC33, and the background pixel has an RGB value of 0xDDF800, the resulting RGB value for the displayed pixel is 0xFFF833 (because 0xFF > 0xDD, 0xCC < 0xF8, and 0x33 > 0x00 = 33). Not supported under GPU rendering.
BlendMode.DARKEN		Selects the darker of the constituent colors of the display object and the colors of the background (the colors with the smaller values). This setting is commonly used for superimposing type. For example, if the display object has a pixel with an RGB value of 0xFFCC33, and the background pixel has an RGB value of 0xDDF800, the resulting RGB value for the displayed pixel is 0xDDCC00 (because 0xFF > 0xDD, 0xCC < 0xF8, and 0x33 > 0x00 = 33). Not supported under GPU rendering.
BlendMode.DIFFERENCE		Compares the constituent colors of the display object with the colors of its background, and subtracts the darker of the values of the two constituent colors from the lighter value. This setting is commonly used for more vibrant colors. For example, if the display object has a pixel with an RGB value of 0xFFCC33, and the background pixel has an RGB value of 0xDDF800, the resulting RGB value for the displayed pixel is 0x222C33 (because 0xFF - 0xDD = 0x22, 0xF8 - 0xCC = 0x2C, and 0x33 - 0x00 = 0x33).
BlendMode.ADD		Adds the values of the constituent colors of the display object to the colors of its background, applying a ceiling of 0xFF. This setting is commonly used for animating a lightening dissolve between two objects. For example, if the display object has a pixel with an RGB value of 0xAAA633, and the background pixel has an RGB value of 0xDD2200, the resulting RGB value for the displayed pixel is 0xFFC833 (because 0xAA + 0xDD > 0xFF, 0xA6 + 0x22 = 0xC8, and 0x33 + 0x00 = 0x33).
BlendMode.SUBTRACT		Subtracts the values of the constituent colors in the display object from the values of the background color, applying a floor of 0. This setting is commonly used for animating a darkening dissolve between two objects. For example, if the display object has a pixel with an RGB value of 0xAA2233, and the background pixel has an RGB value of 0xDDA600, the resulting RGB value for the displayed pixel is 0x338400 (because 0xDD - 0xAA = 0x33, 0xA6 - 0x22 = 0x84, and 0x00 - 0x33 < 0x00).
BlendMode.INVERT		Inverts the background.
BlendMode.ALPHA		Applies the alpha value of each pixel of the display object to the background. This requires the blendMode setting of the parent display object to be set to BlendMode.LAYER. For example, in the illustration, the parent display object, which is a white background, has blendMode = BlendMode.LAYER. Not supported under GPU rendering.
BlendMode.ERASE		Erases the background based on the alpha value of the display object. This requires the blendMode of the parent display object to be set to BlendMode.LAYER. For example, in the illustration, the parent display object, which is a white background, has blendMode = BlendMode.LAYER. Not supported under GPU rendering.
BlendMode.OVERLAY		Adjusts the color of each pixel based on the darkness of the background. If the background is lighter than 50% gray, the display object and background colors are screened, which results in a lighter color. If the background is darker than 50% gray, the colors are multiplied, which results in a darker color. This setting is commonly used for shading effects. Not supported under GPU rendering.
BlendMode.HARDLIGHT		Adjusts the color of each pixel based on the darkness of the display object. If the display object is lighter than 50% gray, the display object and background colors are screened, which results in a lighter color. If the display object is darker than 50% gray, the colors are multiplied, which results in a darker color. This setting is commonly used for shading effects. Not supported under GPU rendering.
BlendMode.SHADER	N/A	Adjusts the color using a custom shader routine. The shader that is used is specified as the Shader instance assigned to the blendShader property. Setting the blendShader property of a display object to a Shader instance automatically sets the display object's blendMode property to BlendMode.SHADER. If the blendMode property is set to BlendMode.SHADER without first setting the blendShader property, the blendMode property is set to BlendMode.NORMAL. Not supported under GPU rendering.

