The ADDED_TO_STAGE event is a really handy one in AS3 -- it tells you when a display object has been added to the display list.

But I'd been wondering if there were a way to put a single ADDED_TO_STAGE event listener on the stage, to know when anything was added to the display list. My first attempt did not work -- but then I tried listening during the capture phase. And VOILA! It works.

Note the 'true' argument (the 3rd one) in addEventListener -- that makes the listener listen during the capture phase. I'm not sure why this event is not hearable in the bubble phase (I'm sure there's a very good, very technical reason), but there you have it.

Here's the logic:

stage.addEventListener ( Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE , onAddedToStage , true ) ;
function onAddedToStage ( evt )
{
	trace ( "onAddedToStage, evt: " + evt.target ) ;
}
addChild ( new MovieClip ( ) ) ;
 

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