I've got this working. It's not as universal a solution as it could have been
if I'd adopted all of Jake's blogs, but it satisfies the current need.
In case anybody else is interested, these were the key elements:
The XML Menu data provider (you can see I added the "callbackclass" to the
<menuitem/> as Jake suggested, but I didn't figure out how to avoid using the
full class path):
<mx:XML id="xmlFormMenuOptions" >
<Menu id="MenuOptions">
<menuitem id="RenameChartMenuOption" label="Rename Chart..."
callback="PopUpTextBox" arguments="RenameChart, RenameChartButtonTextBox,
{nameChartSelected}" enabled="{selectedChartingPanelTableCell}" />
<menuitem id="OpenAlertsWindowMenuOption" label="Open Alerts Window"
callback="setValue" callbackclass="Classes.DataManagers.ProjectProperties"
arguments="ShowAlertsWindow, true" />
</Menu>
</mx:XML>
The Menu control event handler (I stuck with callLater as it seemed to work
fine - I didn't check to see if I could pass an array of arguments to a
Function variable):
private function formMenuButton_click(event:MenuEvent):void {
var callback:String = event.it...@callback;
var className:String = event.it...@callbackclass;
var classDefinition:Class = className ? getDefinitionByName( className ) as
Class : undefined;
var arguments:String = event.it...@arguments;
var arrayArguments:Array = UtilityFunctions.ToArgumentArray(arguments, this);
if( callback ) {
if( className ) {
if( arguments ) {
callLater(classDefinition[callback], arrayArguments);
} else {
callLater(classDefinition[callback]);
}
} else {
if( arguments ) {
callLater(this[callback], arrayArguments);
} else {
callLater(this[callback]);
}
}
}
}
The ToArgumentArray scrubbing function:
public static function ToArgumentArray(arguments:String,
container:Object):Array {
var arrayArguments:Array = arguments.split(",");
//Replace argument strings with object references when the strings represent
real objects within this component
var i:int = 0; //Argument offset counter
for each( var arg:String in arrayArguments ) {
//Replace all of the leading spaces in the arguments
while( arg.search(" ") == 0 ) {
var replacePattern:RegExp = /\s/; //Replace the space character (note
that the global flag is not set)
arg = arg.replace(replacePattern, ""); //Replace the first space with a
blank character
}
arrayArguments[i] = arg;
//Replace all of the lagging spaces in the arguments
while( arg.charAt(arg.length - 1) == " " ) {
arg = arg.substr(0, length - 2); //Replace the last space with a blank
character
}
arrayArguments[i] = arg;
//Replace any objects in this with the object reference
if( container.hasOwnProperty(arg) )
arrayArguments[i] = container[arg]; //Replace the argument string with a
reference to the object
//Replace the "null" string with null
if( arg == "null" )
arrayArguments[i] = null; //Replace the argument string the null operator
i++;
}
return arrayArguments;
}
--- In [email protected], "edlueze" <edlu...@...> wrote:
>
> Ah - yes - this looks pretty cool! I'll start digging into it immediately.
> Thanks for the reference!!
>
> --- In [email protected], "Jake Churchill" <jake@> wrote:
> >
> > I would separate the classname out into another argument in your XML, so in
> > your example that's not working, you'd have:
> >
> >
> >
> > <menuitem id="OpenAlertsWindowMenuOption" label="Open Alerts Window"
> > callbackClass="ProjectProperties" callback="setValue"
> > arguments="ShowAlertsWindow, true" />
> >
> >
> >
> > Then you'd have to dynamically instantiate that class and call the assigned
> > method. I have a couple tutorials on my blog about doing this:
> >
> >
> >
> > http://jake.cfwebtools.com/2009/04/08/dynamically-instantiate-a-class/
> >
> > http://jake.cfwebtools.com/2009/05/15/flex-dynamic-casting-of-data/
> >
> >
> >
> > The 2nd one deals with data casting which might not be as relevant but I
> > still do the class stuff dynamically. Here's an example of what this might
> > look like for you:
> >
> >
> >
> > var className:Class = Class( getDefinitionByName( getQualifiedClassName(
> > "ProjectProperties" ) ) );
> >
> > var function:Function = className["setValue"];
> >
> > function.call(className[or null], parmaters.);
> >
> >
> >
> > FYI, this code is completely untested, just trying to give you an idea.
> >
> >
> >
> > Jake Churchill
> >
> > CF Webtools
> >
> > 11204 Davenport, Ste. 100
> >
> > Omaha, NE 68154
> >
> > http://www.cfwebtools.com
> >
> > 402-408-3733 x103
> >
> >
> >
> > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
> > Behalf Of edlueze
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 6:00 AM
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: [flexcoders] Call a Flex Function by Name
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I'm using a Menu control. Normally I'd catch the Menu's control event and
> > then act on whatever selection the user made with something like a switch
> > block.
> >
> > But I wanted to see if I could be more clever and embed the function name
> > and parameters in the XML Menu data provider itself, like this:
> >
> > <mx:XML id="xmlFormMenuOptions" >
> > <Menu id="MenuOptions">
> > <menuitem id="AddNewChartMenuOption" label="Add Chart..."
> > callback="AddNewChartButton_click" arguments="" />
> > <menuitem id="RenameChartMenuOption" label="Rename Chart..."
> > callback="PopUpTextBox" arguments="RenameChart, RenameChartButtonTextBox,
> > {nameChartSelected}" enabled="{selectedChartingPanelTableCell}" />
> > <menuitem id="DeleteChartMenuOption" label="Delete Chart"
> > callback="PopUpCheckBox" arguments="DeleteChart, DeleteChartButtonCheckBox"
> > enabled="{selectedChartingPanelTableCell}" />
> > <menuitem id="RaiseChartOrderMenuOption" label="Raise Chart Order"
> > callback="RaiseChartOrderButton_click" arguments=""
> > enabled="{RaiseChartOrderButton.enabled}" />
> > <menuitem id="LowerChartOrderMenuOption" label="Lower Chart Order"
> > callback="LowerChartOrderButton_click" arguments=""
> > enabled="{LowerChartOrderButton.enabled}" />
> > <menuitem id="OpenAlertsWindowMenuOption" label="Open Alerts Window"
> > callback="ProjectProperties.setValue" arguments="ShowAlertsWindow, true" />
> > <menuitem id="ChartingPanelWhatAmIMenuOption" label="What am I?"
> > callback="PopUpMessage" arguments="ChartingPanelWhatAmIMenuOption, null " />
> > <menuitem id="HelpMenuOption" label="Help" callback="" />
> > </Menu>
> > </mx:XML>
> >
> > If you look at each <menuitem/> you'll see a 'callback' attribute and an
> > 'arguments' attribute. The arguments are comma-delineated that I need to
> > parse into an Array and scrub: for example, by converting string references
> > into real ones like this:
> >
> > if( this.hasOwnProperty(arg) )
> > arrayArguments[i] = this[arg];
> >
> > I then have been successful in using the callLater function like this:
> >
> > callLater(this[callback], arrayArguments);
> >
> > So far so good - it works great!
> >
> > But I've hit a tiny snag. If the function is in a foreign class then
> > everything falls apart. For example, this won't work:
> >
> > callback = "ProjectProperties.setValue"
> > arguments = "ShowAlertsWindow, true"
> >
> > Because there is no such thing as this[ProjectProperties.setValue] the
> > callLater function can't handle it. I can easily build a little stub but I'm
> > hoping to keep things clean and elegant.
> >
> > I've been searching for a way to call-by-name in Flex but haven't found one
> > (except for callLater). Is there a way I can do this?
> >
>
