A Comparison of Flex 3 and Flex 4 beta
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New components and containers
As I mentioned earlier, Flex 4 beta introduces a number of new component classes that use the new architecture, which should make skinning and other customizations much more straightforward. Here is a table showing Flex 3 Halo components and their Flex 4 beta Spark counterparts:
| Flex 3 Halo Component | Flex 4 beta Spark Component |
|---|---|
| mx.controls.Button | spark.components.Button |
| mx.controls.ButtonBar | spark.components.ButtonBar |
| mx.controls.CheckBox | spark.components.CheckBox |
| mx.controls.ComboBox | spark.components.DropDownList (w/o editability) |
| mx.controls.HorizontalList | spark.components.List (with a HorizontalLayout) |
| mx.controls.HRule | spark.primitives.Line |
| mx.controls.HScrollBar | spark.components.HScrollBar |
| mx.controls.HSlider | spark.components.HSlider |
| mx.controls.Image | spark.primitives.BitmapImage |
| mx.controls.LinkBar | spark.components.ButtonBar (with a custom skin) |
| mx.controls.LinkButton | spark.components.Button (with a custom skin) |
| mx.controls.List | spark.components.List |
| mx.controls.NumericStepper | spark.components.NumericStepper |
| mx.controls.RadioButton | spark.components.RadioButton |
| mx.controls.RadioButtonGroup | spark.components.RadioButtonGroup |
| mx.controls.TextArea | spark.components.TextArea |
| mx.controls.TextInput | spark.components.TextInput |
| mx.controls.TileList | spark.components.List (with a TileLayout) |
| mx.controls.ToggleButtonBar | spark.components.ButtonBar |
| mx.controls.VideoDisplay | spark.components.VideoPlayer |
| mx.controls.VRule | spark.primitives.Line |
| mx.controls.VScrollBar | spark.components.VScrollBar |
| mx.controls.VSlider | spark.components.VSlider |
| mx.core.Application | spark.components.Application |
| mx.core.Window | spark.components.Window |
| mx.core.WindowedApplication | spark.components.WindowedApplication |
| mx.containers.Canvas | spark.components.Group |
| mx.containers.HBox | spark.components.HGroup |
| mx.containers.Panel | spark.components.Panel |
| mx.containers.Tile | spark.components.Group (with a TileLayout) |
| mx.containers.VBox | spark.components.VGroup |
Adobe encourages you to use Halo components and containers along with Spark components. Because Adobe continues to build components atop the same base class (UIComponent), there should be full interoperability between Spark and Halo. Here is a table of the components and containers that do not currently have direct Spark equivalent classes.
| Flex 3 classes with no direct Flex 4 beta counterpart |
|---|
| mx.controls.Alert |
| mx.controls.ColorPicker |
| mx.controls.DataGrid |
| mx.controls.DateChooser |
| mx.controls.DateField |
| mx.controls.Menu |
| mx.controls.MenuBar |
| mx.controls.PopUpButton |
| mx.controls.PopUpMenuButton |
| mx.controls.ProgressBar |
| mx.controls.RichTextEditor |
| mx.controls.TabBar |
| mx.controls.Tree |
| mx.containers.Accordion |
| mx.containers.ApplicationControlBar |
| mx.containers.ControlBar |
| mx.containers.DividedBox |
| mx.containers.Form |
| mx.containers.Grid |
| mx.containers.TabNavigator |
| mx.containers.TitleWindow |
| mx.containers.ViewStack |
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