A FileStream object is used to read and write files. Files can be opened synchronously by calling the open() method or asynchronously by calling the openAsync() method.

The advantage of opening files asynchronously is that other code can execute while Adobe AIR runs read and write processes in the background. When opened asynchronously, progress events are dispatched as operations proceed.

A File object that is opened synchronously behaves much like a ByteArray object; a file opened asynchronously behaves much like a Socket or URLStream object. When a File object is opened synchronously, the caller pauses while the requested data is read from or written to the underlying file. When opened asynchronously, any data written to the stream is immediately buffered and later written to the file.

Whether reading from a file synchronously or asynchronously, the actual read methods are synchronous. In both cases they read from data that is currently "available." The difference is that when reading synchronously all of the data is available at all times, and when reading asynchronously data becomes available gradually as the data streams into a read buffer. Either way, the data that can be synchronously read at the current moment is represented by the bytesAvailable property.

An application that is processing asynchronous input typically registers for progress events and consumes the data as it becomes available by calling read methods. Alternatively, an application can simply wait until all of the data is available by registering for the complete event and processing the entire data set when the complete event is dispatched.

Constructor

new()

Creates a FileStream object. Use the open() or openAsync() method to open a file.

Variables

read onlybytesAvailable:Int

Returns the number of bytes of data available for reading in the input buffer. User code must call bytesAvailable to ensure that sufficient data is available before trying to read it with one of the read methods.

endian:Endian

The byte order for the data, either the BIG_ENDIAN or LITTLE_ENDIAN constant from the Endian class.

@:value(false)read onlyisWriting:Bool = false

The isWriting property returns a bool used to identify the write state of asynchronous Update, Append, or Write streams. If isWrite is true, data is actively being written from the buffer.

objectEncoding:ObjectEncoding

Specifies whether the HXSF, JSON, AMF3 or AMF0 format is used when writing or reading binary data by using the readObject() or writeObject() method.

The value is a constant from the ObjectEncoding class. By default, on non-AIR platforms, the HXSF format is used. For AIR the default format is AMF3. If you would like to use AMF and AMF3 on non-AIR platforms, you must also include the format dependency in your project from haxelib.

@:isVarposition:UInt

The current position in the file.

This value is modified in any of the following ways:

  • When you set the property explicitly
  • When reading from the FileStream object (by using one of the read methods)
  • When writing to the FileStream object

The position is defined as a Number (instead of uint) in order to support files larger than 232 bytes in length. The value of this property is always a whole number less than 253. If you set this value to a number with a fractional component, the value is rounded down to the nearest integer.

When reading a file asyncronously, if you set the position property, the application begins filling the read buffer with the data starting at the specified position, and the bytesAvailable property may be set to 0. Wait for a complete event before using a read method to read data; or wait for a progress event and check the bytesAvailable property before using a read method.

@:value(Math.POSITIVE_INFINITY)readAhead:Float = Math.POSITIVE_INFINITY

The minimum amount of data to read from disk when reading files asynchronously.

This property specifies how much data an asynchronous stream attempts to read beyond the current position. Data is read in blocks based on the file system page size. Thus if you set readAhead to 9,000 on a computer system with an 8KB (8192 byte) page size, the runtime reads ahead 2 blocks, or 16384 bytes at a time. The default value of this property is infinity: by default a file that is opened to read asynchronously reads as far as the end of the file.

Reading data from the read buffer does not change the value of the readAhead property. When you read data from the buffer, new data is read in to refill the read buffer.

The readAhead property has no effect on a file that is opened synchronously.

As data is read in asynchronously, the FileStream object dispatches progress events. In the event handler method for the progress event, check to see that the required number of bytes is available (by checking the bytesAvailable property), and then read the data from the read buffer by using a read method.

Methods

close():Void

Closes the FileStream object.

You cannot read or write any data after you call the close() method. If the file was opened asynchronously (the FileStream object used the openAsync() method to open the file), calling the close() method causes the object to dispatch the close event.

Closing the application automatically closes all files associated with FileStream objects in the application. However, it is best to register for a closed event on all FileStream objects opened asynchronously that have pending data to write, before closing the application (to ensure that data is written).

You can reuse the FileStream object by calling the open() or the openAsync() method. This closes any file associated with the FileStream object, but the object does not dispatch the close event.

