Full code after the jump.

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/08/06/toggling-whether-a-user-can-select-text-in-a-textarea-control-in-flex/ -->
<mx:Application name="TextArea_selectable_test"
        xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <mx:ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <mx:Form styleName="plain">
            <mx:FormItem label="selectable:">
                <mx:CheckBox id="checkBox"
                        selected="true" />
            </mx:FormItem>
        </mx:Form>
    </mx:ApplicationControlBar>

    <mx:TextArea id="textArea"
            selectable="{checkBox.selected}"
            text="The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." />

</mx:Application>

View source is enabled in the following example.

You can also set the selectable property using ActionScript, as seen in the following example:

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/08/06/toggling-whether-a-user-can-select-text-in-a-textarea-control-in-flex/ -->
<mx:Application name="TextArea_selectable_test"
        xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            private function checkBox_change(evt:Event):void {
                textArea.selectable = checkBox.selected;
            }
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>

    <mx:ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <mx:Form styleName="plain">
            <mx:FormItem label="selectable:">
                <mx:CheckBox id="checkBox"
                        selected="true"
                        change="checkBox_change(event);" />
            </mx:FormItem>
        </mx:Form>
    </mx:ApplicationControlBar>

    <mx:TextArea id="textArea"
            text="The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." />

</mx:Application>

 

Full code after the jump.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/07/10/preventing-users-from-changing-the-combobox-control-in-flex/ -->
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="top"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.events.DropdownEvent;

            private function comboBox_open(evt:DropdownEvent):void {
                comboBox.dropdown.selectable = checkBox.selected;
            }
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>

    <mx:Array id="arr">
        <mx:Object label="One" />
        <mx:Object label="Two" />
        <mx:Object label="Three" />
        <mx:Object label="Four" />
        <mx:Object label="Five" />
        <mx:Object label="Six" />
    </mx:Array>

    <mx:ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <mx:CheckBox id="checkBox"
                label="selectable:"
                labelPlacement="left"
                selected="false" />
    </mx:ApplicationControlBar>

    <mx:ComboBox id="comboBox"
            prompt="Please select an item"
            dataProvider="[One,Two,Three,Four,Five,Six]"
            open="comboBox_open(event);" />

</mx:Application>

 

Full code after the jump.

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/02/01/preventing-a-user-from-selecting-an-item-in-a-flex-datagrid-control/ -->
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.events.ListEvent;
            import mx.controls.Alert;

            private function dataGrid_itemClick(evt:ListEvent):void {
                Alert.show(evt.itemRenderer.data.label, evt.type);
            }
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>

    <mx:Array id="arr">
        <mx:Object label="Alert" />
        <mx:Object label="Button" />
        <mx:Object label="ButtonBar" />
        <mx:Object label="CheckBox" />
        <mx:Object label="ColorPicker" />
        <mx:Object label="ComboBox" />
    </mx:Array>

    <mx:ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <mx:CheckBox id="checkBox"
                label="selectable:"
                labelPlacement="left"
                selected="true" />
    </mx:ApplicationControlBar>

    <mx:DataGrid id="dataGrid"
            dataProvider="{arr}"
            selectable="{checkBox.selected}"
            rowCount="4"
            width="200"
            change="dataGrid_itemClick(event);"
            itemClick="dataGrid_itemClick(event);">
        <mx:columns>
            <mx:DataGridColumn dataField="label" />
        </mx:columns>
    </mx:DataGrid>

</mx:Application>

View source is enabled in the following example.

As you can see, if you click an item in a DataGrid control when the selectable property is false, only the itemClick event is dispatched, but if the selectable property is true, both the change and itemClick events are dispatched.

If you just want to disable the roll over highlighting, see “Disabling item roll over highlighting in the Flex DataGrid control”.

 

Full code after the jump.

The Label control must have the selectable property set to true to generate the link event.

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/01/26/listening-for-the-link-event-in-a-flex-label-control/ -->
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.controls.Alert;

            private function lbl_initialize():void {
                lbl.htmlText = "For more information on Flex, see <u><a href='event:flex.org'>http://www.flex.org/</a></u>.";            }

            private function lbl_link(evt:TextEvent):void {
                Alert.show(evt.toString(), evt.text);

                switch (evt.text) {
                    case "flex.org":
                        // You clicked the flex.org link.
                        break;
                }
            }
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>

    <mx:Label id="lbl"
            selectable="true"
            initialize="lbl_initialize();"
            link="lbl_link(event);" />

</mx:Application>

View source is enabled in the following example.

Another useful little tip when dealing with HTML text, is to put your HTML into an external file, and then embed it into your application using <mx:String />, as seen in the following snippet:

<mx:String id="str" source="text.html" />

<mx:Label id="lbl"
        htmlText="{str}"
        selectable="true"
        link="lbl_link(event);" />

And then your text.html file would look like the following:

<p>For more information on Flex, see <u><a href="event:flex.org">http://www.flex.org/</a></u>.</p>