mx.effects.Glow - Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference (Flex 4)

Package	mx.effects
Class	public class Glow
Inheritance	Glow TweenEffect Effect EventDispatcher Object

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Starting with Flex 4.0, Adobe recommends that you use the spark.effects.AnimateFilter class as an alternative to this class.

In Flex 4, use an AnimateFilter effect with a Glow bitmap filter.

The Glow effect lets you apply a visual glow effect to a component.

The Glow effect uses the Flash GlowFilter class as part of its implementation. For more information, see the flash.filters.GlowFilter class. If you apply a Glow effect to a component, you cannot apply a GlowFilter or a second Glow effect to the component.

MXML Syntax expanded

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The <mx:Glow> tag inherits all of the tag attributes of its superclass, and adds the following tag attributes:

  <mx:Glow
    id="ID"
    alphaFrom="val"
    alphaTo="val"
    blurXFrom="val"
    blurXTo="val"
    blurYFrom="val"
    blurYTo="val"
    color="themeColor of the application"
    inner="false|true"
    knockout="false|true"
    strength="2"
  />

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Public Properties

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	Property		Defined By
		alphaFrom : Number = 1 Starting transparency level between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 means transparent and 1.0 means fully opaque.	Glow
		alphaTo : Number = 0 Ending transparency level between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 means transparent and 1.0 means fully opaque.	Glow
		blurXFrom : Number = 5 The starting amount of horizontal blur.	Glow
		blurXTo : Number = 0 The ending amount of horizontal blur.	Glow
		blurYFrom : Number = 5 The starting amount of vertical blur.	Glow
		blurYTo : Number = 0 The ending amount of vertical blur.	Glow
		className : String [read-only] The name of the effect class, such as "Fade".	Effect
		color : uint = 0xFFFFFFFF The color of the glow.	Glow
		constructor : Object A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.	Object
		customFilter : mx.effects:EffectTargetFilter Specifies a custom filter object, of type EffectTargetFilter, used by the effect to determine the targets on which to play the effect.	Effect
		duration : Number Duration of the effect in milliseconds.	Effect
		easingFunction : Function = null The easing function for the animation.	TweenEffect
		effectTargetHost : mx.effects:IEffectTargetHost A property that lets you access the target list-based control of a data effect.	Effect
		filter : String Specifies an algorithm for filtering targets for an effect.	Effect
		hideFocusRing : Boolean Determines whether the effect should hide the focus ring when starting the effect.	Effect
		inner : Boolean Specifies whether the glow is an inner glow.	Glow
		instanceClass : Class An object of type Class that specifies the effect instance class class for this effect class.	Effect
		isPlaying : Boolean [read-only] A read-only flag which is true if any instances of the effect are currently playing, and false if none are.	Effect
		knockout : Boolean Specifies whether the object has a knockout effect.	Glow
		perElementOffset : Number Additional delay, in milliseconds, for effect targets after the first target of the effect.	Effect
		playheadTime : Number Current time position of the effect.	Effect
		prototype : Object [static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.	Object
		relevantProperties : Array An Array of property names to use when performing filtering.	Effect
		relevantStyles : Array An Array of style names to use when performing filtering.	Effect
		repeatCount : int = 1 Number of times to repeat the effect.	Effect
		repeatDelay : int = 0 Amount of time, in milliseconds, to wait before repeating the effect.	Effect
		startDelay : int = 0 Amount of time, in milliseconds, to wait before starting the effect.	Effect
		strength : Number = 2 The strength of the imprint or spread.	Glow
		suspendBackgroundProcessing : Boolean = false If true, blocks all background processing while the effect is playing.	Effect
		target : Object The object to which this effect is applied.	Effect
		targets : Array An Array of objects that are targets for the effect.	Effect
		triggerEvent : Event The Event object passed to this Effect by the EffectManager when an effect is triggered, or null if the effect is not being played by the EffectManager.	Effect

