Setting the fill colors on a Halo Button control in Flex 4

By Peter deHaan On August 18, 2009 · 2 Comments

The following example shows how you can set the fill colors on a Halo Button control (with default Spark skin) in Flex 4 by creating a custom skin and setting the gradient colors in the fill layer:

<!-- layer 2: fill -->
<s:Rect left="1" right="1" top="1" bottom="1"
        radiusX="2" radiusY="2">
    <s:fill>
        <s:LinearGradient rotation="90">
            <s:GradientEntry color="red"
                    color.overStates="haloGreen"
                    alpha="0.85"
                    alpha.selectedOver="1" />
            <s:GradientEntry color="haloOrange"
                    color.overStates="haloBlue"
                    alpha="0.85"
                    alpha.selectedOver="1" />
        </s:LinearGradient>
    </s:fill>
</s:Rect>

Full code after the jump.

The following example(s) require Flash Player 10 and the Adobe Flex 4 SDK. To download the Adobe Flash Builder 4 trial, see http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/. To download the latest nightly build of the Flex 4 SDK, see http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/flexsdk/Download+Flex+4.
For more information on getting started with Flex 4 and Flash Builder 4, see the official Adobe Flex Team blog.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/08/18/setting-the-fill-colors-on-a-halo-button-control-in-flex-4/ -->
<s:Application name="Halo_Button_fillColors_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">
 
    <s:HGroup horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0">
        <mx:Button id="btn1"
                label="Halo Button with default Halo skin"
                fillColors="[red,haloOrange,haloGreen,haloBlue]"
                skin="mx.skins.halo.ButtonSkin" />
        <mx:Button id="btn2"
                label="Halo Button with custom Spark skin"
                skin="skins.CustomHaloButtonSkin" />
    </s:HGroup>
 
</s:Application>

And the custom Halo Button skin, skins/CustomHaloButtonSkin.mxml, is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/08/18/setting-the-fill-colors-on-a-halo-button-control-in-flex-4/ -->
<local:SparkSkinForHalo name="CustomHaloButtonSkin"
        xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
        xmlns:local="mx.skins.spark.*"
        minWidth="21" minHeight="19"
        alpha.disabled="0.5">
    <!-- states -->
    <local:states>
        <s:State name="up" />
        <s:State name="over" stateGroups="overStates" />
        <s:State name="down" stateGroups="downStates" />
        <s:State name="disabled" stateGroups="disabledStates" />
        <s:State name="selectedUp" stateGroups="selectedStates, selectedUpStates" />
        <s:State name="selectedOver" stateGroups="overStates, selectedStates" />
        <s:State name="selectedDown" stateGroups="downStates, selectedStates" />
        <s:State name="selectedDisabled" stateGroups="selectedUpStates, disabledStates, selectedStates" />
    </local:states>
 
    <fx:Script>
        /* Define the border items.*/
        static private const borderItem:Array = ["borderEntry1", "borderEntry2"];
        override protected function get borderItems():Array {
            return borderItem;
        }
    </fx:Script>
 
    <!-- layer 1: shadow -->
    <s:Rect left="-1" right="-1" top="-1" bottom="-1"
            radiusX="2" radiusY="2">
        <s:fill>
            <s:LinearGradient rotation="90">
                <s:GradientEntry color="0x000000"
                        color.downStates="0xFFFFFF"
                        alpha="0.01"
                        alpha.downStates="0" />
                <s:GradientEntry color="0x000000"
                        color.downStates="0xFFFFFF"
                        alpha="0.07"
                        alpha.downStates="0.5" />
            </s:LinearGradient>
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
 
    <!-- layer 2: fill -->
    <s:Rect left="1" right="1" top="1" bottom="1"
            radiusX="2" radiusY="2">
        <s:fill>
            <s:LinearGradient rotation="90">
                <s:GradientEntry color="red"
                        color.overStates="haloGreen"
                        alpha="0.85"
                        alpha.selectedOver="1" />
                <s:GradientEntry color="haloOrange"
                        color.overStates="haloBlue"
                        alpha="0.85"
                        alpha.selectedOver="1" />
            </s:LinearGradient>
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
 
    <!-- layer 3: fill lowlight -->
    <s:Rect left="1" right="1" bottom="1" height="9"
            radiusX="2" radiusY="2">
        <s:fill>
            <s:LinearGradient rotation="90">
                <s:GradientEntry color="0x000000" alpha="0.0099" />
                <s:GradientEntry color="0x000000" alpha="0.0627" />
            </s:LinearGradient>
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
 
    <!-- layer 4: fill highlight -->
    <s:Rect left="1" right="1" top="1" height="9"
            radiusX="2" radiusY="2">
        <s:fill>
            <s:SolidColor color="0xFFFFFF"
                    alpha="0.33"
                    alpha.selectedUpStates="0.22"
                    alpha.overStates="0.22"
                    alpha.downStates="0.12" />
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
 
    <!-- layer 5: highlight stroke (all states except down) -->
    <s:Rect left="1" right="1" top="1" bottom="1"
            radiusX="2" radiusY="2"
            excludeFrom="downStates">
        <s:stroke>
            <s:LinearGradientStroke rotation="90" weight="1">
                <s:GradientEntry color="0xFFFFFF"
                        alpha.overStates="0.22"
                        alpha.selectedUpStates="0.33" />
                <s:GradientEntry color="0xD8D8D8"
                        alpha.overStates="0.22"
                        alpha.selectedUpStates="0.33" />
            </s:LinearGradientStroke>
        </s:stroke>
    </s:Rect>
 