See also:

• Applying blending modes

All vector data for a display object that has a cached bitmap is drawn to the bitmap instead of the main display. If cacheAsBitmapMatrix is null or unsupported, the bitmap is then copied to the main display as unstretched, unrotated pixels snapped to the nearest pixel boundaries. Pixels are mapped 1 to 1 with the parent object. If the bounds of the bitmap change, the bitmap is recreated instead of being stretched.

If cacheAsBitmapMatrix is non-null and supported, the object is drawn to the off-screen bitmap using that matrix and the stretched and/or rotated results of that rendering are used to draw the object to the main display.

No internal bitmap is created unless the cacheAsBitmap property is set to true.

After you set the cacheAsBitmap property to true, the rendering does not change, however the display object performs pixel snapping automatically. The animation speed can be significantly faster depending on the complexity of the vector content.

The cacheAsBitmap property is automatically set to true whenever you apply a filter to a display object(when its filter array is not empty), and if a display object has a filter applied to it, cacheAsBitmap is reported as true for that display object, even if you set the property to false. If you clear all filters for a display object, the cacheAsBitmap setting changes to what it was last set to.

A display object does not use a bitmap even if the cacheAsBitmap property is set to true and instead renders from vector data in the following cases:

• The bitmap is too large. In AIR 1.5 and Flash Player 10, the maximum size for a bitmap image is 8,191 pixels in width or height, and the total number of pixels cannot exceed 16,777,215 pixels.(So, if a bitmap image is 8,191 pixels wide, it can only be 2,048 pixels high.) In Flash Player 9 and earlier, the limitation is is 2880 pixels in height and 2,880 pixels in width.
• The bitmap fails to allocate (out of memory error).

The cacheAsBitmap property is best used with movie clips that have mostly static content and that do not scale and rotate frequently. With such movie clips, cacheAsBitmap can lead to performance increases when the movie clip is translated (when its x and y position is changed).

See also:

• Caching display objects

If non-null, this Matrix object defines how a display object is rendered when cacheAsBitmap is set to true. The application uses this matrix as a transformation matrix that is applied when rendering the bitmap version of the display object.

Adobe AIR profile support: This feature is supported on mobile devices, but it is not supported on desktop operating systems. It also has limited support on AIR for TV devices. Specifically, on AIR for TV devices, supported transformations include scaling and translation, but not rotation and skewing. See AIR Profile Support for more information regarding API support across multiple profiles.

With cacheAsBitmapMatrix set, the application retains a cached bitmap image across various 2D transformations, including translation, rotation, and scaling. If the application uses hardware acceleration, the object will be stored in video memory as a texture. This allows the GPU to apply the supported transformations to the object. The GPU can perform these transformations faster than the CPU.

To use the hardware acceleration, set Rendering to GPU in the General tab of the iPhone Settings dialog box in Flash Professional CS5. Or set the renderMode property to gpu in the application descriptor file. Note that AIR for TV devices automatically use hardware acceleration if it is available.

For example, the following code sends an untransformed bitmap representation of the display object to the GPU:

var matrix:Matrix = new Matrix(); // creates an identity matrix
mySprite.cacheAsBitmapMatrix = matrix;
mySprite.cacheAsBitmap = true;

Usually, the identity matrix (new Matrix()) suffices. However, you can use another matrix, such as a scaled-down matrix, to upload a different bitmap to the GPU. For example, the following example applies a cacheAsBitmapMatrix matrix that is scaled by 0.5 on the x and y axes. The bitmap object that the GPU uses is smaller, however the GPU adjusts its size to match the transform.matrix property of the display object:

var matrix:Matrix = new Matrix(); // creates an identity matrix
matrix.scale(0.5, 0.5); // scales the matrix
mySprite.cacheAsBitmapMatrix = matrix;
mySprite.cacheAsBitmap = true;

Generally, you should choose to use a matrix that transforms the display object to the size that it will appear in the application. For example, if your application displays the bitmap version of the sprite scaled down by a half, use a matrix that scales down by a half. If you application will display the sprite larger than its current dimensions, use a matrix that scales up by that factor.