Protected Properties

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	Property		Defined By
		applyTransitionEndProperties : Boolean This flag controls whether the effect, when run in a transition, automatically applies the property values according to the end state, as opposed to leaving values as set by the effect itself.	Effect
		endValuesCaptured : Boolean = false A flag containing true if the end values of an effect have already been determined, or false if they should be acquired from the current properties of the effect targets when the effect runs.	Effect

Public Methods

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	Method		Defined By
		Glow(target:Object = null) Constructor.	Glow
		addEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false, priority:int = 0, useWeakReference:Boolean = false):void Registers an event listener object with an EventDispatcher object so that the listener receives notification of an event.	EventDispatcher
		captureEndValues():void Captures the current values of the relevant properties on the effect's targets and saves them as end values.	Effect
		captureMoreStartValues(targets:Array):void Captures the current values of the relevant properties of an additional set of targets Flex uses this function when a data change effect is run.	Effect
		captureStartValues():void Captures the current values of the relevant properties on the effect's targets.	Effect
		createInstance(target:Object = null):IEffectInstance Creates a single effect instance and initializes it.	Effect
		createInstances(targets:Array = null):Array Takes an Array of target objects and invokes the createInstance() method on each target.	Effect
		deleteInstance(instance:IEffectInstance):void Removes event listeners from an instance and removes it from the list of instances.	Effect
		dispatchEvent(event:Event):Boolean Dispatches an event into the event flow.	EventDispatcher
		end(effectInstance:IEffectInstance = null):void Interrupts an effect that is currently playing, and jumps immediately to the end of the effect.	Effect
		getAffectedProperties():Array Returns an Array of Strings, where each String is the name of a property changed by this effect.	Effect
		hasEventListener(type:String):Boolean Checks whether the EventDispatcher object has any listeners registered for a specific type of event.	EventDispatcher
		hasOwnProperty(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.	Object
		isPrototypeOf(theClass:Object):Boolean Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.	Object
		pause():void Pauses the effect until you call the resume() method.	Effect
		play(targets:Array = null, playReversedFromEnd:Boolean = false):Array Begins playing the effect.	Effect
		propertyIsEnumerable(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.	Object
		removeEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false):void Removes a listener from the EventDispatcher object.	EventDispatcher
		resume():void Resumes the effect after it has been paused by a call to the pause() method.	Effect
		reverse():void Plays the effect in reverse, if the effect is currently playing, starting from the current position of the effect.	Effect
		setPropertyIsEnumerable(name:String, isEnum:Boolean = true):void Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.	Object
		stop():void Stops the effect, leaving the effect targets in their current state.	Effect
		toLocaleString():String Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.	Object
		toString():String Returns the string representation of the specified object.	Object
		valueOf():Object Returns the primitive value of the specified object.	Object
		willTrigger(type:String):Boolean Checks whether an event listener is registered with this EventDispatcher object or any of its ancestors for the specified event type.	EventDispatcher

Protected Methods

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	Method		Defined By
		applyValueToTarget(target:Object, property:String, value:*, props:Object):void Used internally by the Effect infrastructure.	Effect
		effectEndHandler(event:EffectEvent):void Called when an effect instance has finished playing.	Effect
		effectStartHandler(event:EffectEvent):void This method is called when the effect instance starts playing.	Effect
		effectStopHandler(event:EffectEvent):void Called when an effect instance has stopped by a call to the stop() method.	Effect
		filterInstance(propChanges:Array, target:Object):Boolean Determines the logic for filtering out an effect instance.	Effect
		getValueFromTarget(target:Object, property:String):* Called by the captureStartValues() method to get the value of a property from the target.	Effect
		initInstance(instance:IEffectInstance):void Copies properties of the effect to the effect instance.	Effect
		tweenEventHandler(event:mx.events:TweenEvent):void Called when the TweenEffect dispatches a TweenEvent.	TweenEffect

