Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference
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spark.filters 
GlowFilter 
Packagespark.filters
Classpublic class GlowFilter
InheritanceGlowFilter Inheritance BaseDimensionFilter Inheritance BaseFilter Inheritance EventDispatcher Inheritance Object
Implements IBitmapFilter

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 4
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The GlowFilter class lets you apply a glow effect to display objects. You have several options for the style of the glow, including inner or outer glow and knockout mode. The glow filter is similar to the drop shadow filter with the distance and angle properties of the drop shadow filter set to 0. You can apply the filter to any display object (that is, objects that inherit from the DisplayObject class), such as MovieClip, SimpleButton, TextField, and Video objects, as well as to BitmapData objects.

The use of filters depends on the object to which you apply the filter:

  • To apply filters to display objects, use the filters property (inherited from DisplayObject). Setting the filters property of an object does not modify the object, and you can remove the filter by clearing the filters property.
  • To apply filters to BitmapData objects, use the BitmapData.applyFilter() method. Calling applyFilter() on a BitmapData object takes the source BitmapData object and the filter object and generates a filtered image as a result.

If you apply a filter to a display object, the cacheAsBitmap property of the display object is set to true. If you clear all filters, the original value of cacheAsBitmap is restored.

This filter supports Stage scaling. However, it does not support general scaling, rotation, and skewing. If the object itself is scaled (if scaleX and scaleY are set to a value other than 1.0), the filter is not scaled. It is scaled only when the user zooms in on the Stage.

A filter is not applied if the resulting image exceeds the maximum dimensions. In AIR 1.5 and Flash Player 10, the maximum is 8,191 pixels in width or height, and the total number of pixels cannot exceed 16,777,215 pixels. (So, if an image is 8,191 pixels wide, it can only be 2,048 pixels high.) For example, if you zoom in on a large movie clip with a filter applied, the filter is turned off if the resulting image exceeds the maximum dimensions.

MXML SyntaxexpandedHide MXML Syntax

The <s:GlowFilter> tag inherits all of the tag attributes of its superclass and adds the following tag attributes:

  <s:GlowFilter
    Properties
    alpha="1"
    color="0xFF0000"
    inner="false"
  />
  

View the examples

See also



Public Properties
 PropertyDefined By
  alpha : Number
The alpha transparency value for the color.
GlowFilter
 InheritedblurX : Number
The amount of horizontal blur.
BaseDimensionFilter
 InheritedblurY : Number
The amount of vertical blur.
BaseDimensionFilter
  color : uint
The color of the glow.
GlowFilter
 Inheritedconstructor : Object
A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.
Object
  inner : Boolean
Specifies whether the glow is an inner glow.
GlowFilter
 Inheritedknockout : Boolean
Specifies whether the object has a knockout effect.
BaseDimensionFilter
 Inheritedprototype : Object
[static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.
Object
 Inheritedquality : int
The number of times to apply the filter.
BaseDimensionFilter
 Inheritedstrength : Number
The strength of the imprint or spread.
BaseDimensionFilter
Public Methods
 MethodDefined By
  
GlowFilter(color:uint = 0xFF0000, alpha:Number = 1.0, blurX:Number = 4.0, blurY:Number = 4.0, strength:Number = 1, quality:int = 1, inner:Boolean = false, knockout:Boolean = false)
Constructor.
GlowFilter
 Inherited
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
  
Returns a copy of this filter object.
GlowFilter
 Inherited
Dispatches an event into the event flow.
EventDispatcher
 Inherited
Checks whether the EventDispatcher object has any listeners registered for a specific type of event.
EventDispatcher
 Inherited
Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.
Object
 Inherited
BaseFilter
 Inherited
Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.
Object
 Inherited
removeEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false):void
Removes a listener from the EventDispatcher object.
EventDispatcher
 Inherited
Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of the specified object.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the primitive value of the specified object.
Object
 Inherited
Checks whether an event listener is registered with this EventDispatcher object or any of its ancestors for the specified event type.
EventDispatcher
Events
 Event Summary Defined By
 Inherited[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application gains operating system focus and becomes active.EventDispatcher
 Inherited[broadcast event] Dispatched when the Flash Player or AIR application operating loses system focus and is becoming inactive.EventDispatcher
Public Constants
 ConstantDefined By
 InheritedCHANGE : String = "change"
[static]
BaseFilter
Property Detail

alpha

property
alpha:Number

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 4
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The alpha transparency value for the color. Valid values are 0 to 1. For example, .25 sets a transparency value of 25%.