For a FileStream object opened asynchronously (by using the openAsync() method), even if you call the close() event for a FileStream object and delete properties and variables that reference the object, the FileStream object is not garbage collected as long as there are pending operations and event handlers are registered for their completion. In particular, an otherwise unreferenced FileStream object persists as long as any of the following are still possible:

For file reading operations, the end of the file has not been reached (and the complete event has not been dispatched). Output data is still available to written, and output-related events (such as the outputProgress event or the ioError event) have registered event listeners.

Events:

close

The file, which was opened asynchronously, is closed.

open(file:File, fileMode:FileMode):Void

Opens the FileStream object synchronously, pointing to the file specified by the file parameter.

	If the FileStream object is already open, calling the method closes the file before
	opening and no further events (including close) are delivered for the previously opened
	file.

	On systems that support file locking, a file opened in "write" or "update" mode
	(FileMode.WRITE or FileMode.UPDATE) is not readable until it is closed.

	Once you are done performing operations on the file, call the close() method of the
	FileStream object. Some operating systems limit the number of concurrently open files.
	@param 		file The File object specifying the file to open.
	@param 		 A string from the FileMode class that defines the capabilities of the
	FileStream, such as the ability to read from or write to the file.
	@throws 	IOError The file does not exist; you do not have adequate permissions to
	open the file; you are opening a file for read access, and you do not have read
	permissions; or you are opening a file for write access, and you do not have write
	permissions.
	@throws 	SecurityError The file location is in the application directory, and the
	fileMode parameter is set to "append", "update", or "write" mode.

openAsync(file:File, fileMode:FileMode):Void

Opens the FileStream object asynchronously, pointing to the file specified by the file parameter.

If the FileStream object is already open, calling the method closes the file before opening and no further events (including close) are delivered for the previously opened file.

If the fileMode parameter is set to FileMode.READ or FileMode.UPDATE, AIR reads data into the input buffer as soon as the file is opened, and progress and open events are dispatched as the data is read to the input buffer.

On systems that support file locking, a file opened in "write" or "update" mode (FileMode.WRITE or FileMode.UPDATE) is not readable until it is closed.

Once you are done performing operations on the file, call the close() method of the FileStream object. Some operating systems limit the number of concurrently open files.

Parameters:

file

The File object specifying the file to open.

A

string from the FileMode class that defines the capabilities of the FileStream, such as the ability to read from or write to the file.

Throws:

SecurityError

The file location is in the application directory, and the fileMode parameter is set to "append", "update", or "write" mode.

Events:

ioError

The file does not exist; you do not have adequate permissions to open the file; you are opening a file for read access, and you do not have read permissions; or you are opening a file for write access, and you do not have write permissions.

progress

Dispatched as data is read to the input buffer. (The file must be opened with the fileMode parameter set to FileMode.READ or FileMode.UPDATE.)

complete

The file data has been read to the input buffer. (The file must be opened with the fileMode parameter set to FileMode.READ or FileMode.UPDATE.)

readBoolean():Bool

Reads a Boolean value from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array. A single byte is read and true is returned if the byte is nonzero, false otherwise.

Returns:

A Boolean value, true if the byte is nonzero, false otherwise.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readByte():Int

Reads a signed byte from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Returns:

The returned value is in the range -128 to 127.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

@:value({ length : 0, offset : 0 })readBytes(bytes:ByteArray, offset:UInt = 0, length:UInt = 0):Void

Reads the number of data bytes, specified by the length parameter, from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array. The bytes are read into the ByteArray objected specified by the bytes parameter, starting at the position specified by offset.

Parameters:

bytes
offset
length

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readDouble():Float

Reads an IEEE 754 double-precision floating point number from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Returns:

An IEEE 754 double-precision floating point number

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readFloat():Float

Reads an IEEE 754 single-precision floating point number from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Returns:

An IEEE 754 single-precision floating point number.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readInt():Int

Reads a signed 32-bit integer from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Returns:

The returned value is in the range -2147483648 to 2147483647.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readMultiByte(length:Int, charSet:String):String

Reads a multibyte string of specified length from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array using the specified character set.

Parameters:

length

The number of bytes from the byte stream to read.

charSet

The string denoting the character set to use to interpret the bytes. Possible character set strings include "shift-jis", "cn-gb", "iso-8859-1", and others. *

Returns:

UTF-8 encoded string.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readObject():Dynamic

Reads an object from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array, encoded in AMF serialized format.

Returns:

The deserialized object

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readShort():Int

Reads a signed 16-bit integer from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Returns:

The returned value is in the range -32768 to 32767.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readUTF():String

Reads a UTF-8 string from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array. The string is assumed to be prefixed with an unsigned short indicating the length in bytes.