Note: The cacheAsBitmapMatrix property is suitable for 2D transformations. If you need to apply transformations in 3D, you may do so by setting a 3D property of the object and manipulating its transform.matrix3D property. If the application is packaged using GPU mode, this allows the 3D transforms to be applied to the object by the GPU. The cacheAsBitmapMatrix is ignored for 3D objects.

See also:

• Caching display objects

An indexed array that contains each filter object currently associated with the display object. The openfl.filters package contains several classes that define specific filters you can use.

Filters can be applied in Flash Professional at design time, or at run time by using Haxe code. To apply a filter by using Haxe, you must make a temporary copy of the entire filters array, modify the temporary array, then assign the value of the temporary array back to the filters array. You cannot directly add a new filter object to the filters array.

To add a filter by using Haxe, perform the following steps (assume that the target display object is named myDisplayObject):

1. Create a new filter object by using the constructor method of your chosen filter class.
2. Assign the value of the myDisplayObject.filters array to a temporary array, such as one named myFilters.
3. Add the new filter object to the myFilters temporary array.
4. Assign the value of the temporary array to the myDisplayObject.filters array.

If the filters array is undefined, you do not need to use a temporary array. Instead, you can directly assign an array literal that contains one or more filter objects that you create. The first example in the Examples section adds a drop shadow filter by using code that handles both defined and undefined filters arrays.

To modify an existing filter object, you must use the technique of modifying a copy of the filters array:

1. Assign the value of the filters array to a temporary array, such as one named myFilters.
2. Modify the property by using the temporary array, myFilters. For example, to set the quality property of the first filter in the array, you could use the following code: myFilters[0].quality = 1;
3. Assign the value of the temporary array to the filters array.

At load time, if a display object has an associated filter, it is marked to cache itself as a transparent bitmap. From this point forward, as long as the display object has a valid filter list, the player caches the display object as a bitmap. This source bitmap is used as a source image for the filter effects. Each display object usually has two bitmaps: one with the original unfiltered source display object and another for the final image after filtering. The final image is used when rendering. As long as the display object does not change, the final image does not need updating.

The openfl.filters package includes classes for filters. For example, to create a DropShadow filter, you would write:

Throws:

Indicates the height of the display object, in pixels. The height is calculated based on the bounds of the content of the display object. When you set the height property, the scaleY property is adjusted accordingly, as shown in the following code:

Except for TextField and Video objects, a display object with no content(such as an empty sprite) has a height of 0, even if you try to set height to a different value.

See also:

• Manipulating size and scaling objects

Returns a LoaderInfo object containing information about loading the file to which this display object belongs. The loaderInfo property is defined only for the root display object of a SWF file or for a loaded Bitmap (not for a Bitmap that is drawn with Haxe). To find the loaderInfo object associated with the SWF file that contains a display object named myDisplayObject, use myDisplayObject.root.loaderInfo.

A large SWF file can monitor its download by calling this.root.loaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, func).

The calling display object is masked by the specified mask object. To ensure that masking works when the Stage is scaled, the mask display object must be in an active part of the display list. The mask object itself is not drawn. Set mask to null to remove the mask.

To be able to scale a mask object, it must be on the display list. To be able to drag a mask Sprite object (by calling its startDrag() method), it must be on the display list. To call the startDrag() method for a mask sprite based on a mouseDown event being dispatched by the sprite, set the sprite's buttonMode property to true.

