spark.filters.GradientGlowFilter - Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference (Flex 4)

Package	spark.filters
Class	public class GradientGlowFilter
Inheritance	GradientGlowFilter GradientFilter BaseDimensionFilter BaseFilter EventDispatcher Object
Implements	IBitmapFilter

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 4

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

The GradientGlowFilter class lets you apply a gradient glow effect to display objects. A gradient glow is a realistic-looking glow with a color gradient that you can control. You can apply a gradient glow around the inner or outer edge of an object or on top of an object. You can apply the filter to any display object (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. 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 effect 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 Syntax expanded

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The <s:GradientGlowFilter> tag inherits all of the tag attributes of its superclass and adds no tag attributes:

  <s:GradientGlowFilter/>

Default MXML Propertyentries

View the examples

Public Properties

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	Property		Defined By
		angle : Number The angle, in degrees.	GradientFilter
		blurX : Number The amount of horizontal blur.	BaseDimensionFilter
		blurY : Number The amount of vertical blur.	BaseDimensionFilter
		constructor : Object A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.	Object
		distance : Number The offset distance of the glow.	GradientFilter
		entries : Array An Array of GradientEntry objects defining the fill patterns for the gradient fill.	GradientFilter
		knockout : Boolean Specifies whether the object has a knockout effect.	BaseDimensionFilter
		prototype : Object [static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.	Object
		quality : int The number of times to apply the filter.	BaseDimensionFilter
		strength : Number The strength of the imprint or spread.	BaseDimensionFilter
		type : String The placement of the filter effect.	GradientFilter

Public Methods

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	Method		Defined By
		GradientGlowFilter(distance:Number = 4.0, angle:Number = 45, colors:Array = null, alphas:Array = null, ratios:Array = null, blurX:Number = 4.0, blurY:Number = 4.0, strength:Number = 1, quality:int = 1, type:String = "outer", knockout:Boolean = false) Constructor.	GradientGlowFilter
		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
		clone():BitmapFilter Returns a copy of this filter object.	GradientGlowFilter
		dispatchEvent(event:Event):Boolean Dispatches an event into the event flow.	EventDispatcher
		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
		notifyFilterChanged():void	BaseFilter
		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
		setPropertyIsEnumerable(name:String, isEnum:Boolean = true):void Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.	Object
		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

Events

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	Event		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

Public Constants

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	Constant		Defined By
		CHANGE : String = "change" [static]	BaseFilter

Constructor Detail

GradientGlowFilter

()

Constructor

public function GradientGlowFilter(distance:Number = 4.0, angle:Number = 45, colors:Array = null, alphas:Array = null, ratios:Array = null, blurX:Number = 4.0, blurY:Number = 4.0, strength:Number = 1, quality:int = 1, type:String = "outer", knockout:Boolean = false)

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 4

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Constructor.

Parameters

	`distance:Number` (default = `4.0`) — The offset distance of the glow.

	`angle:Number` (default = `45`) — The angle, in degrees. Valid values are 0 to 360.

	`colors:Array` (default = `null`) — An array of colors that defines a gradient. For example, red is 0xFF0000, blue is 0x0000FF, and so on.

	`alphas:Array` (default = `null`) — An array of alpha transparency values for the corresponding colors in the `colors` array. Valid values for each element in the array are 0 to 1. For example, a value of .25 sets the alpha transparency value to 25%.

	`ratios:Array` (default = `null`) — An array of color distribution ratios. Valid values are 0 to 255. This value defines the percentage of the width where the color is sampled at 100 percent.

	`blurX:Number` (default = `4.0`) — The amount of horizontal blur. Valid values are 0 to 255. A blur of 1 or less means that the original image is copied as is. 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. A blur of 1 or less means that the original image is copied as is. 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. The larger the value, the stronger the imprint. A value of 0 means the filter is not applied.

	`quality:int` (default = `1`) — The number of times to apply the filter. Use the flash.filters.BitmapFilterQuality constants: `BitmapFilterQuality.LOW` `BitmapFilterQuality.MEDIUM` `BitmapFilterQuality.HIGH` For more information, see the description of the `quality` property.

	`type:String` (default = "`outer`") — The placement of the filter effect. Possible values are the flash.filters.BitmapFilterType constants: `BitmapFilterType.OUTER` — Glow on the outer edge of the object; the default. `BitmapFilterType.INNER` — Glow on the inner edge of the object `BitmapFilterType.FULL` — Glow on top of the object

	`knockout:Boolean` (default = `false`) — Specifies whether the object has a knockout effect. A knockout effect makes the object's fill transparent and reveals the background color of the document. The value `true` specifies a knockout effect; the default is `false` (no knockout effect).

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 GradientGlowFilter instance with all the same properties as the original GradientGlowFilter instance.

Examples ( How to use this example )

GradientGlowFilterExample.mxml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- filters/examples/GradientGlowFilterExample .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 myGradientGlowFilter:GradientGlowFilter;  
     private var colors:Array = [0xFFFFFF, 0xFF0000, 0xFFFF00, 0x00CCFF];
     private var alphas:Array = [0, 1, 1, 1];  
     private var ratios:Array = [0, 63, 126, 255];
             
     public function createFilters():void {        
        myGradientGlowFilter = new GradientGlowFilter(0, 45, colors, alphas,
            ratios, 50, 50, 2.5, BitmapFilterQuality.HIGH, BitmapFilterType.OUTER, false);
        b1.filters = [myGradientGlowFilter];
     }
  
  ]]></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:GradientGlowFilter 
                    distance="10"
                    angle="45"
                    blurX="50" 
                    blurY="50" 
                    strength="2.5" 
                    quality="{BitmapFilterQuality.HIGH}"
                    type="{BitmapFilterType.OUTER}" 
                    knockout="false">
                        <s:entries>
                            <s:GradientEntry alpha="0" color="0xFFFFFF" ratio="0"/>
                            <s:GradientEntry alpha="1" color="0xFF0000" ratio="63"/>
                            <s:GradientEntry alpha="1" color="0xFFFF00" ratio="126"/>
                            <s:GradientEntry alpha="1" color="0x00CCFF" ratio="255"/>
                        </s:entries>
                 </s:GradientGlowFilter>
            </s:filters>
        </s:Button>
    </s:VGroup>        
</s:Application>