			This method is similar to the readUTF() method in the Java® IDataInput interface.

Returns:

A UTF-8 string produced by the byte representation of characters.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readUTFBytes(length:Int):String

Reads a sequence of UTF-8 bytes from the byte stream or byte array and returns a string.

Parameters:

length

The number of bytes to read.

Returns:

A UTF-8 string produced by the byte representation of characters of the specified length.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readUnsignedByte():UInt

Reads an unsigned byte from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Returns:

The returned value is in the range 0 to 255.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readUnsignedInt():UInt

Reads an unsigned 32-bit integer from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Returns:

The returned value is in the range 0 to 4294967295.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

readUnsignedShort():UInt

Reads an unsigned 16-bit integer from the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

Throws:

IOError

The file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with read capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be read (for example, because the file is missing).

EOFError

The position specfied for reading data exceeds the number of bytes available (specified by the bytesAvailable property).

Events:

ioError

The file cannot be read or the file is not open. This event is dispatched only for files opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

truncate():Void

Truncates the file at the position specified by the position property of the FileStream object.

Bytes from the position specified by the position property to the end of the file are deleted. The file must be open for writing.

Throws:

IllegalOperationError

The file is not open for writing.

writeBoolean(value:Bool):Void

Writes a Boolean value. A single byte is written according to the value parameter, either 1 if true or 0 if false.

Parameters:

value

A Boolean value determining which byte is written. If the parameter is true, 1 is written; if false, 0 is written.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeByte(value:Int):Void

Writes a byte. The low 8 bits of the parameter are used; the high 24 bits are ignored.

Parameters:

value

A byte value as an integer.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

@:value({ length : 0, offset : 0 })writeBytes(bytes:ByteArray, offset:Int = 0, length:Int = 0):Void

Writes a sequence of bytes from the specified byte array, bytes, starting at the byte specified by offset (using a zero-based index) with a length specified by length, into the file stream, byte stream, or byte array.

If the length parameter is omitted, the default length of 0 is used and the entire buffer starting at offset is written. If the offset parameter is also omitted, the entire buffer is written.

If the offset or length parameter is out of range, they are clamped to the beginning and end of the bytes array.

Parameters:

bytes

The byte array to write.

offset

A zero-based index specifying the position into the array to begin writing.

length

An unsigned integer specifying how far into the buffer to write.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeDouble(value:Float):Void

Writes an IEEE 754 double-precision (64-bit) floating point number.

Parameters:

value

A double-precision (64-bit) floating point number.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeFloat(value:Float):Void

Writes an IEEE 754 single-precision (32-bit) floating point number.

Parameters:

A

single-precision (32-bit) floating point number.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeInt(value:Int):Void

Writes a 32-bit signed integer.

Parameters:

value

A byte value as a signed integer

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeMultiByte(value:String, charSet:String):Void

Writes a multibyte string to the file stream, byte stream, or byte array, using the specified character set.

Parameters:

value

The string value to be written.

charSet

The string denoting the character set to use. Possible character set strings include "shift-jis", "cn-gb", "iso-8859-1", and others

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeObject(object:Dynamic):Void

Writes an object to the file stream, byte stream, or byte array, in AMF, HXSF, or JSON serialized format. The format library from haxelib is required to enable AMF on non-AIR targets.

Parameters:

object

The object to be serialized.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeShort(value:Int):Void

Writes a 16-bit integer. The low 16 bits of the parameter are used; the high 16 bits are ignored.

Parameters:

value

A byte value as an integer.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeUTF(value:String):Void

Writes a UTF-8 string to the file stream, byte stream, or byte array. The length of the UTF-8 string in bytes is written first, as a 16-bit integer, followed by the bytes representing the characters of the string.

Parameters:

value

The string value to be written.

Throws:

RangeError

— If the length of the string is larger than 65535.

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeUTFBytes(value:String):Void

Writes a UTF-8 string. Similar to writeUTF(), but does not prefix the string with a 16-bit length integer.

Parameters:

value

The string value to be written.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

writeUnsignedInt(value:UInt):Void

Writes a 32-bit unsigned integer.

Parameters:

value

A byte value as an unsigned integer.

Throws:

The

file has not been opened; the file has been opened, but it was not opened with write capabilities; or for a file that has been opened for synchronous operations (by using the open() method), the file cannot be written (for example, because the file is missing).

Events:

ioError

You cannot write to the file (for example, because the file is missing). This event is dispatched only for files that have been opened for asynchronous operations (by using the openAsync() method).

