To pass a parameter to event listener in AS3 the simple way… does it exist?

Question

Expected / pseudo example:

stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClick.someWayToPassParameters(true, 123, 4.56, "string"));
function onClick(e:         


        

Answer 1

Out of the box: it only takes 2 extra lines of elegant code to solve this ancient puzzle.

stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClick(true, 123, 4.56, "string"));
function onClick(b:Boolean, i:int, n:Number, s:String):Function {
  return function(e:MouseEvent):void {
    trace("Received " + b + ", " + i + ", " + n + " and " + s + ".");
  };
}

But most importantly, you will very likely need to remove the listener later to free resources, so +1 line to store it in a variable:

var functionOnClick:Function = onClick(true, 123, 4.56, "string");
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, functionOnClick);
function onClick(b:Boolean, i:int, n:Number, s:String):Function {
  return function(e:MouseEvent):void {
    trace("Received " + b + ", " + i + ", " + n + " and " + s + ".");
  };
}

And you'll be able to remove it normally:

trace("Before: " + stage.hasEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK));
stage.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, functionOnClick);
trace("After: " + stage.hasEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK));

---

Here's a more elaborated, dynamic example to prove its use:

function onClick(s:String):Function {
  return function(e:MouseEvent):void {
    trace("The square " + s + " at x = " + e.currentTarget.x + "px was clicked");
  };
}
var myFunctions:Array = new Array();
for (var i:int = 0; i < 10; i++) {
  myFunctions.push(onClick("#" + (i+1)));
}
for (i = 0; i < myFunctions.length; i++) {
  var square:Sprite = new Sprite();
  square.name = "sqr" + i;
  square.addChild(new Bitmap(new BitmapData(20, 20, false, 0)));
  square.x = 5 + 25 * i;
  square.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, myFunctions[i]);
  stage.addChild(square);
}

No properties through dynamic objects, no custom class, no loose functions, no scope overlap. Just what logic expects it to be: you're simply passing arguments to it.

And to remove every listener properly, you can do it like this later:

for (i = 0; i < myFunctions.length; i++) {
  square = stage.getChildByName("sqr" + i) as Sprite;
  trace("Before (#" + (i+1) + "): " + square.hasEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK));
  square.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, myFunctions[i]);
  trace("After (#" + (i+1) + "): " + square.hasEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK));
  stage.removeChild(square);
}

IMHO this is the simplest yet most solid way to do it.