DoubleClickEnabled & other little Flex tips

Want to code against double clicks in Flex? Don't forget to set this property to true!

Adding child objects to a canvas or some other container and need to keep the scroll moving down so users can see the new objects? Put this in a function:
canvas.verticalScrollPosition = canvas.maxVerticalScrollPosition + 45;
And remember to CallLater, this gives Flex a chance to lay the new object out and get you the right maxVerticalScrollPosition!

Are those child objects some kind of data entry control? Attach an event listener to the event
FocusEvent.FOCUS_IN for the object and point it to a function that does this:
private function test(event:FocusEvent):void{
canvas.verticalScrollPosition = event.currentTarget.y - canvas.height + 45;
}

Having issues with the custom Item Renderer in your TileList not updating when the underlying data changes? Make sure you're not using an ArrayCollection, it doesn't quite work every time.

Pulling data from a .Net webservice and having to parse out the date from the xml with your own Date Utility? Just remember that in AS3 months, hours, minutes and seconds are 0 based... in other words, October is month 09, not 10. That took me a while to clue in to.

Want to display hierarchical data relationships in a tree view? Stick the child objects in an arraycollection and assign it to a property called children in the parent object. This can be repeated down the chain as often as you like but remember it can get a bit slow quickly. Then point the Tree dataProvider property at the topmost object of the hierarchy.

Sometimes building a Flex front end on a .Net webservice back end can get complicated, especially when the developer (me) doesn't have access to the webservice. If the .Net webservice is designed right, simply taking the resulting xml of the webservice calls and using HttpService calls to load the xml works. When it comes time to use the webservice directly, simply replace the HttpService calls with WebService calls. Works like a charm!

Here's something silly. I stuck aTabNavigator in my view, and tried to capture the click event on the tabs. I tried pretty much every event I could find but not a single one would trigger when clicking on the tab. I replaced the tabNavigator with a TabBar and a ViewStack, and then was able to trap the tabIndexChange event to get the desired result.

Not my usual blog style but things are pretty busy these days. I hope to blog more again in the new year.