The Event class is used as the base class for the creation of Event objects, which are passed as parameters to event listeners when an event occurs.

The properties of the Event class carry basic information about an event, such as the event's type or whether the event's default behavior can be canceled. For many events, such as the events represented by the Event class constants, this basic information is sufficient. Other events, however, may require more detailed information. Events associated with a mouse click, for example, need to include additional information about the location of the click event and whether any keys were pressed during the click event. You can pass such additional information to event listeners by extending the Event class, which is what the MouseEvent class does. ActionScript 3.0 API defines several Event subclasses for common events that require additional information. Events associated with each of the Event subclasses are described in the documentation for each class.

The methods of the Event class can be used in event listener functions to affect the behavior of the event object. Some events have an associated default behavior. For example, the `doubleClick` event has an associated default behavior that highlights the word under the mouse pointer at the time of the event. Your event listener can cancel this behavior by calling the `preventDefault()` method. You can also make the current event listener the last one to process an event by calling the `stopPropagation()` or `stopImmediatePropagation()` method.

Other sources of information include:

- A useful description about the timing of events, code execution, and rendering at runtime in Ted Patrick's blog entry: <a Flash Player Mental Model - The Elastic.
- A blog entry by Johannes Tacskovics about the timing of frame events, such as ENTER_FRAME, EXIT_FRAME: The MovieClip Lifecycle.
- An article by Trevor McCauley about the order of ActionScript operations: Order of Operations in ActionScript.
- A blog entry by Matt Przybylski on creating custom events: AS3: Custom Events.

### Hierarchy

- Event
  - AccelerometerEvent
  - ActivityEvent
  - TextEvent
  - FocusEvent
  - GameInputEvent
  - HTTPStatusEvent
  - KeyboardEvent
  - MouseEvent
  - NetStatusEvent
  - ProgressEvent
  - SampleDataEvent
  - TimerEvent
  - TouchEvent

## Index

### Constructors

- constructor

### Properties

- bubbles
- cancelable
- currentTarget
- eventPhase
- target
- type
- ACTIVATE
- ADDED
- ADDED_TO_STAGE
- CANCEL
- CHANGE
- CLEAR
- CLOSE
- COMPLETE
- CONNECT
- CONTEXT3D_CREATE
- COPY
- CUT
- DEACTIVATE
- ENTER_FRAME
- EXIT_FRAME
- FRAME_CONSTRUCTED
- FRAME_LABEL
- FULLSCREEN
- ID3
- INIT
- MOUSE_LEAVE
- OPEN
- PASTE
- REMOVED
- REMOVED_FROM_STAGE
- RENDER
- RESIZE
- SCROLL
- SELECT
- SELECT_ALL
- SOUND_COMPLETE
- TAB_CHILDREN_CHANGE
- TAB_ENABLED_CHANGE
- TAB_INDEX_CHANGE
- TEXTURE_READY
- UNLOAD

### Methods

- clone
- formatToString
- isDefaultPrevented
- preventDefault
- stopImmediatePropagation
- stopPropagation
- toString

## Constructors

### constructor

- new Event(type: string, bubbles?: boolean, cancelable?: boolean): Event

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:384

  Creates an Event object to pass as a parameter to event listeners.

  #### Parameters

  - ##### type: string

    The type of the event, accessible as `Event.type`.

  - ##### Optional bubbles: boolean

    Determines whether the Event object participates in the bubbling stage of the event flow. The default value is `false`.

  - ##### Optional cancelable: boolean

    Determines whether the Event object can be canceled. The default values is `false`.

  #### Returns Event

## Properties

### bubbles

bubbles: boolean

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:346

Indicates whether an event is a bubbling event. If the event can bubble, this value is `true`; otherwise it is `false`.

When an event occurs, it moves through the three phases of the event flow: the capture phase, which flows from the top of the display list hierarchy to the node just before the target node; the target phase, which comprises the target node; and the bubbling phase, which flows from the node subsequent to the target node back up the display list hierarchy.

Some events, such as the `activate` and `unload` events, do not have a bubbling phase. The `bubbles` property has a value of `false` for events that do not have a bubbling phase.

### cancelable

cancelable: boolean

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:353

Indicates whether the behavior associated with the event can be prevented. If the behavior can be canceled, this value is `true`; otherwise it is `false`.

