Question

How can I skin, or otherwise change, the default cursor (white arrow) displayed in a Flex application?

Answer 1

If you wat to change the cursur you need to check the mouse when it is currently over the TextField sub-object of the Flex TextInput control:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo" minWidth="1024" minHeight="768" mouseMove="application1_mouseMoveHandler(event)">

    <fx:Script>
        <![CDATA[

            protected function application1_mouseMoveHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
            {
                if(event.target is TextField)
                {
                    if(TextField(event.target).type == TextFieldType.INPUT)
                    {
                        Mouse.hide();
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    Mouse.show();
                }
            }

        ]]>
    </fx:Script>

    <mx:TextInput width="300" />
</s:Application>

This is simply making it go away, but you could use the opportunity to make the cursor anything you want by replacing Mouse.hide() with the CursorManager methods described in the other comments. I don’t really consider this event “trickery” and overriding the PlayerGlobals.swc class is always going to be more difficult than the open Flex SDK stuff.