customizations much more straightforward. Here is a table showing Flex 3 Halo components and their Flex 4 beta Spark counterparts:
mx.controls.Button | spark.components.Button |
mx.controls.ButtonBar | spark.components.ButtonBar |
mx.controls.CheckBox | spark.components.CheckBox |
mx.controls.ComboBox | spark.components.DropDownList (w/o editability) |
mx.controls.HorizontalList | spark.components.List (with a HorizontalLayout) |
mx.controls.HRule | spark.primitives.Line |
mx.controls.HScrollBar | spark.components.HScrollBar |
mx.controls.HSlider | spark.components.HSlider |
mx.controls.Image | spark.primitives.BitmapImage |
mx.controls.LinkBar | spark.components.ButtonBar (with a custom skin) |
mx.controls.LinkButton | spark.components.Button (with a custom skin) |
mx.controls.List | spark.components.List |
mx.controls.NumericStepper | spark.components.NumericStepper |
mx.controls.RadioButton | spark.components.RadioButton |
mx.controls.RadioButtonGroup | spark.components.RadioButtonGroup |
mx.controls.TextArea | spark.components.TextArea |
mx.controls.TextInput | spark.components.TextInput |
mx.controls.TileList | spark.components.List (with a TileLayout) |
mx.controls.ToggleButtonBar | spark.components.ButtonBar |
mx.controls.VideoDisplay | spark.components.VideoPlayer |
mx.controls.VRule | spark.primitives.Line |
mx.controls.VScrollBar | spark.components.VScrollBar |
mx.controls.VSlider | spark.components.VSlider |
mx.core.Application | spark.components.Application |
mx.core.Window | spark.components.Window |
mx.core.WindowedApplication | spark.components.WindowedApplication |
mx.containers.Canvas | spark.components.Group |
mx.containers.HBox | spark.components.HGroup |
mx.containers.Panel | spark.components.Panel |
mx.containers.Tile | spark.components.Group (with a TileLayout) |
mx.containers.VBox | spark.components.VGroup |
Adobe encourages you to use Halo components and containers along with Spark components. Because Adobe continues to build components atop the same base class (UIComponent), there should be full interoperability between Spark and Halo. Here is a table of the components and containers that do not currently have direct Spark equivalent classes.
Flex 3 classes with no direct Flex 4 beta counterpartmx.controls.Alert |
mx.controls.ColorPicker |
mx.controls.DataGrid |
mx.controls.DateChooser |
mx.controls.DateField |
mx.controls.Menu |
mx.controls.MenuBar |
mx.controls.PopUpButton |
mx.controls.PopUpMenuButton |
mx.controls.ProgressBar |
mx.controls.RichTextEditor |
mx.controls.TabBar |
mx.controls.Tree |
mx.containers.Accordion |
mx.containers.ApplicationControlBar |
mx.containers.ControlBar |
mx.containers.DividedBox |
mx.containers.Form |
mx.containers.Grid |
mx.containers.TabNavigator |
mx.containers.TitleWindow |
mx.containers.ViewStack |
Flex 4 beta has promoted the states functionality to a full MXML language feature. As a result, you will likely find states to be much more flexible and direct. The new states syntax is more inline, allowing state-specific changes to be specified in context. Here are the key differences in the Flex 4 beta syntax:
In the following Flex 3 example, states are used to include a Button and remove a TextInput only when the de>currentStatede> of the document is de>submitStatede>. This approach can get very verbose with more complex states.
<mx:states> <mx:State name="submitState" basedOn=""> <mx:AddChild relativeTo="{loginForm}" > <mx:Button label="submit" bottom="10" right="10"/> </mx:AddChild> <mx:RemoveChild target="{firstTextInput}"/> </mx:State> </mx:states> <mx:TextInput id="firstTextInput" /> <mx:Canvas id="loginForm" />
Here is the simpler Flex 4 beta code using de>includeInde> and de>excludeFromde>.
<s:states> <s:State name="submitState" /> </s:states> <s:TextInput id="firstTextInput" excludeFrom="submitState" /> <s:Group id="loginForm" > <s:Button label="submit" bottom="10" right="10" includeIn="submitState"/> </s:Group>
In the following Flex 3 example, the code defines a property, style, and event for a Button in de>submitStatede>.
<mx:states> <mx:State name="submitState" basedOn=""> <mx:SetProperty target="{submitButton}" name="label" value="submit" /> <mx:SetStyle target="{submitButton}" name="textDecoration" value="underline"/> <mx:SetEventHandler target="{submitButton}" name="click" handler="trace('done');"/> </mx:State> <mx:State name="clearState" basedOn=""> <mx:SetProperty target="{submitButton}" name="label" value="clear" /> de><mx:SetEventHandler target="{submitButton}" name="click" de>handler="emptyDocument()" /> </mx:State> </mx:states> <mx:Button id="submitButton" />
In Flex 4 beta, the code looks like this:
<s:states> <s:State name="submitState" /> <s:State name="clearState" /> </s:states> <s:Button label.submitState="submit" textDecoration.submitState="underline" click.submitState="trace('done')" click.clearState="emptyDocument()" label.clearState="clear" textDecoration.clearState="none"/>
Additionally, each component now supports a set of states defined in its skin class, which makes it simpler to apply visual changes depending on the state of a component. For example, if you look at the skin for the Spark Button, you will find the following states defined:
<s:states> <s:State name="up" /> <s:State name="over" /> <s:State name="down" /> <s:State name="disabled" /> </s:states>
The ButtonSkin class defines what happens visually to a Spark Button in each one of these states.
This is only a brief introduction to the new Flex 4 beta states syntax. Visit the Enhanced States Syntax Spec to find more details.