Question

I want to put an element into another component (in this case a print template), print it, and then return it to its place. The problem is that when I return it, it has the properties of the print template! Here is a simplified example. When you click print, the label is removed and then returned but when returned it is affected by the padding of the print template! Why? How can I somehow refresh it to its proper properties? I tried all the invalidate… methods and parentChanged() but nothing worked.

<?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/mx" width="400" height="200">

    <fx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import spark.components.VGroup;
            protected function button1_clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void {
                var printTemplate:VGroup = new VGroup();
                printTemplate.paddingTop = 50;
                printTemplate.paddingLeft = 30;

                printTemplate.addElement(label);
                addElement(printTemplate);
                validateNow();

                // print

                removeElement(printTemplate);
                addElement(label);
            }

        ]]>
    </fx:Script>

    <s:Button label="Print" right="0" click="button1_clickHandler(event)"/>
    <s:Label id="label" text="This is the label text, it should appear at the top-left."/>

</s:Application>

Answer 1

OK I hacked up a solution. Put this in before adding the label back to its proper place:

var vg:VGroup = new VGroup();
vg.addElement(label);
addElement(vg);
validateNow();
removeElement(vg);

Then it gets the padding from “vg”, which has no padding set. Yay. Another little hack to circumnavigate a Flex bug.