Arraycollection not capturing the thrown event? - apache-flex

Question

I have a collection of objects and each object throws an event every time its value gets updated. Im trying to capture that event by adding a listener to the arraycollection that holds it (see main class) but its not working. Honestly I'm not sure this is the correct approach.
I'm avoiding using Collection.CHANGE because it fells into an infinite recursion ultimately ends in a stack overflow. Any ideas?
[Bindable]
public class NamesVO {
public var steveList:ArrayCollection; // array of SteveVO objects
public function NamesVO() {
steveList = new ArrayCollection();
}
public function rename():void {
for each(var steve:SteveVO in steveList) {
steve.rename();
}
}
}
[Bindable]
public class SteveVO extends EventDispatcher {
public static const VALUE_CHANGED:String = "VALUE_CHANGED";
public var code:String;
public var name:String;
public var _quantity:Number;
public function SteveVO() {
this.code = "";
this.name = "";
_quantity = 0;
}
public function get quantity():Number {
return _quantity;
}
public function set quantity(quantity:Number):void {
_quantity = quantity;
dispatchEvent(new Event(VALUE_CHANGED));
}
public function rename():void {
name = code + " - " + _quantity;
}
}
Main class:
names = new NamesVO();
names.steveList.addEventListener(SteveVO.VALUE_CHANGED, function():void {
names.rename(); // this anon function is not being executed!!
});
var steve:SteveVO = new SteveVO();
names.steveList.addItem(steve);
// names is bound on a datagrid and uses itemeditor for each SteveVO object

Answer 1

The VALUE_CHANGED event is not dispatched by the steveList array Collection so won't be detected by your listener. You could encapsulate the functionality you want inside the NamesVO class by detecting when an item is added to the array collection and adding a listener to the new steveVO object that dispatches the same event from NamesVO. Then just listen for that event in your main class.
Is there a reason to change all the names when one quantity is changed. Would it be better simply to call rename inside the set function of the steveVO class?
To implement the change:
import flash.events.Event;
import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
import mx.events.CollectionEvent;
import mx.events.CollectionEventKind;
[Bindable]
public class namesVO
{
public var steveList:ArrayCollection; // array of SteveVO objects
public function namesVO()
{
steveList = new ArrayCollection();
steveList.addEventListener(CollectionEvent.COLLECTION_CHANGE,collChanged);
}
private function collChanged(e:CollectionEvent):void
{
if (e.kind == CollectionEventKind.ADD)
e.items[0].addEventListener(steveVO.VALUE_CHANGED,valueChanged);
}
private function valueChanged(e:Event):void
{
dispatchEvent(new Event(steveVO.VALUE_CHANGED));
}
public function rename():void
{
for each(var steve:steveVO in steveList)
{
steve.rename();
}
}
}
In the main class use:
names = new namesVO();
names.addEventListener(steveVO.VALUE_CHANGED, function():void
{
names.rename();
});
steve = new steveVO();
names.steveList.addItem(steve);
steve.quantity = 12;
Of course this is only an example and only includes the case where one item is added at a time.