When display objects are cached by setting the cacheAsBitmap property to true an the cacheAsBitmapMatrix property to a Matrix object, both the mask and the display object being masked must be part of the same cached bitmap. Thus, if the display object is cached, then the mask must be a child of the display object. If an ancestor of the display object on the display list is cached, then the mask must be a child of that ancestor or one of its descendents. If more than one ancestor of the masked object is cached, then the mask must be a descendent of the cached container closest to the masked object in the display list.

Note: A single mask object cannot be used to mask more than one calling display object. When the mask is assigned to a second display object, it is removed as the mask of the first object, and that object's mask property becomes null.

See also:

• Masking display objects

Indicates the x coordinate of the mouse or user input device position, in pixels.

Note: For a DisplayObject that has been rotated, the returned x coordinate will reflect the non-rotated object.

See also:

• Capturing mouse input

Indicates the y coordinate of the mouse or user input device position, in pixels.

Note: For a DisplayObject that has been rotated, the returned y coordinate will reflect the non-rotated object.

See also:

• Capturing mouse input

Indicates the instance name of the DisplayObject. The object can be identified in the child list of its parent display object container by calling the getChildByName() method of the display object container.

Throws:

Specifies whether the display object is opaque with a certain background color. A transparent bitmap contains alpha channel data and is drawn transparently. An opaque bitmap has no alpha channel (and renders faster than a transparent bitmap). If the bitmap is opaque, you specify its own background color to use.

If set to a number value, the surface is opaque (not transparent) with the RGB background color that the number specifies. If set to null(the default value), the display object has a transparent background.

The opaqueBackground property is intended mainly for use with the cacheAsBitmap property, for rendering optimization. For display objects in which the cacheAsBitmap property is set to true, setting opaqueBackground can improve rendering performance.

The opaque background region is not matched when calling the hitTestPoint() method with the shapeFlag parameter set to true.

The opaque background region does not respond to mouse events.

See also:

• Setting an opaque background

Indicates the DisplayObjectContainer object that contains this display object. Use the parent property to specify a relative path to display objects that are above the current display object in the display list hierarchy.

You can use parent to move up multiple levels in the display list as in the following:

this.parent.parent.alpha = 20;

Throws:

See also:

• Traversing the display list

For a display object in a loaded SWF file, the root property is the top-most display object in the portion of the display list's tree structure represented by that SWF file. For a Bitmap object representing a loaded image file, the root property is the Bitmap object itself. For the instance of the main class of the first SWF file loaded, the root property is the display object itself. The root property of the Stage object is the Stage object itself. The root property is set to null for any display object that has not been added to the display list, unless it has been added to a display object container that is off the display list but that is a child of the top-most display object in a loaded SWF file.

For example, if you create a new Sprite object by calling the Sprite() constructor method, its root property is null until you add it to the display list (or to a display object container that is off the display list but that is a child of the top-most display object in a SWF file).

For a loaded SWF file, even though the Loader object used to load the file may not be on the display list, the top-most display object in the SWF file has its root property set to itself. The Loader object does not have its root property set until it is added as a child of a display object for which the root property is set.

See also:

• Traversing the display list

Indicates the rotation of the DisplayObject instance, in degrees, from its original orientation. Values from 0 to 180 represent clockwise rotation; values from 0 to -180 represent counterclockwise rotation. Values outside this range are added to or subtracted from 360 to obtain a value within the range. For example, the statement my_video.rotation = 450 is the same as my_video.rotation = 90.

See also:

• Rotating objects

The current scaling grid that is in effect. If set to null, the entire display object is scaled normally when any scale transformation is applied.

When you define the scale9Grid property, the display object is divided into a grid with nine regions based on the scale9Grid rectangle, which defines the center region of the grid. The eight other regions of the grid are the following areas:

• The upper-left corner outside of the rectangle
• The area above the rectangle
• The upper-right corner outside of the rectangle
• The area to the left of the rectangle
• The area to the right of the rectangle
• The lower-left corner outside of the rectangle
• The area below the rectangle
• The lower-right corner outside of the rectangle

You can think of the eight regions outside of the center (defined by the rectangle) as being like a picture frame that has special rules applied to it when scaled.

