FLEX3, Click and event catching, special case

Question

Here is my problem:

I have a main canvas 'blackboard' in a panel, this canvas has itself several childs, like a toolbar (tiles), a label and some skinning.

The problem is that when i move to the rectangle tool and i start drawing rectangles if i want to change the tool when i click on an other tool such as 'circle' or 'select' the button won't catch the click event, intead the canvas will catch the mouse down and start drawing.

Just like on the picture.So i am unable to change tool once i start drawing.

How could i not make the canvas react when it is on a tool, or how could i make the button catch the click first and tell the canvas no to do draw anything.

Of course i could just put the toolbar somewhere else not on the canvas, but since space is important i would like the buttons to be on the canvas.

I am open to any suggestions.

=== Here are some code to show how it works internaly. ===

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Panel xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" 
          xmlns:degrafa="http://www.degrafa.com/2007"
          xmlns:comp="org.foo.bar.view.components.*"
          layout="absolute"
          title="Tableau">


    <mx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
        import org.edorado.edoboard.ApplicationFacade;
    ]]>
    </mx:Script>

    <mx:Canvas id="blackBoard">

        <degrafa:Surface id="boardSurfaceContainer">
             skinning      
     </degrafa:Surface>

        <!-- Tool bar -->
        <comp:ToolbarView 
           id = "toolbar"
           name = "toolbar"
           verticalScrollPolicy="off" 
           horizontalScrollPolicy="off"
           bottom="5"
           right="5"
           top="5"
           direction="vertical"
           width="30" />   

        <mx:Label x="10" y="10" text="Label"  color="#FFFFFF" id="lbl"/>

    </mx:Canvas>

</mx:Panel>

The toolbar is a list of buttons contained in a tile. The canvas 'blackboard' is linked to several events handling, in particular mouse up down and move for drawing shapes.

...
boardCanvas.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, handleMouseDown);
            boardCanvas.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, handleMouseUp);
...
        private function handleMouseDown(event:MouseEvent):void {
            // Get the current mouse location wich may be adjusted to the grid
            var selectPoint:Point = boardCanvas.globalToLocal(new Point(event.stageX, event.stageY));
            startPoint = snapPoint(selectPoint.x, selectPoint.y);
            boardView.lbl.text = '(' + startPoint.x +',' + startPoint.y + ')';
....

The toolbar also listen to clicks

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Tile xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"&gt;

    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.charts.BubbleChart;
            import org.edorado.edoboard.view.components.shapes.*; 

            public static const TOOL_CHANGE:String  = "toolChange";
            public static const TEXT_TOOL:String  = "textTool";
            public static const SELECT_TOOL:String  = "selectTool";
            public static const RECTANGLE_TOOL:String  = "rectangleTool";

            private var b:Button = null;

            private function handleButtonClick(event:MouseEvent):void {
                trace("CLICKED  TOOL");
                // selectButton.dispatchEvent(new Event(TOOL_CHANGE, true, true)) 
                b = event.target as Button;
                b.dispatchEvent(new Event(TOOL_CHANGE, true, true));
            }


        ]]>
    </mx:Script>

          <!-- Use class facotry ? -->
          <mx:Button id="selectButton"
                     name="{SELECT_TOOL}"
                     selectedUpSkin="assets.skins.ToolButtonSkin"
                     width="30" 
                     height="30" 
                     styleName="selectButton" 
                     toolTip="selection" 
                     click="handleButtonClick(event); " />

          <mx:Button id="textButton"
                     name = "{TEXT_TOOL}"
                     selectedUpSkin="assets.skins.ToolButtonSkin"
                     width="30" 
                     height="30" 
                     styleName="textButton"  
                     toolTip="text"
                     click="handleButtonClick(event);" />

          <mx:Button id="rectButton" 
                     name = "{RECTANGLE_TOOL}"
                     selectedUpSkin="assets.skins.ToolButtonSkin"
                     width="30"
                     height="30"
                     styleName="rectButton"
                     toolTip="rectButton"
                     click="handleButtonClick(event);" />
</mx:Tile>

Answer 1

You may use the target property of your MouseEvent to differentiate the comportment when the click is from your toolbar. Just take a loot at LiveDocs to understand what is the target property.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Thanks, I found some similar post actualy i just listened for mouse down in my toolbar and stoped the event propagation so that the canvas dont catch it.