> the lack of definitive info on this topic is pretty amazing to me Ben, what could be more definitive than the approach that the Flex SDK team takes for its own components? You don't have to follow our lead, but I still think it counts as best practice. Flex framework SWCs, such as framework.swc and airframework.swc, contain a defaults.css file, and this file references embeddable assets that are also in the SWC. The "host of problems" you are referring to (and I don't understand what they are) can't be any worse than those Flex developers encounter simply by using the standard Flex SWCs. - Gordon
________________________________ From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ben.clinkinbeard Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 12:21 PM To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com Subject: [flexcoders] Seriously, what is the 'right' way to do default styles? OK, the lack of definitive info on this topic is pretty amazing to me so I would like to help get something out there once and for all. The problem to which I am referring is how to define default yet overridable styles for custom components, including times when those styles require embedded assets. This has been discussed before, but the threads seem to endorse differing methods and neither provides much in the way of concrete examples. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/message/98546?threaded=1&p =8 <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/message/98546?threaded=1&; p=8> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/message/94547 <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/message/94547> I will use my personal efforts as an example here because its fairly complex and I think if we can define a solution for it then most other scenarios will be covered in the process. I have a component, MDIWindow. I want its style to point to other styles (as seen in Panel with titleStyleName and various other places in the Flex framework) with properties named focusStyleName and noFocusStyleName. Those "second-level" styles will then embed assets and contain a ClassReference directive. The end user should be able to define a MDIWindow style in their CSS but should also be able to specify styleName on an instance and have it point to alternate styles (all MDIWindow instances should not have to be styled the same). The classConstruct() static method + AS and defaultFactory() (mentioned by Alex above as probably the best option) works well for defining the MDIWindow type selector styles but falls short of supporting the styleName path since its static and cannot reference instance properties. The CSS approach (recommended by Gordon above) has issues when it comes to embedding assets in the resulting SWC (I think) unless you use the defaults.css approach, but that comes with its own host of problems (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/message/99374 <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/message/99374> ). I (and many others I think) are simply looking for an approach that is flexible, compatible with Flex 2.x and preferably has the "recommended by Adobe" stamp. I figure at the very least maybe we can get two of the SDK engineers to duke it out (Deepa, you're in charge of photgraphing), and hopefully whoever can still use a keyboard afterwards will post a wonderfully detailed diatribe on the "right" way to do default styles. Thanks! Ben
