Doing it in the 'initialize' event seems like the right way to do it. The 'initialize' event still occurs before the LayoutManager has sized and positioned the children. But if you wait until creationComplete() the LayoutManager has already laid out the children and calling setStyle()will force another layout.
Gordon Smith, Adobe From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of flexwdw Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 3:40 PM To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com Subject: [flexcoders] setStyle, preinitialize and initialize So, I've run into this before but I don't recall it being the headscratcher it has become today.... I'm using Flex 3.5 in an app. I have an MXML class with a bunch of UI in it. I have been asked to add a switch that causes the positions of some of the different child components to change. The components use constraint-based layouts, so this is going to amount to modifying their left, right, top, and bottom styles. This only needs to happen once per object creation. In the docs: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=styles_08.html "Some applications must call the setStyle() method during the application or object instantiation. If this is the case, call the setStyle() method early in the instantiation phase. Early in the instantiation phase means setting styles from the component or application's preinitialize event, instead of the creationComplete or other event. By setting the styles as early as possible during initialization, you avoid unnecessary style notification and lookup. For more information about the component startup life cycle, see Improving Startup Performance." Putting these style sets in preinitialize is impossible because the children have not been setup and are null. At this point, I am making the calls in the handler for the initialize event. Is there an acceptable way to do this without having to create two versions of the class subclass the children?
