xsMCE.onData = Delegate.create(this, function(sData:String) {
var eventObject:Object = target:this, type:”onDataReceived”, stream:sData};
this.dispatchEvent(eventObject);
});

Thanks for the insight.

What you’re seeing is the result of how that function is scoped. The global this property is scoped to the MyXMLSocket object by way of the anonymous function. Its “point of view,” therefore, is the MyXMLSocket object, which almost certainly doesn’t feature a dispatchEvent() method. Make sense?

In a case like this the Delegate class is a good idea. Import import mx.utils.Delegate; before your class declaration, then replace that function with this …

MyXMLSocket.onData = Delegate.create(this, function() {
  var eventObject:Object = {target:this, type:”onDataReceived”};
  dispatchEvent(eventObject);
});

What this does is re-route the scope of your function to the class itself, which does support a dispatchEvent() method, assuming you used EventDispatcher.initialize(this); in the constructor.

Note: It didn’t appear you were using the sData parameter, so I dropped it.

Thanks for the informative article. I’ve successfuly implemented custom events with a class, but I’m having trouble dispatching an event from within an anonymous function (another event handler) within the class.

For instance, this code does not seem to reach the listeners outside the class.

MyXMLSocket.onData = function(sData:String){
var eventObject:Object = {target:this, type:”onDataReceived”};
this.dispatchEvent(eventObject);
}

Any clue what I’m doing wrong?

It sounds like we don’t have a whole lot in common, but I’m happy if this blog entry helped you.

I enjoy the occasional venture into other territory, be it C#, Java, Python, PHP … I have my hunch which of the above you’d consider “real,” but in many ways, it’s just a matter of where and how you care to spend your time.

I’m certainly thankful for developers who spend their efforts in lower level languages, because they allow me to do the things that float my boat. I’d say there’s plenty of elbow room for whoever wants to dive in.

Have you checked out Flex and ActionScript 3.0? I think you’ll find there’s quite a difference.

Kudos.

Thanks for the kind words!

As far as I know, there is not a way to cancel a web request in AS1/AS2 until it times out on its own (and you’re right, there is no timeout property — that has always baffled me). I seem to remember a Flashcoders workaround suggestion … something along the lines of requesting a new, known-good, very small file to “cancel” the pending request, but I’m afraid the details are hazy in my memory.

I was about to suggest that you use setInterval() or setTimeout() [undocumented], when I saw your follow up post. To my thinking, you’re on the right track. Good luck with that!

I have read your two articles about custom events and they have been really helpful and influenced me greatly in how I go about writing my flash projects. It is a much cleaner way of doing things than my current dodgy sub-movie loops to try and work out whether something has happened.

However I have a problem that I don’t know if you can shed some light on. I am using the webserviceconnector class to connect to an asp.net webservice. Sometimes my webservice takes forever or hangs, and I would like to give the user a way of cancelling the webrequest.

There don’t seem to be any methods for “abort” so I was thinking would it be possible to raise an event for the connector - i.e. raise an error event, so that I can stop it? If there is any other simpler way that you know of I would love to know - am scratching my head with this one…

Many thanks - great article,

Dom.

Really, the choice is yours. Personally, I prefer EventDispatcher, but that’s only because it sends an event object with optional arguments supplied as object parameters, rather than just as arguments. But really, that’s like saying I prefer coffee ice cream because it tastes like coffee, rather than vanilla.

For what it’s worth, the v2 Components that ship with Flash use EventDispatcher — but honestly, just use the one that makes more sense to you.