Note: Content that is not rendered through the graphics interface of a display object will not be affected by the scale9Grid property.

When the scale9Grid property is set and a display object is scaled, all text and gradients are scaled normally; however, for other types of objects the following rules apply:

• Content in the center region is scaled normally.
• Content in the corners is not scaled.
• Content in the top and bottom regions is scaled horizontally only.
• Content in the left and right regions is scaled vertically only.
• All fills (including bitmaps, video, and gradients) are stretched to fit their shapes.

If a display object is rotated, all subsequent scaling is normal(and the scale9Grid property is ignored).

For example, consider the following display object and a rectangle that is applied as the display object's scale9Grid:

The display object.	The red rectangle shows the scale9Grid.

When the display object is scaled or stretched, the objects within the rectangle scale normally, but the objects outside of the rectangle scale according to the scale9Grid rules:

Scaled to 75%:
Scaled to 50%:
Scaled to 25%:
Stretched horizontally 150%:

A common use for setting scale9Grid is to set up a display object to be used as a component, in which edge regions retain the same width when the component is scaled.

Throws:

Indicates the horizontal scale (percentage) of the object as applied from the registration point. The default registration point is (0,0). 1.0 equals 100% scale.

Scaling the local coordinate system changes the x and y property values, which are defined in whole pixels.

See also:

• Manipulating size and scaling objects

Indicates the vertical scale (percentage) of an object as applied from the registration point of the object. The default registration point is (0,0). 1.0 is 100% scale.

Scaling the local coordinate system changes the x and y property values, which are defined in whole pixels.

See also:

• Manipulating size and scaling objects

The scroll rectangle bounds of the display object. The display object is cropped to the size defined by the rectangle, and it scrolls within the rectangle when you change the x and y properties of the scrollRect object.

The properties of the scrollRect Rectangle object use the display object's coordinate space and are scaled just like the overall display object. The corner bounds of the cropped window on the scrolling display object are the origin of the display object(0,0) and the point defined by the width and height of the rectangle. They are not centered around the origin, but use the origin to define the upper-left corner of the area. A scrolled display object always scrolls in whole pixel increments.

You can scroll an object left and right by setting the x property of the scrollRect Rectangle object. You can scroll an object up and down by setting the y property of the scrollRect Rectangle object. If the display object is rotated 90° and you scroll it left and right, the display object actually scrolls up and down.

See also:

• Panning and scrolling display objects

BETA**

Applies a custom Shader object to use when rendering this display object (or its children) when using hardware rendering. This occurs as a single-pass render on this object only, if visible. In order to apply a post-process effect to multiple display objects at once, enable cacheAsBitmap or use the filters property with a ShaderFilter

The Stage of the display object. A Flash runtime application has only one Stage object. For example, you can create and load multiple display objects into the display list, and the stage property of each display object refers to the same Stage object (even if the display object belongs to a loaded SWF file).

If a display object is not added to the display list, its stage property is set to null.

See also:

• Traversing the display list

An object with properties pertaining to a display object's matrix, color transform, and pixel bounds. The specific properties - matrix, colorTransform, and three read-only properties (concatenatedMatrix, concatenatedColorTransform, and pixelBounds) - are described in the entry for the Transform class.

Each of the transform object's properties is itself an object. This concept is important because the only way to set new values for the matrix or colorTransform objects is to create a new object and copy that object into the transform.matrix or transform.colorTransform property.

