Flash CS3 Documentation

ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference > ActionScript classes > Selection > setFocus (Selection.setFocus method)

setFocus (Selection.setFocus method)

Gives focus to the selectable (editable) text field, button, or movie clip, specified by the newFocus parameter. If null or undefined is passed, the current focus is removed.

Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 5 - Instance names for buttons and movie clips work only in Flash Player 6 and later.

Parameters

newFocus:Object - An object such as a button, movie clip or text field instance, or a string specifying the path to a button, movie clip, or text field instance. If you pass a string literal specifying a path, enclose the path in quotation marks (" "). You can use dot or slash notation to specify the path. If you are using ActionScript 2.0, you must use dot notation. You can use a relative or absolute path.

Returns

Boolean - A Boolean value; true if the focus attempt is successful, false if it fails.

Example

In the following example, the text field focuses on the username_txt text field when it is running in a browser window. If the user does not fill in one of the required text fields (username_txt and password_txt), the cursor automatically focuses in the text field that's missing data. For example, if the user does not type anything into the username_txt text field and clicks the submit button, an error message appears and the cursor focuses in the username_txt text field.

this.createTextField("status_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 100, 70, 100, 22);
this.createTextField("username_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 100, 100, 100, 22);
this.createTextField("password_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 100, 130, 100, 22);
this.createEmptyMovieClip("submit_mc", this.getNextHighestDepth());
submit_mc.createTextField("submit_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 100, 160, 100, 22);
submit_mc.submit_txt.autoSize = "center";
submit_mc.submit_txt.text = "Submit";
submit_mc.submit_txt.border = true;
submit_mc.onRelease = checkForm;
username_txt.border = true;
password_txt.border = true;
username_txt.type = "input";
password_txt.type = "input";
password_txt.password = true;
Selection.setFocus("username_txt");
//
function checkForm():Boolean {
    if (username_txt.text.length == 0) {
    status_txt.text = "fill in username";
    Selection.setFocus("username_txt");
    return false;
    }
    if (password_txt.text.length == 0) {
    status_txt.text = "fill in password";
    Selection.setFocus("password_txt");
    return false;
    }
    status_txt.text = "success!";
    Selection.setFocus(null);
    return true;
}

The MovieClip.getNextHighestDepth() method used in this example requires Flash Player 7 or later. If your SWF file includes a version 2 component, use the version 2 components' DepthManager class instead of the MovieClip.getNextHighestDepth() method.

See also

getFocus (Selection.getFocus method)

Flash CS3