Inherited Variables

Inherited Methods

Defined by EventDispatcher

@:value({ useWeakReference : false, priority : 0, useCapture : false })addEventListener<T>(type:EventType<T>, listener:T ‑> Void, useCapture:Bool = false, priority:Int = 0, useWeakReference:Bool = false):Void

Registers an event listener object with an EventDispatcher object so that the listener receives notification of an event. You can register event listeners on all nodes in the display list for a specific type of event, phase, and priority.

After you successfully register an event listener, you cannot change its priority through additional calls to addEventListener(). To change a listener's priority, you must first call removeListener(). Then you can register the listener again with the new priority level.

Keep in mind that after the listener is registered, subsequent calls to addEventListener() with a different type or useCapture value result in the creation of a separate listener registration. For example, if you first register a listener with useCapture set to true, it listens only during the capture phase. If you call addEventListener() again using the same listener object, but with useCapture set to false, you have two separate listeners: one that listens during the capture phase and another that listens during the target and bubbling phases.

You cannot register an event listener for only the target phase or the bubbling phase. Those phases are coupled during registration because bubbling applies only to the ancestors of the target node.

If you no longer need an event listener, remove it by calling removeEventListener(), or memory problems could result. Event listeners are not automatically removed from memory because the garbage collector does not remove the listener as long as the dispatching object exists(unless the useWeakReference parameter is set to true).

Copying an EventDispatcher instance does not copy the event listeners attached to it.(If your newly created node needs an event listener, you must attach the listener after creating the node.) However, if you move an EventDispatcher instance, the event listeners attached to it move along with it.

If the event listener is being registered on a node while an event is being processed on this node, the event listener is not triggered during the current phase but can be triggered during a later phase in the event flow, such as the bubbling phase.

If an event listener is removed from a node while an event is being processed on the node, it is still triggered by the current actions. After it is removed, the event listener is never invoked again(unless registered again for future processing).

Parameters:

type

The type of event.

useCapture

Determines whether the listener works in the capture phase or the target and bubbling phases. If useCapture is set to true, the listener processes the event only during the capture phase and not in the target or bubbling phase. If useCapture is false, the listener processes the event only during the target or bubbling phase. To listen for the event in all three phases, call addEventListener twice, once with useCapture set to true, then again with useCapture set to false.

priority

The priority level of the event listener. The priority is designated by a signed 32-bit integer. The higher the number, the higher the priority. All listeners with priority n are processed before listeners of priority n-1. If two or more listeners share the same priority, they are processed in the order in which they were added. The default priority is 0.

useWeakReference

Determines whether the reference to the listener is strong or weak. A strong reference(the default) prevents your listener from being garbage-collected. A weak reference does not.

Class-level member functions are not subject to garbage collection, so you can set useWeakReference to true for class-level member functions without subjecting them to garbage collection. If you set useWeakReference to true for a listener that is a nested inner function, the function will be garbage-collected and no longer persistent. If you create references to the inner function(save it in another variable) then it is not garbage-collected and stays persistent.

Weak references are supported on some OpenFL targets only, including html5, cpp, and flash/air. On other targets, this parameter is ignored, and the reference will be strong instead.

Throws:

ArgumentError

The listener specified is not a function.

dispatchEvent(event:Event):Bool

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

Parameters:

event

The Event object that is dispatched into the event flow. If the event is being redispatched, a clone of the event is created automatically. After an event is dispatched, its target property cannot be changed, so you must create a new copy of the event for redispatching to work.

Returns:

A value of true if the event was successfully dispatched. A value of false indicates failure or that preventDefault() was called on the event.

Throws:

Error

The event dispatch recursion limit has been reached.

hasEventListener(type:String):Bool

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.

Parameters:

type

The type of event.

Returns:

A value of true if a listener of the specified type is registered; false otherwise.

@:value({ useCapture : false })removeEventListener<T>(type:EventType<T>, listener:T ‑> Void, useCapture:Bool = false):Void

Removes a listener from the EventDispatcher object. If there is no matching listener registered with the EventDispatcher object, a call to this method has no effect.

Parameters:

type

The type of event.

useCapture

Specifies whether the listener was registered for the capture phase or the target and bubbling phases. If the listener was registered for both the capture phase and the target and bubbling phases, two calls to removeEventListener() are required to remove both, one call with useCapture() set to true, and another call with useCapture() set to false.

toString():String

willTrigger(type:String):Bool

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.

Parameters:

type

The type of event.

Returns:

A value of true if a listener of the specified type will be triggered; false otherwise.