Events

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	Summary	Defined By
activate	[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application gains operating system focus and becomes active.	EventDispatcher
deactivate	[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application operating loses system focus and is becoming inactive.	EventDispatcher
effectEnd	Dispatched when one of the effect's instances finishes playing, either when the instance finishes playing or when the effect is interrupted by a call to the end() method.	Effect
effectStart	Dispatched when the effect starts playing.	Effect
effectStop	Dispatched when the effect has been stopped, which only occurs when the effect is interrupted by a call to the stop() method.	Effect
tweenEnd	Dispatched when the tween effect ends.	TweenEffect
tweenStart	Dispatched when the tween effect starts, which corresponds to the first call to the onTweenUpdate() method.	TweenEffect
tweenUpdate	Dispatched every time the tween effect updates the target.	TweenEffect

Property Detail

alphaFrom

property

public var alphaFrom:Number = 1

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Starting transparency level between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 means transparent and 1.0 means fully opaque.

The default value is 1.

alphaTo

property

public var alphaTo:Number = 0

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Ending transparency level between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 means transparent and 1.0 means fully opaque.

The default value is 0.

blurXFrom

property

public var blurXFrom:Number = 5

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

The starting amount of horizontal blur. Valid values are from 0.0 to 255.0.

The default value is 5.

blurXTo

property

public var blurXTo:Number = 0

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

The ending amount of horizontal blur. Valid values are from 0.0 to 255.0.

The default value is 0.

blurYFrom

property

public var blurYFrom:Number = 5

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

The starting amount of vertical blur. Valid values are from 0.0 to 255.0.

The default value is 5.

blurYTo

property

public var blurYTo:Number = 0

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

The ending amount of vertical blur. Valid values are from 0.0 to 255.0.

The default value is 0.

color

property

public var color:uint = 0xFFFFFFFF

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

The color of the glow. The default value is the value of the themeColor style property of the application. The default value of this property is StyleManager.NOT_A_COLOR. When play() is called on the effect, if the color property is set to that default value, the color value in the effect instance will be set to the value of the current themeColor style for the application.

The default value is StyleManager.NOT_A_COLOR.

inner

property

public var inner:Boolean

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Specifies whether the glow is an inner glow. A value of true indicates an inner glow within the outer edges of the object. The default value is false, to specify an outer glow around the outer edges of the object.

The default value is false.

knockout

property

public var knockout:Boolean

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Specifies whether the object has a knockout effect. A value of true makes the object's fill color transparent to reveal the background color of the underlying object. The default value is false to specify no knockout effect.

The default value is false.

strength

property

public var strength:Number = 2

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

The strength of the imprint or spread. The higher the value, the more color is imprinted and the stronger the contrast between the glow and the background. Valid values are from 0 to 255.

The default value is 2.

Constructor Detail

Glow

()

Constructor

public function Glow(target:Object = null)

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

Constructor.

Parameters

target:Object (default = null) — The Object to animate with this effect.

Examples ( How to use this example )

GlowEffectExample.mxml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- Simple example to demonstrate the Halo Glow effect. -->
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
        xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx">

    <fx:Declarations>
        <mx:Glow id="glowImage" duration="1000"
            alphaFrom="1.0" alphaTo="0.3"
            blurXFrom="0.0" blurXTo="50.0"
            blurYFrom="0.0" blurYTo="50.0"
            color="0x00FF00"/>
        <mx:Glow id="unglowImage" duration="1000"
            alphaFrom="0.3" alphaTo="1.0"
            blurXFrom="50.0" blurXTo="0.0"
            blurYFrom="50.0" blurYTo="0.0"
            color="0x0000FF"/>
    </fx:Declarations>

    <s:Panel title="Halo Glow Effect Example" width="75%" height="75%" >
        <s:VGroup left="20" right="20" top="20" bottom="20">

            <s:Label width="100%" color="blue"
                text="Click and hold the mouse on the image to see glowImage effect. Release the mouse to see unglowImage effect."/>

            <mx:Image source="@Embed(source='assets/Nokia_6630.png')"
                mouseDownEffect="{glowImage}"
                mouseUpEffect="{unglowImage}"/>
        </s:VGroup>
    </s:Panel>
</s:Application>