### currentTarget

currentTarget: any

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:361

The object that is actively processing the Event object with an event listener. For example, if a user clicks an OK button, the current target could be the node containing that button or one of its ancestors that has registered an event listener for that event.

### eventPhase

eventPhase: EventPhase

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:372

The current phase in the event flow. This property can contain the following numeric values:

- The capture phase(`EventPhase.CAPTURING_PHASE`).
- The target phase(`EventPhase.AT_TARGET`).
- The bubbling phase(`EventPhase.BUBBLING_PHASE`).

### target

target: any

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:379

The event target. This property contains the target node. For example, if a user clicks an OK button, the target node is the display list node containing that button.

### type

type: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:384

The type of event. The type is case-sensitive.

### Static ACTIVATE

ACTIVATE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:64

The `ACTIVATE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `activate` event object.

Note: This event has neither a "capture phase" nor a "bubble phase", which means that event listeners must be added directly to any potential targets, whether the target is on the display list or not.

AIR for TV devices never automatically dispatch this event. You can, however, dispatch it manually.

This event has the following properties:

### Static ADDED

ADDED: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:72

The `Event.ADDED` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `added` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static ADDED_TO_STAGE

ADDED_TO_STAGE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:80

The `Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `addedToStage` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static CANCEL

CANCEL: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:92

The `Event.CANCEL` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `cancel` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static CHANGE

CHANGE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:100

The `Event.CHANGE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `change` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static CLEAR

CLEAR: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:110

### Static CLOSE

CLOSE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:118

The `Event.CLOSE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `close` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static COMPLETE

COMPLETE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:126

The `Event.COMPLETE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `complete` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static CONNECT

CONNECT: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:134

The `Event.CONNECT` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `connect` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static CONTEXT3D_CREATE

CONTEXT3D_CREATE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:136

### Static COPY

COPY: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:138

### Static CUT

CUT: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:140

### Static DEACTIVATE

DEACTIVATE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:155

The `Event.DEACTIVATE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `deactivate` event object.

Note: This event has neither a "capture phase" nor a "bubble phase", which means that event listeners must be added directly to any potential targets, whether the target is on the display list or not.

AIR for TV devices never automatically dispatch this event. You can, however, dispatch it manually.

This event has the following properties:

### Static ENTER_FRAME

ENTER_FRAME: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:167

The `Event.ENTER_FRAME` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `enterFrame` event object.

Note: This event has neither a "capture phase" nor a "bubble phase", which means that event listeners must be added directly to any potential targets, whether the target is on the display list or not.

This event has the following properties:

### Static EXIT_FRAME

EXIT_FRAME: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:173

### Static FRAME_CONSTRUCTED

FRAME_CONSTRUCTED: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:175

### Static FRAME_LABEL

FRAME_LABEL: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:177

### Static FULLSCREEN

FULLSCREEN: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:179

### Static ID3

ID3: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:187

The `Event.ID3` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `id3` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static INIT

INIT: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:195

The `Event.INIT` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `init` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static MOUSE_LEAVE

MOUSE_LEAVE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:203

The `Event.MOUSE_LEAVE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `mouseLeave` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static OPEN

OPEN: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:211

The `Event.OPEN` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `open` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static PASTE

PASTE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:213

### Static REMOVED

REMOVED: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:221

The `Event.REMOVED` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `removed` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static REMOVED_FROM_STAGE

REMOVED_FROM_STAGE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:230

The `Event.REMOVED_FROM_STAGE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `removedFromStage` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static RENDER

RENDER: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:242

The `Event.RENDER` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `render` event object.

Note: This event has neither a "capture phase" nor a "bubble phase", which means that event listeners must be added directly to any potential targets, whether the target is on the display list or not.

