The following example shows how you can set the content background color on a Flex Gumbo Spark TextInput control by setting the contentBackgroundColor style.
Full code after the jump.
To use the following code, you must have Flash Player 10 and a Flex Gumbo SDK installed in your Flex Builder 3. For more information on downloading and installing the Gumbo SDK into Flex Builder 3, see “Using the beta Gumbo SDK in Flex Builder 3″.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/02/28/setting-a-content-background-color-on-an-fxtextinput-control-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<s:Application name="Spark_TextInput_contentBackgroundColor_test"
xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo">
<mx:ApplicationControlBar width="100%" cornerRadius="0">
<mx:Form styleName="plain">
<mx:FormItem label="contentBackgroundColor:">
<mx:ColorPicker id="colorPicker"
selectedColor="white" />
</mx:FormItem>
</mx:Form>
</mx:ApplicationControlBar>
<s:TextInput id="textInput"
text="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
contentBackgroundColor="{colorPicker.selectedColor}"
horizontalCenter="0"
verticalCenter="0" />
</s:Application>
View source is enabled in the following example.
You can also set the contentBackgroundColor style in an external .CSS file or <Style/> block, as seen in the following example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/02/28/setting-a-content-background-color-on-an-fxtextinput-control-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<s:Application name="Spark_TextInput_contentBackgroundColor_test"
xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo">
<fx:Style>
@namespace s "library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark";
s|TextInput {
contentBackgroundColor: red;
}
</fx:Style>
<s:TextInput id="textInput"
text="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
horizontalCenter="0"
verticalCenter="0" />
</s:Application>
Or, you can set the contentBackgroundColor style using ActionScript, as seen in the following example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/02/28/setting-a-content-background-color-on-an-fxtextinput-control-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<s:Application name="Spark_TextInput_contentBackgroundColor_test"
xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo">
<fx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.events.ColorPickerEvent;
private function colorPicker_change(evt:ColorPickerEvent):void {
textInput.setStyle("contentBackgroundColor", evt.color);
}
]]>
</fx:Script>
<mx:ApplicationControlBar width="100%" cornerRadius="0">
<mx:Form styleName="plain">
<mx:FormItem label="contentBackgroundColor:">
<mx:ColorPicker id="colorPicker"
selectedColor="white"
change="colorPicker_change(event);" />
</mx:FormItem>
</mx:Form>
</mx:ApplicationControlBar>
<s:TextInput id="textInput"
text="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
horizontalCenter="0"
verticalCenter="0" />
</s:Application>
This entry is based on a beta version of the Flex Gumbo SDK and therefore is very likely to change as development of the Flex SDK continues. The API can (and will) change causing examples to possibly not compile in newer versions of the Flex Gumbo SDK.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Excuse my ignorance but is Flex Gumbo – Flex 4 and if so has Adobe announced a release date for this software?
TC_man,
Yes, Flex Gumbo is the codename for the next version of Flex (Flex 4). According to the Flex Gumbo page on the opensource.adobe.com site, the release date is the second half of 2009.
Peter