The default value is 1.



Implementation
    public function get alpha():Number
    public function set alpha(value:Number):void

color

property 
color:uint

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 4
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The color of the glow. Valid values are in the hexadecimal format 0xRRGGBB.

The default value is 0xFF0000.



Implementation
    public function get color():uint
    public function set color(value:uint):void

inner

property 
inner:Boolean

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 4
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Specifies whether the glow is an inner glow. The value true indicates an inner glow. The default is false, meaning an outer glow (a glow around the outer edges of the object).

The default value is false.



Implementation
    public function get inner():Boolean
    public function set inner(value:Boolean):void
Constructor Detail

GlowFilter

()Constructor
public function GlowFilter(color:uint = 0xFF0000, alpha:Number = 1.0, blurX:Number = 4.0, blurY:Number = 4.0, strength:Number = 1, quality:int = 1, inner:Boolean = false, knockout:Boolean = false)

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 4
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Constructor.

Parameters
color:uint (default = 0xFF0000) — The color of the glow, in the hexadecimal format 0xRRGGBB. The default value is 0xFF0000.
 
alpha:Number (default = 1.0) — The alpha transparency value for the color. Valid values are 0 to 1. For example, .25 sets a transparency value of 25%.
 
blurX:Number (default = 4.0) — The amount of horizontal blur. Valid values are 0 to 255 (floating point). Values that are a power of 2 (such as 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32) are optimized to render more quickly than other values.
 
blurY:Number (default = 4.0) — The amount of vertical blur. Valid values are 0 to 255 (floating point). Values that are a power of 2 (such as 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32) are optimized to render more quickly than other values.
 
strength:Number (default = 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 0 to 255.
 
quality:int (default = 1) — The number of times to apply the filter. Use the BitmapFilterQuality constants:
  • BitmapFilterQuality.LOW
  • BitmapFilterQuality.MEDIUM
  • BitmapFilterQuality.HIGH

For more information, see the description of the quality property.

 
inner:Boolean (default = false) — Specifies whether the glow is an inner glow. The value true specifies an inner glow. The value false specifies an outer glow (a glow around the outer edges of the object).
 
knockout:Boolean (default = false) — Specifies whether the object has a knockout effect. The value true makes the object's fill transparent and reveals the background color of the document.

See also

BitmapFilterQuality
Method Detail

clone

()method
public function clone():BitmapFilter

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Product Version: Flex 4
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Returns a copy of this filter object.

Returns
BitmapFilter — A new GlowFilter instance with all the properties of the original GlowFilter instance.
GlowFilterExample.mxml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- filters/examples/GlowFilterExample .mxml -->
<s:Application 
    xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" 
    xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" 
    xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" 
    creationComplete="createFilters()">
    
  <fx:Script><![CDATA[ 
     import spark.filters.*;
     import flash.filters.BitmapFilterQuality;
     import flash.filters.BitmapFilterType;
  
     private var myGlowFilter:GlowFilter;  
     private var color:Number = 0xFF33FF;
  
     public function createFilters():void {        
        myGlowFilter = new GlowFilter(color, .8, 6, 6, .65, BitmapFilterQuality.MEDIUM, 
            false, false);
        b1.filters = [myGlowFilter];
     }
  
  ]]></fx:Script>

    <s:VGroup>
        <!-- This button has a filter applied in ActionScript. -->
        <s:Button id="b1" label="Click me"/>
        
        <!-- This button has a filter applied in MXML. -->
        <s:Button id="b2" label="Click me">
            <s:filters>
                <s:GlowFilter 
                    color="0xFF33FF" 
                    alpha=".8" 
                    blurX="6" 
                    blurY="6" 
                    strength=".65" 
                    quality="{BitmapFilterQuality.MEDIUM}"
                    inner="false" 
                    knockout="false"/>
            </s:filters>
        </s:Button>
        
    </s:VGroup>        
</s:Application>