    <!-- layer 6: highlight stroke (down state only) -->
    <s:Rect left="1" top="1" bottom="1" width="1"
            includeIn="downStates, selectedUpStates, selectedOver">
        <s:fill>
            <s:SolidColor color="0x000000" alpha="0.07" />
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
    <s:Rect right="1" top="1" bottom="1" width="1"
            includeIn="downStates, selectedUpStates, selectedOver">
        <s:fill>
            <s:SolidColor color="0x000000" alpha="0.07" />
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
    <s:Rect left="2" top="1" right="2" height="1"
            includeIn="downStates, selectedUpStates, selectedOver">
        <s:fill>
            <s:SolidColor color="0x000000" alpha="0.25" />
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
    <s:Rect left="1" top="2" right="1" height="1"
            includeIn="downStates, selectedUpStates, selectedOver">
        <s:fill>
            <s:SolidColor color="0x000000" alpha="0.09" />
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
 
    <!-- layer 7: border - put on top of the fill so it doesn't disappear when scale is less than 1 -->
    <s:Rect left="0" right="0" top="0" bottom="0"
            width="69" height="20"
            radiusX="2" radiusY="2">
        <s:stroke>
            <s:LinearGradientStroke rotation="90" weight="1">
                <s:GradientEntry id="borderEntry1"
                        alpha="0.5625"
                        alpha.down="0.6375"
                        alpha.selectedStates="0.6375" />
                <s:GradientEntry id="borderEntry2"
                        alpha="0.75"
                        alpha.down="0.85"
                        alpha.selectedStates="0.85" />
            </s:LinearGradientStroke>
        </s:stroke>
    </s:Rect>
 
</local:SparkSkinForHalo>

The default Spark skins for the MX/Halo controls/containers can be found in the Flex SDK at:
%Flex SDK%\frameworks\projects\sparkskins\src\mx\skins\spark\*.

View source is enabled in the following example.

You can also set the skin 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/2009/08/18/setting-the-fill-colors-on-a-halo-button-control-in-flex-4/ -->
<s:Application name="Halo_Button_fillColors_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";
        @namespace mx "library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo";
 
        mx|Button#btn1 {
            fillColors: red, haloOrange, haloGreen, haloBlue;
            skin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ButtonSkin");
        }
 
        mx|Button#btn2 {
            skin: ClassReference("skins.CustomHaloButtonSkin");
        }
    </fx:Style>
 
    <s:HGroup horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0">
        <mx:Button id="btn1"
                label="Halo Button with default Halo skin" />
        <mx:Button id="btn2"
                label="Halo Button with custom Spark skin" />
    </s:HGroup>
 
</s:Application>

Due to popular demand, here is the “same” example in a more ActionScript friendly format:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/08/18/setting-the-fill-colors-on-a-halo-button-control-in-flex-4/ -->
<s:Application name="Halo_Button_fillColors_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"
        initialize="init();">
 
    <fx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.controls.Button;
            import mx.skins.halo.ButtonSkin;
            import spark.components.HGroup;
            import skins.CustomHaloButtonSkin;
 
            protected var btn1:Button;
            protected var btn2:Button;
 
            protected function init():void {
                btn1 = new Button();
                btn1.label = "Halo Button with default Halo skin";
                btn1.setStyle("fillColors", ["red", "haloOrange", "haloGreen", "haloBlue"]);
                btn1.setStyle("skin", ButtonSkin);
 
                btn2 = new Button();
                btn2.label = "Halo Button with custom Spark skin";
                btn2.setStyle("skin", CustomHaloButtonSkin);
 
                var hGr:HGroup = new HGroup();
                hGr.horizontalCenter = 0;
                hGr.verticalCenter = 0;
                hGr.addElement(btn1);
                hGr.addElement(btn2);
                addElement(hGr);
            }
        ]]>
    </fx:Script>
 
</s:Application>

This entry is based on a beta version of the Flex 4 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 4 SDK.

 
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About The Author

Peter deHaan

Peter deHaan currently works for Adobe on the Flex SDK QA team. While not working on Flex, Flash, and ColdFusion applications, Peter enjoys making up bios and writing in 3rd person. Peter's rarely updated blog can be found at blogs.adobe.com/pdehaan/, actionscriptexamples.com, airexamples.com, and coldfusionexamples.com.

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2 Responses to Setting the fill colors on a Halo Button control in Flex 4

  1. carlos says:
    October 21, 2010 at 9:34 am

    i have a skin like this but more simple

    [HostComponent("spark.components.Button")]

    but im having trouble showing the text in the label atribute, can some one give me a tip on this please

    Reply
  2. carlos says:
    October 21, 2010 at 9:35 am

    <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
    <s:Skin xmlns:s=”library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark”
    xmlns:fx=”http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009″
    xmlns:d=”http://ns.adobe.com/fxg/2008/dt”
    xmlns:flm=”http://ns.adobe.com/flame/2008″>
    <fx:Metadata>[HostComponent("spark.components.Button")]</fx:Metadata>
    <s:states>
    <s:State name=”up”/>
    <s:State name=”over”/>
    <s:State name=”down”/>
    <s:State name=”disabled”/>
    </s:states>
    <s:Rect height=”32″ width=”240″ x=”0″ y=”0″>
    <s:fill>
    <s:SolidColor color=”#75C3EE”/>
    </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
    </s:Skin>

    code here sry

    Reply

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