For example, to increase the tx value of a display object's matrix, you must make a copy of the entire matrix object, then copy the new object into the matrix property of the transform object: var myMatrix:Matrix = myDisplayObject.transform.matrix; myMatrix.tx += 10; myDisplayObject.transform.matrix = myMatrix;

You cannot directly set the tx property. The following code has no effect on myDisplayObject: myDisplayObject.transform.matrix.tx += 10;

You can also copy an entire transform object and assign it to another display object's transform property. For example, the following code copies the entire transform object from myOldDisplayObj to myNewDisplayObj: myNewDisplayObj.transform = myOldDisplayObj.transform;

The resulting display object, myNewDisplayObj, now has the same values for its matrix, color transform, and pixel bounds as the old display object, myOldDisplayObj.

Note that AIR for TV devices use hardware acceleration, if it is available, for color transforms.

Whether or not the display object is visible. Display objects that are not visible are disabled. For example, if visible=false for an InteractiveObject instance, it cannot be clicked.

Indicates the width of the display object, in pixels. The width is calculated based on the bounds of the content of the display object. When you set the width property, the scaleX property is adjusted accordingly, as shown in the following code:

Except for TextField and Video objects, a display object with no content(such as an empty sprite) has a width of 0, even if you try to set width to a different value.

See also:

• Manipulating size and scaling objects

Indicates the x coordinate of the DisplayObject instance relative to the local coordinates of the parent DisplayObjectContainer. If the object is inside a DisplayObjectContainer that has transformations, it is in the local coordinate system of the enclosing DisplayObjectContainer. Thus, for a DisplayObjectContainer rotated 90° counterclockwise, the DisplayObjectContainer's children inherit a coordinate system that is rotated 90° counterclockwise. The object's coordinates refer to the registration point position.

See also:

• Changing position

Indicates the y coordinate of the DisplayObject instance relative to the local coordinates of the parent DisplayObjectContainer. If the object is inside a DisplayObjectContainer that has transformations, it is in the local coordinate system of the enclosing DisplayObjectContainer. Thus, for a DisplayObjectContainer rotated 90° counterclockwise, the DisplayObjectContainer's children inherit a coordinate system that is rotated 90° counterclockwise. The object's coordinates refer to the registration point position.

See also:

• Changing position

Lets the user drag the specified sprite. The sprite remains draggable until explicitly stopped through a call to the Sprite.stopDrag() method, or until another sprite is made draggable. Only one sprite is draggable at a time.

Three-dimensional display objects follow the pointer and Sprite.startDrag() moves the object within the three-dimensional plane defined by the display object. Or, if the display object is a two-dimensional object and the child of a three-dimensional object, the two-dimensional object moves within the three dimensional plane defined by the three-dimensional parent object.

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Ends the startDrag() method. A sprite that was made draggable with the startDrag() method remains draggable until a stopDrag() method is added, or until another sprite becomes draggable. Only one sprite is draggable at a time.

Adds a child DisplayObject instance to this DisplayObjectContainer instance. The child is added to the front (top) of all other children in this DisplayObjectContainer instance.(To add a child to a specific index position, use the addChildAt() method.)

If you add a child object that already has a different display object container as a parent, the object is removed from the child list of the other display object container.

Note: The command stage.addChild() can cause problems with a published SWF file, including security problems and conflicts with other loaded SWF files. There is only one Stage within a Flash runtime instance, no matter how many SWF files you load into the runtime. So, generally, objects should not be added to the Stage, directly, at all. The only object the Stage should contain is the root object. Create a DisplayObjectContainer to contain all of the items on the display list. Then, if necessary, add that DisplayObjectContainer instance to the Stage.

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Events:

See also:

• Adding display objects to the display list

Adds a child DisplayObject instance to this DisplayObjectContainer instance. The child is added at the index position specified. An index of 0 represents the back (bottom) of the display list for this DisplayObjectContainer object.

For example, the following example shows three display objects, labeled a, b, and c, at index positions 0, 2, and 1, respectively:

If you add a child object that already has a different display object container as a parent, the object is removed from the child list of the other display object container.

