How to iterate over tabs in flex tabbar

Question

I am a flex newbie. I need to disable some of the tabs in a flex tabbar specified, by configuration. I am having trouble in iterating over the tabs in the tab bar. If i use getChildAt() command, it does not disable the tab button, but the content of that tab button, so its no good.

Thanks and regards, Mohit Ranka

Answer 1

When asking about code, always post a minimal test case. getChildAt() will work, so there's something else going on with your code.

<mx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
        import mx.events.ItemClickEvent;
        import mx.controls.tabBarClasses.Tab;
        private function clickTab(event:ItemClickEvent):void {
            var target:TabBar = event.currentTarget as TabBar;
            var currTab:Tab;
            var parity:int = event.index & 1;
            /* disable all tabs at indices w/ same parity as clicked tab;
               enable tabs of opposite parity.
             */
            for (var i=0; i<target.numChildren; ++i) {
               currTab = target.getChildAt(i) as Tab;
               currTab.enabled = (i&1)^parity;
            }
        }
    ]]>
</mx:Script>

<mx:TabBar id="someTabs" itemClick="clickTab(event)">
    <mx:dataProvider>
        <mx:String>Foo</mx:String>
        <mx:String>Bar</mx:String>
        <mx:String>Baz</mx:String>
        <mx:String>Bam</mx:String>
    </mx:dataProvider>
</mx:TabBar>

Answer 2

why not use a bindable to your configuration?

something like

   enabled="{yourConfiguration.lastResult.enabled}"

Answer 3

For those who want an working answer for Flex 4.5 (probably Flex 4 also). I finally figured out a solution. It feels like a hack to me, but Adobe's not answering the call and it's working for me. Here's a simplified example.

<!-- component that has the the TabBar in it... -->

<fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
//imports here

import mx.core.UIComponent;

//imports

private function setTabEnabled(index:int,enabled:Boolean):void{
    var theTab:UIComponent = theTabBar.dataGroup.getElementAt(index) as UIComponent;
    if(theTab){theTab.enabled = enabled;}
}
]]>
</fx:Script>

<s:TabBar id="theTabBar"
    dataProvider="{viewStack}"/>

<mx:ViewStack id="viewStack">
    <s:NavigatorContent label="0th Tab">
        <!-- ...Content -->
    </s:NavigatorContent>
    <s:NavigatorContent label="1st Tab">
        <!-- ...Content -->
    </s:NavigatorContent>
    <s:NavigatorContent label="2nd Tab">
        <!-- ...Content -->
    </s:NavigatorContent>
</mx:ViewStack>

<!-- rest of the component that has the the TabBar in it... -->

Then you just call setTabEnabled(theTabIndex,trueFalse) in an event handler related to whatever decides why the tab is, or isn't, enabled.

I should extend the TabBar to support this, but I've already spent enough time trying to figure it out.

Happy Coding =D