This event has the following properties:

### Static RESIZE

RESIZE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:250

The `Event.RESIZE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `resize` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static SCROLL

SCROLL: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:258

The `Event.SCROLL` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `scroll` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static SELECT

SELECT: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:266

The `Event.SELECT` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `select` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static SELECT_ALL

SELECT_ALL: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:268

### Static SOUND_COMPLETE

SOUND_COMPLETE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:276

The `Event.SOUND_COMPLETE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `soundComplete` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static TAB_CHILDREN_CHANGE

TAB_CHILDREN_CHANGE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:289

The `Event.TAB_CHILDREN_CHANGE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `tabChildrenChange` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static TAB_ENABLED_CHANGE

TAB_ENABLED_CHANGE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:298

The `Event.TAB_ENABLED_CHANGE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `tabEnabledChange` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static TAB_INDEX_CHANGE

TAB_INDEX_CHANGE: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:306

The `Event.TAB_INDEX_CHANGE` constant defines the value of the `type` property of a `tabIndexChange` event object.

This event has the following properties:

### Static TEXTURE_READY

TEXTURE_READY: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:308

### Static UNLOAD

UNLOAD: string

- Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:320

The `Event.UNLOAD` constant defines the value of the `type` property of an `unload` event object.

This event has the following properties:

## Methods

### clone

- clone(): Event

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:424

  Duplicates an instance of an Event subclass.

  Returns a new Event object that is a copy of the original instance of the Event object. You do not normally call `clone()`; the EventDispatcher class calls it automatically when you redispatch an event - that is, when you call `dispatchEvent(event)` from a handler that is handling `event`.

  The new Event object includes all the properties of the original.

  When creating your own custom Event class, you must override the inherited `Event.clone()` method in order for it to duplicate the properties of your custom class. If you do not set all the properties that you add in your event subclass, those properties will not have the correct values when listeners handle the redispatched event.

  In this example, `PingEvent` is a subclass of `Event` and therefore implements its own version of `clone()`.

  #### Returns Event

  A new Event object that is identical to the original.

### formatToString

- formatToString(className: string, ...args: any[]): string

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:427

  #### Parameters

  - ##### className: string

  - ##### Rest ...args: any[]

  #### Returns string

### isDefaultPrevented

- isDefaultPrevented(): boolean

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:438

  Checks whether the `preventDefault()` method has been called on the event. If the `preventDefault()` method has been called, returns `true`; otherwise, returns `false`.

  #### Returns boolean

  If `preventDefault()` has been called, returns `true`; otherwise, returns `false`.

### preventDefault

- preventDefault(): void

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:447

  Cancels an event's default behavior if that behavior can be canceled. Many events have associated behaviors that are carried out by default. For example, if a user types a character into a text field, the default behavior is that the character is displayed in the text field. Because the `TextEvent.TEXT_INPUT` event's default behavior can be canceled, you can use the `preventDefault()` method to prevent the character from appearing. An example of a behavior that is not cancelable is the default behavior associated with the Event.REMOVED event, which is generated whenever Flash Player is about to remove a display object from the display list. The default behavior (removing the element) cannot be canceled, so the `preventDefault()` method has no effect on this default behavior. You can use the `Event.cancelable` property to check whether you can prevent the default behavior associated with a particular event. If the value of `Event.cancelable` is true, then `preventDefault()` can be used to cancel the event; otherwise, `preventDefault()` has no effect.

  #### Returns void

### stopImmediatePropagation

- stopImmediatePropagation(): void

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:461

  Prevents processing of any event listeners in the current node and any subsequent nodes in the event flow. This method takes effect immediately, and it affects event listeners in the current node. In contrast, the `stopPropagation()` method doesn't take effect until all the event listeners in the current node finish processing.

  Note: This method does not cancel the behavior associated with this event; see `preventDefault()` for that functionality.

  #### Returns void

### stopPropagation

- stopPropagation(): void

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:477

  Prevents processing of any event listeners in nodes subsequent to the current node in the event flow. This method does not affect any event listeners in the current node(`currentTarget`). In contrast, the `stopImmediatePropagation()` method prevents processing of event listeners in both the current node and subsequent nodes. Additional calls to this method have no effect. This method can be called in any phase of the event flow.

  Note: This method does not cancel the behavior associated with this event; see `preventDefault()` for that functionality.

  #### Returns void

### toString

- toString(): string

- - Defined in lib/openfl/events/Event.d.ts:489

  Returns a string containing all the properties of the Event object. The string is in the following format:

  `[Event type=_value_ bubbles=_value_ cancelable=_value_]`

  #### Returns string

  A string containing all the properties of the Event object.

Generated using TypeDoc