Flex Custom Component Lifecycle

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

The purpose of this post is to identify what the component lifecycle is and how to utilize it to create components that are efficient and re-usable. I will cover both the functions we need to override as well as the events that are dispatched along the way.

First, let’s start with a quiz.

1. True or False. I know what the lifecycle functions: createChildren(), commitProperties(), measure(), and updateDisplayList() are and I use them often in my custom component development.
2. True or False. I know what circumstances are appropriate for overriding commitProperties(), measure(), and updateDisplayList().
3. True or False. I know what deferred validation is and how it is used in the component lifecycle.
4. True or False. I know when the preinitialize, initialize, creationComplete, and updateComplete are dispatched relative to createChildren(), commitProperties(), measure(), and updateDisplayList().

If you answered false to any of the above questions, I will cover the answers next. So keep reading .