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Touch event handling

Basic touch events are handled the same way you handle other events, like mouse events, in ActionScript. You can listen for a series of touch events defined by the event type constants in the TouchEvent class.

Note: For multiple touch point input (such as touching a device with more than one finger), the first point of contact dispatches a mouse event and a touch event.

To handle a basic touch event:

  1. Set your application to handle touch events by setting the flash.ui.Multitouch.inputMode property to MultitouchInputMode.TOUCH_POINT.

  2. Attach an event listener to an instance of a class that inherits properties from the InteractiveObject class, such as Sprite or TextField.

  3. Specify the type of touch event to handle.

  4. Call an event handler function to do something in response to the event.

For example, the following code displays a message when the square drawn on mySprite is tapped on a touch-enabled screen:

Multitouch.inputMode=MultitouchInputMode.TOUCH_POINT;

var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
var myTextField:TextField = new TextField();

mySprite.graphics.beginFill(0x336699);
mySprite.graphics.drawRect(0,0,40,40);
addChild(mySprite);

mySprite.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_TAP, taphandler);

function taphandler(evt:TouchEvent): void {
    myTextField.text = "I've been tapped";
    myTextField.y = 50;
    addChild(myTextField);
}

Touch Event properties​

When an event occurs, an event object is created. The TouchEvent object contains information about the location and conditions of the touch event. You can use the properties of the event object to retrieve that information.

For example, the following code creates a TouchEvent object evt, and then displays the stageX property of the event object (the x-coordinate of the point in the Stage space that the touch occurred) in the text field:

Multitouch.inputMode=MultitouchInputMode.TOUCH_POINT;

var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
var myTextField:TextField = new TextField();

mySprite.graphics.beginFill(0x336699);
mySprite.graphics.drawRect(0,0,40,40);
addChild(mySprite);

mySprite.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_TAP, taphandler);

function taphandler(evt:TouchEvent): void {
    myTextField.text = evt.stageX.toString;
    myTextField.y = 50;
    addChild(myTextField);
}

See the TouchEvent class for the properties available through the event object.

Note: Not all TouchEvent properties are supported in all runtime environments. For example, not all touch-enabled devices are capable or detecting the amount of pressure the user is applying to the touch screen. So, the TouchEvent.pressure property is not supported on those devices. Try testing for specific property support to ensure your application works, and see Troubleshooting for more information.

Touch event phases​

Track touch events through various stages over and outside an InteractiveObject just as you do for mouse events. And, track touch events through the beginning, middle, and end of a touch interaction. The TouchEvent class provides values for handling touchBegin, touchMove, and touchEnd events.

For example, you could use touchBegin, touchMove, and touchEnd events to give the user visual feedback as they touch and move a display object:

Multitouch.inputMode = MultitouchInputMode.TOUCH_POINT;
var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
mySprite.graphics.beginFill(0x336699);
mySprite.graphics.drawRect(0,0,40,40);
addChild(mySprite);
var myTextField:TextField = new TextField();
myTextField.width = 200;
myTextField.height = 20;
addChild(myTextField);

mySprite.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_BEGIN, onTouchBegin);
stage.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_MOVE, onTouchMove);
stage.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_END, onTouchEnd);
function onTouchBegin(event:TouchEvent) {
    myTextField.text = "touch begin" + event.touchPointID;
}
function onTouchMove(event:TouchEvent) {
    myTextField.text = "touch move" + event.touchPointID;
}
function onTouchEnd(event:TouchEvent) {
    myTextField.text = "touch end" + event.touchPointID;
}

Note: The initial touch listener is attached to mySprite, but the listeners for moving and ending the touch event are not. If the users's finger or pointing devices moves ahead of the display object, the Stage continues to listen for the touch event.

Touch Point ID​

The TouchEvent.touchPointID property is an essential part of writing applications that respond to touch input. The Flash runtime assigns each point of touch a unique touchPointID value. Whenever an application responds to the phases or movement of touch input, check the touchPointID before handling the event. The touch input dragging methods of the Sprite class use the touchPointID property as a parameter so the correct input instance is handled. The touchPointID property ensures that an event handler is responding to the correct touch point. Otherwise, the event handler responds to any instances of the touch event type (such as all touchMove events) on the device, producing unpredictable behavior. The property is especially important when the user is dragging objects.

Use the touchPointID property to manage an entire touch sequence. A touch sequence has one touchBegin event, zero or more touchMove events, and one touchEnd event that all have the same touchPointID value.

The following example establishes a variable touchMoveID to test for the correct touchPointID value before responding to a touch move event. Otherwise, other touch input triggers the event handler, too. Notice the listeners for the move and end phases are on the stage, not the display object. The stage listens for the move or end phases in case the user's touch moves beyond the display object boundaries.

Multitouch.inputMode = MultitouchInputMode.TOUCH_POINT;
var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
mySprite.graphics.beginFill(0x336699);
mySprite.graphics.drawRect(0,0,40,40);
addChild(mySprite);
var myTextField:TextField = new TextField();
addChild(myTextField);
myTextField.width = 200;
myTextField.height = 20;
var touchMoveID:int = 0;

mySprite.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_BEGIN, onTouchBegin);
function onTouchBegin(event:TouchEvent) {
    if(touchMoveID != 0) {
        myTextField.text = "already moving. ignoring new touch";
        return;
    }
    touchMoveID = event.touchPointID;

    myTextField.text = "touch begin" + event.touchPointID;
    stage.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_MOVE, onTouchMove);
    stage.addEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_END, onTouchEnd);
}
function onTouchMove(event:TouchEvent) {
    if(event.touchPointID != touchMoveID) {
        myTextField.text = "ignoring unrelated touch";
        return;
    }
    mySprite.x = event.stageX;
    mySprite.y = event.stageY;
    myTextField.text = "touch move" + event.touchPointID;
}
function onTouchEnd(event:TouchEvent) {
    if(event.touchPointID != touchMoveID) {
        myTextField.text = "ignoring unrelated touch end";
        return;
    }
    touchMoveID = 0;
    stage.removeEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_MOVE, onTouchMove);
    stage.removeEventListener(TouchEvent.TOUCH_END, onTouchEnd);
    myTextField.text = "touch end" + event.touchPointID;
}