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Events:

See also:

• Adding display objects to the display list

Indicates whether the security restrictions would cause any display objects to be omitted from the list returned by calling the DisplayObjectContainer.getObjectsUnderPoint() method with the specified point point. By default, content from one domain cannot access objects from another domain unless they are permitted to do so with a call to the Security.allowDomain() method. For more information, related to security, see the Flash Player Developer Center Topic: Security.

The point parameter is in the coordinate space of the Stage, which may differ from the coordinate space of the display object container(unless the display object container is the Stage). You can use the globalToLocal() and the localToGlobal() methods to convert points between these coordinate spaces.

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Determines whether the specified display object is a child of the DisplayObjectContainer instance or the instance itself. The search includes the entire display list including this DisplayObjectContainer instance. Grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on each return true.

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Returns the child display object instance that exists at the specified index.

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See also:

• Traversing the display list

Returns the child display object that exists with the specified name. If more that one child display object has the specified name, the method returns the first object in the child list.

The getChildAt() method is faster than the getChildByName() method. The getChildAt() method accesses a child from a cached array, whereas the getChildByName() method has to traverse a linked list to access a child.

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See also:

• Traversing the display list

• openfl.display.DisplayObject.name

Returns the index position of a child DisplayObject instance.

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Returns an array of objects that lie under the specified point and are children(or grandchildren, and so on) of this DisplayObjectContainer instance. Any child objects that are inaccessible for security reasons are omitted from the returned array. To determine whether this security restriction affects the returned array, call the areInaccessibleObjectsUnderPoint() method.

The point parameter is in the coordinate space of the Stage, which may differ from the coordinate space of the display object container(unless the display object container is the Stage). You can use the globalToLocal() and the localToGlobal() methods to convert points between these coordinate spaces.

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Removes the specified child DisplayObject instance from the child list of the DisplayObjectContainer instance. The parent property of the removed child is set to null , and the object is garbage collected if no other references to the child exist. The index positions of any display objects above the child in the DisplayObjectContainer are decreased by 1.

The garbage collector reallocates unused memory space. When a variable or object is no longer actively referenced or stored somewhere, the garbage collector sweeps through and wipes out the memory space it used to occupy if no other references to it exist.

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Removes a child DisplayObject from the specified index position in the child list of the DisplayObjectContainer. The parent property of the removed child is set to null, and the object is garbage collected if no other references to the child exist. The index positions of any display objects above the child in the DisplayObjectContainer are decreased by 1.

The garbage collector reallocates unused memory space. When a variable or object is no longer actively referenced or stored somewhere, the garbage collector sweeps through and wipes out the memory space it used to occupy if no other references to it exist.

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Removes all child DisplayObject instances from the child list of the DisplayObjectContainer instance. The parent property of the removed children is set to null, and the objects are garbage collected if no other references to the children exist.

The garbage collector reallocates unused memory space. When a variable or object is no longer actively referenced or stored somewhere, the garbage collector sweeps through and wipes out the memory space it used to occupy if no other references to it exist.

Parameters:

Changes the position of an existing child in the display object container. This affects the layering of child objects. For example, the following example shows three display objects, labeled a, b, and c, at index positions 0, 1, and 2, respectively:

When you use the setChildIndex() method and specify an index position that is already occupied, the only positions that change are those in between the display object's former and new position. All others will stay the same. If a child is moved to an index LOWER than its current index, all children in between will INCREASE by 1 for their index reference. If a child is moved to an index HIGHER than its current index, all children in between will DECREASE by 1 for their index reference. For example, if the display object container in the previous example is named container, you can swap the position of the display objects labeled a and b by calling the following code:

container.setChildIndex(container.getChildAt(1), 0);

This code results in the following arrangement of objects:

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Recursively stops the timeline execution of all MovieClips rooted at this object.

Child display objects belonging to a sandbox to which the excuting code does not have access are ignored.

Note: Streaming media playback controlled via a NetStream object will not be stopped.

