Question

In main.mxml I have a bunch of textInput controls a combobox and a few checkboxes that I would like to be able to clear with some sort of loop. Right now, I do it like this:

public function clearAll():void
{
  customerIDInput.text = "";
  listIDCombo.selectedItem = "";
  listVersionInput.text = "";
  suppressMasterFilesInput.text = "";
  priorOrderSuppressInput.text = "";
  onePerSelectInput.text = "";
  geoCountOptionsInput.text = "";
  keyCodeInput.text = "";
  nthSelectInput.text = "";
  geoTypeInput.text = "";
  geoValueFromInput.text = "";
  latitudeInput.text = "";
  longitudeInput.text = "";
  begRadiusInput.text = "";
  endRadiusInput.text = "";
  geoSelectOmitCheck.selected = false;
  fieldIDInput.text = "";
  fieldValueInput.text = "";
  fieldSelectOmitCheck.selected = false;
  outputFieldCheck.selected = false;
}

I read a post on SO that recomended adding the controls to an ArrayCollection with the creationComplete event. I tried that and it worked fine but it was not any more elegant than what I have now. All of these controls are in mxml format and not generated with AS by me. I also tried looping like this:

for each (var ctrl:UIComponent in Application)
{
  switch(ctrl.className)
  {
    case TextInput:

I can’t get past that part though. I cannot find a way to reference the values of the control. Anyone know?

Answer 1

I’d probably do it the way you do it. Is there a compelling reason not to do it this way? Given the naming conventions, I am guessing you have an explicit number of defined controls at compile time. It does not appear that you have an unknown number.

You could work out a loop for all the children of the component:

for (var index:int=0;this.numChildren ; x++){
 var component : UIComponent = this.getChildAt(index) as UIComponent;
 if(component is TextInput){
   component.text = '';
 } else if (component is ListBase){
   component.selectedIndex = null;
 }
 // etc for other comp types
}

But, it seems like you’re adding undue processing; making your code harder to develop; and harder to read.