Flash CS3 Documentation

ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference > ActionScript classes > TextField > tabIndex (TextField.tabIndex property)

tabIndex (TextField.tabIndex property)

Lets you customize the tab ordering of objects in a SWF file. You can set the tabIndex property on a button, movie clip, or text field instance; it is undefined by default.

If any currently displayed object in the SWF file contains a tabIndex property, automatic tab ordering is disabled, and the tab ordering is calculated from the tabIndex properties of objects in the SWF file. The custom tab ordering only includes objects that have tabIndex properties.

The tabIndex property must be a positive integer. The objects are ordered according to their tabIndex properties, in ascending order. An object with a tabIndex value of 1 precedes an object with a tabIndex value of 2. If two objects have the same tabIndex value, the one that precedes the other in the tab ordering is undefined.

The custom tab ordering defined by the tabIndex property is flat. This means that no attention is paid to the hierarchical relationships of objects in the SWF file. All objects in the SWF file with tabIndex properties are placed in the tab order, and the tab order is determined by the order of the tabIndex values. If two objects have the same tabIndex value, the one that goes first is undefined. You should not use the same tabIndex value for multiple objects.

Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 6

Example

The following ActionScript dynamically creates four text fields and assigns them to a custom tab order. Add the following ActionScript to your FLA or AS file:

this.createTextField("one_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 10, 100, 22);
one_txt.border = true;
one_txt.type = "input";
this.createTextField("two_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 40, 100, 22);
two_txt.border = true;
two_txt.type = "input";
this.createTextField("three_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 70, 100, 22);
three_txt.border = true;
three_txt.type = "input";
this.createTextField("four_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 100, 100, 22);
four_txt.border = true;
four_txt.type = "input";

one_txt.tabIndex = 3;
two_txt.tabIndex = 1;
three_txt.tabIndex = 2;
four_txt.tabIndex = 4;

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

tabIndex (Button.tabIndex property), tabIndex (MovieClip.tabIndex property)

Flash CS3