Flex 4 in Action

Chapter 7. Formatting data

This chapter covers

• Formatting raw data with Flex’s built-in formatters
• Types of formatters
• Real-time formatting and scripted formatting
• Dealing with formatting errors

Formatters are a class of objects that take raw data and transform it into a presentable visual format. From a usage perspective, they’re comparable to validators in that similar mechanisms are employed to implement them. Formatters can be configured to function in two modes:

• Real-time— Formatting is conducted on the fly automatically via data binding.
• Scripted— Using ActionScript you can create instances of formatters explicitly when needed and process the data accordingly.

The most important thing to know is that formatters are incredibly easy ...