Swaps the z-order (front-to-back order) of the two specified child objects. All other child objects in the display object container remain in the same index positions.

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Throws:

Swaps the z-order (front-to-back order) of the child objects at the two specified index positions in the child list. All other child objects in the display object container remain in the same index positions.

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Raises a virtual keyboard.

Calling this method focuses the InteractiveObject instance and raises the soft keyboard, if necessary. The needsSoftKeyboard must also be true. A keyboard is not raised if a hardware keyboard is available, or if the client system does not support virtual keyboards.

Note: This method is not supported in AIR applications on iOS.

Returns:

Returns a rectangle that defines the area of the display object relative to the coordinate system of the targetCoordinateSpace object. Consider the following code, which shows how the rectangle returned can vary depending on the targetCoordinateSpace parameter that you pass to the method:

Note: Use the localToGlobal() and globalToLocal() methods to convert the display object's local coordinates to display coordinates, or display coordinates to local coordinates, respectively.

The getBounds() method is similar to the getRect() method; however, the Rectangle returned by the getBounds() method includes any strokes on shapes, whereas the Rectangle returned by the getRect() method does not. For an example, see the description of the getRect() method.

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Returns a rectangle that defines the boundary of the display object, based on the coordinate system defined by the targetCoordinateSpace parameter, excluding any strokes on shapes. The values that the getRect() method returns are the same or smaller than those returned by the getBounds() method.

Note: Use localToGlobal() and globalToLocal() methods to convert the display object's local coordinates to Stage coordinates, or Stage coordinates to local coordinates, respectively.

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Converts the point object from the Stage (global) coordinates to the display object's (local) coordinates.

To use this method, first create an instance of the Point class. The x and y values that you assign represent global coordinates because they relate to the origin(0,0) of the main display area. Then pass the Point instance as the parameter to the globalToLocal() method. The method returns a new Point object with x and y values that relate to the origin of the display object instead of the origin of the Stage.

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Evaluates the bounding box of the display object to see if it overlaps or intersects with the bounding box of the obj display object.

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Evaluates the display object to see if it overlaps or intersects with the point specified by the x and y parameters. The x and y parameters specify a point in the coordinate space of the Stage, not the display object container that contains the display object (unless that display object container is the Stage).

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Calling the invalidate() method signals to have the current object redrawn the next time the object is eligible to be rendered.

Converts the point object from the display object's (local) coordinates to the Stage (global) coordinates.

This method allows you to convert any given x and y coordinates from values that are relative to the origin(0,0) of a specific display object (local coordinates) to values that are relative to the origin of the Stage (global coordinates).

To use this method, first create an instance of the Point class. The x and y values that you assign represent local coordinates because they relate to the origin of the display object.

You then pass the Point instance that you created as the parameter to the localToGlobal() method. The method returns a new Point object with x and y values that relate to the origin of the Stage instead of the origin of the display object.

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Checks whether the EventDispatcher object has any listeners registered for a specific type of event. This allows you to determine where an EventDispatcher object has altered handling of an event type in the event flow hierarchy. To determine whether a specific event type actually triggers an event listener, use willTrigger().

The difference between hasEventListener() and willTrigger() is that hasEventListener() examines only the object to which it belongs, whereas willTrigger() examines the entire event flow for the event specified by the type parameter.

When hasEventListener() is called from a LoaderInfo object, only the listeners that the caller can access are considered.

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Checks whether an event listener is registered with this EventDispatcher object or any of its ancestors for the specified event type. This method returns true if an event listener is triggered during any phase of the event flow when an event of the specified type is dispatched to this EventDispatcher object or any of its descendants.

The difference between the hasEventListener() and the willTrigger() methods is that hasEventListener() examines only the object to which it belongs, whereas the willTrigger() method examines the entire event flow for the event specified by the type parameter.

When willTrigger() is called from a LoaderInfo object, only the listeners that the caller can access are considered.

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