I would think it was something as simple as: var whichTab:int =
tabNav.selectedIndex();

Do I have to wire a change event to the tabs and keep track of it through a
public variable, er something of the like?

Thanks folks...

-fd

Here's some wierd code that works:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml">
<mx:TabNavigator id="tab" width="400">
<mx:VBox id="one" label="Tab One">
<mx:Label text="Index of currently displayed tab: {tab.selectedIndex}"
fontSize="20"/>
</mx:VBox>
<mx:VBox id="two" label="Tab Two">
<mx:Label text="Index of currently displayed tab: {tab.selectedIndex}"
fontSize="20"/>
</mx:VBox>
<mx:VBox id="three" label="Tab Three">
<mx:Label text="Index of currently displayed tab: {tab.selectedIndex}"
fontSize="20"/>
</mx:VBox>
<mx:VBox id="four" label="Tab Four">
<mx:Label text="Index of currently displayed tab: {tab.selectedIndex}"
fontSize="20"/>
</mx:VBox>
</mx:TabNavigator>
</mx:Application>

sorry, after reading my post i could have been more clear.

i'm trying to capture an event from a navigation component within a tab of the
tabnavigator.

i.e. a click of the "Next" would tabNav.selectedIndex++ or "Prev" would
tabNav.selectedIndex--

i would also obviously need to check for tab count to avoid runtime errors,
but i'm just trying to capture the component event which consists of a prev and
next button.

thanks...

-fd

So your problem is basically trying to figure out which parent is the tab
navigator? This is a common problem in flex. The easiest way to accomplish
what you're trying to do is use the model locator pattern.

Basically what you do is create a bindable static var on a class called
"ModelLocator" or something similar, then you bind the TavNavigator's
selectedIndex property to that bindable var:

<TabNavigator selectedIndex={ModelLocator.selectedIndex}/>

Then whenever you want the tabnavigator to switch tabs, simply updated the
static var on your modellocator.

Okay, so in the code that I provided, instead of Labels have buttons, Next and
Previous, and have a click listener that does tab.selectedIndex++ or
tab.selectedIndex-- and also checks if the new index is 0 ("Previous" button
enabled property to false) or if the new index is tab.numChildren-1
("Next" button enabled property to false).

Thanks for the input guys. My issue was the component i setup. it consisted of the two nav buttons in question and i didn't have them dispatching the right way in the component itself.

-fd