Skip to main content

Core display classes

The ActionScript 3.0 flash.display package includes classes for visual objects that can appear in Flash Player or AIR. The following illustration shows the subclass relationships of these core display object classes.

The illustration shows the class inheritance of display object classes. Note that some of these classes, specifically StaticText, TextField, and Video, are not in the flash.display package, but they still inherit from the DisplayObject class.

All classes that extend the DisplayObject class inherit its methods and properties. For more information, see Properties and methods of the DisplayObject class .

You can instantiate objects of the following classes contained in the flash.display package:

  • Bitmap - You use the Bitmap class to define bitmap objects, either loaded from external files or rendered through ActionScript. You can load bitmaps from external files through the Loader class. You can load GIF, JPG, or PNG files. You can also create a BitmapData object with custom data and then create a Bitmap object that uses that data. You can use the methods of the BitmapData class to alter bitmaps, whether they are loaded or created in ActionScript. For more information, see Loading display objects and Working with bitmaps .

  • Loader — You use the Loader class to load external assets (either SWF files or graphics). For more information, see Loading display content dynamically .

  • Shape — You use the Shape class to create vector graphics, such as rectangles, lines, circles, and so on. For more information, see Using the drawing API .

  • SimpleButton — A SimpleButton object is the ActionScript representation of a button symbol created in the Flash authoring tool. A SimpleButton instance has four button states: up, down, over, and hit test (the area that responds to mouse and keyboard events).

  • Sprite — A Sprite object can contain graphics of its own, and it can contain child display objects. (The Sprite class extends the DisplayObjectContainer class). For more information, see Working with display object containers and Using the drawing API .

  • MovieClip — A MovieClip object is the ActionScript form of a movie clip symbol created in the Flash authoring tool. In practice, a MovieClip is similar to a Sprite object, except that it also has a timeline. For more information, see Working with movie clips .

The following classes, which are not in the flash.display package, are subclasses of the DisplayObject class:

  • The TextField class, included in the flash.text package, is a display object for text display and input. For more information, see Basics of Working with text .

  • The TextLine class, included in the flash.text.engine package, is the display object used to display lines of text composed by the Flash Text Engine and the Text Layout Framework. For more information, see Using the Flash Text Engine and Using the Text Layout Framework .

  • The Video class, included in the flash.media package, is the display object used for displaying video files. For more information, see Working with video .

The following classes in the flash.display package extend the DisplayObject class, but you cannot create instances of them. Instead, they serve as parent classes for other display objects, combining common functionality into a single class.

  • AVM1Movie - The AVM1Movie class is used to represent loaded SWF files that are authored in ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0.

  • DisplayObjectContainer — The Loader, Stage, Sprite, and MovieClip classes each extend the DisplayObjectContainer class. For more information, see Working with display object containers .

  • InteractiveObject — InteractiveObject is the base class for all objects used to interact with the mouse and keyboard. SimpleButton, TextField, Loader, Sprite, Stage, and MovieClip objects are all subclasses of the InteractiveObject class. For more information on creating mouse and keyboard interaction, see Basics of user interaction .

  • MorphShape — These objects are created when you create a shape tween in the Flash authoring tool. You cannot instantiate them using ActionScript, but they can be accessed from the display list.

  • Stage — The Stage class extends the DisplayObjectContainer class. There is one Stage instance for an application, and it is at the top of the display list hierarchy. To access the Stage, use the stage property of any DisplayObject instance. For more information, see Setting Stage properties .

Also, the StaticText class, in the flash.text package, extends the DisplayObject class, but you cannot create an instance of it in code. Static text fields are created only in Flash.

The following classes are not display objects or display object containers, and do not appear in the display list, but do display graphics on the stage. These classes draw into a rectangle, called a viewport, positioned relative to the stage.

The following fl.display classes provide functionality that parallels the flash.display.Loader and LoaderInfo classes. Use these classes instead of their flash.display counterparts if you are developing in the Flash Professional environment (CS5.5 or later). In that environment, these classes help solve issues involving TLF with RSL preloading. For more information, see Using the ProLoader and ProLoaderInfo classes .

  • fl.display.ProLoader — Analogous to flash.display.Loader
  • fl.display.ProLoaderInfo — Analogous to flash.display.LoaderInfo