Normally you would be able to find more information in the Macromedia Flash documentation, but neither the CustomButton class nor the SimpleButton class are included in the current Macromedia Flash MX 2004 documentation. See also Nigel Pegg's blog post (In the preceding steps, we created the SimpleButton instance with code (via createClassObject()) because there is no SimpleButton visual component included in the Flash MX 2004 Components panel. It is theoretically possible to subclass SimpleButton and use the subclass to create a component that could be added to the Components panel, but doing so is outside the scope of this article. For information on creating components, see "Further Study," below.

The SimpleButton class is not the only alternative to the Button component. The CustomButton class can also be skinned with graphical movie clips. CustomButton offers the additional features of resizability and a text label. Note, however, that a CustomButton instance can be resized along one axis only - either horizontally or vertically. Accordingly, the CustomButton skin is structured much like the ProgressBar skin; it has two end caps for the edges of the button and a middle section that is stretched between the caps. You can use the SimpleButton skinning technique described above to skin a CustomButton instance. Of course, you'll have to use the CustomButton skin properties instead of the SimpleButton skin properties. For reference, here is a list of CustomButton's skin properties:

• falseUpSkinL
• falseUpSkinM
• falseUpSkinR
• falseDownSkinL
• falseDownSkinM
• falseDownSkinR
• falseOverSkinL
• falseOverSkinM
• falseOverSkinR
• trueUpSkinL
• trueUpSkinM
• trueUpSkinR
• trueDownSkinL
• trueDownSkinM
• trueDownSkinR
• trueOverSkinL
• trueOverSkinM
• trueOverSkinR
• falseDisabledSkinL
• falseDisabledSkinM
• falseDisabledSkinR
• trueDisabledSkinL
• trueDisabledSkinM
• trueDisabledSkinR

In the preceding property names, "false" means that the button is not in a "toggled on" state, while "true" means that the button is in a "toggled on" state. Non-toggle buttons (i.e., normal buttons) use the "false" skins only. The letter "L" means left cap, "M" means middle, stretching section, and "R" means right cap.

Note, however, that rather than relying on the above list of CustomButton skin properties you should always consult the actual source code for the CustomButton class to verify which skin properties it supports. Different versions of the class may support different properties. The source code also contains a brief description for each skin element. The source file for CustomButton is located here:

• Windows: \Program Files\Macromedia\Flash MX 2004\[LANGUAGE_CODE]\First Run\Classes\mx\controls\CustomButton.as
• Macintosh: HD/Applications/Macromedia Flash MX 2004/First Run/Classes/mx/controls/CustomButton.as

Normally you would be able to find more information in the Macromedia Flash documentation, but neither the CustomButton class nor the SimpleButton class are included in the current Macromedia Flash MX 2004 documentation. See also Nigel Pegg's blog post (In the preceding steps, we created the SimpleButton instance with code (via createClassObject()) because there is no SimpleButton visual component included in the Flash MX 2004 Components panel. It is theoretically possible to subclass SimpleButton and use the subclass to create a component that could be added to the Components panel, but doing so is outside the scope of this article. For information on creating components, see Further Study, below.

The SimpleButton class is not the only alternative to the Button component. The CustomButton class can also be skinned with graphical movie clips. CustomButton offers the additional features of resizability and a text label. Note, however, that a CustomButton instance can be resized along one axis only--either horizontally or vertically. Accordingly, the CustomButton skin is structured much like the ProgressBar skin; it has two end caps for the edges of the button and a middle section that is stretched between the caps. You can use the SimpleButton skinning technique described above to skin a CustomButton instance. Of course, you'll have to use the CustomButton skin properties instead of the SimpleButton skin properties. For reference, here is a list of CustomButton's skin properties:

• falseUpSkinL
• falseUpSkinM
• falseUpSkinR
• falseDownSkinL
• falseDownSkinM
• falseDownSkinR
• falseOverSkinL
• falseOverSkinM
• falseOverSkinR
• trueUpSkinL
• trueUpSkinM
• trueUpSkinR
• trueDownSkinL
• trueDownSkinM
• trueDownSkinR
• trueOverSkinL
• trueOverSkinM
• trueOverSkinR
• falseDisabledSkinL
• falseDisabledSkinM
• falseDisabledSkinR
• trueDisabledSkinL
• trueDisabledSkinM
• trueDisabledSkinR

• Skinning the V2 ProgressBar Component, Part 1