The following example shows how you can easily create a drop shadow effect on a TextInput control using the dropShadowEnabled style (instead of creating a DropShadowFilter), as well as control the drop shadow effect’s color, direction, and distance (using the dropShadowColor, shadowDirection, and shadowDistance styles, respectively).
Full code after the jump.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2007/08/30/creating-drop-shadows-on-the-flex-textinput-control/ --> <mx:Application name="TextInput_dropShadowEnabled_test" xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="vertical" verticalAlign="middle" backgroundColor="white"> <mx:ApplicationControlBar dock="true"> <mx:Grid> <mx:GridRow> <!-- dropShadowEnabled --> <mx:GridItem> <mx:CheckBox id="checkBox" label="dropShadowEnabled:" selected="true" labelPlacement="left" /> </mx:GridItem> <!-- dropShadowColor --> <mx:GridItem> <mx:Label text="dropShadowColor:" /> <mx:ColorPicker id="colorPicker" /> </mx:GridItem> </mx:GridRow> <mx:GridRow> <!-- shadowDirection --> <mx:GridItem> <mx:Label text="shadowDirection:" /> <mx:ComboBox id="comboBox" selectedIndex="1"> <mx:dataProvider> <mx:String>left</mx:String> <mx:String>center</mx:String> <mx:String>right</mx:String> </mx:dataProvider> </mx:ComboBox> </mx:GridItem> <!-- shadowDistance --> <mx:GridItem> <mx:Label text="shadowDistance:" /> <mx:HSlider id="slider" minimum="-10" maximum="10" value="2" liveDragging="true" snapInterval="1" tickInterval="1" dataTipPrecision="0" /> </mx:GridItem> </mx:GridRow> </mx:Grid> </mx:ApplicationControlBar> <mx:TextInput id="textInput" dropShadowEnabled="{checkBox.selected}" dropShadowColor="{colorPicker.selectedColor}" shadowDirection="{comboBox.selectedItem}" shadowDistance="{slider.value}" /> </mx:Application>
View source is enabled in the following example.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
is there a way to change text input color dynamically?
@Anonymous,
You mean the text color itself? If so, then yes — you can set the
colorstyle to change the text color.Peter