User Guide

About skinning components 97
Choose one of the following ways to skin a component according to what you want to do.
These approaches are listed from easiest to most difficult.
■ To change the skins associated with all instances of a particular component in a single
document, copy and modify individual skin elements. (See “Editing component skins in a
document” on page 97).
This method of skinning is recommended for beginners, because it doesn’t require
any scripting.
■ To replace all the skins in a document with a new set (with each kind of component
sharing the same appearance), apply a theme. (See “About themes” on page 108.)
This method of skinning is recommended for applying a consistent look and feel across all
components and across several documents.
■ To link the color of a skin element to a style property, add ActionScript code to the skin to
register it as a colored skin element. (See “Linking skin color to styles” on page 100).
■ To use different skins for multiple instances of the same component, create new skins and
set skin properties. (See “Creating new component skins” on page 99 and “Applying new
skins to a component” on page 101.)
■ To change skins in a subcomponent (such as a scroll bar in a List component), subclass the
component. (See “Applying new skins to a subcomponent” on page 103.)
■ To change skins of a subcomponent that aren’t directly accessible from the main
component (such as a List component in a ComboBox component), replace skin
properties in the prototype. (See “Changing skin properties in a subcomponent”
on page 106.)
Editing component skins in a document
To edit the skins associated with all instances of a particular component in a single document,
copy the skin symbols from the theme to the document and edit the graphics as desired.
The procedure described below is very similar to creating and applying a new theme (see
“About themes” on page 108). The primary difference is that this procedure describes copying
symbols directly from the theme already in use to a single document and editing only a small
number of all skins available. This is appropriate when your modifications are all in a single
document and when you are modifying skins for only a few components. If the edited skins
will be shared in multiple documents or encompass changes in several components, you may
find editing the skins easier if you create a new theme.
An article on advanced skinning can be found online in the Macromedia Developer Center at
www.macromedia.com/devnet/mx/flash/articles/skinning_2004.html.