flex组件在建立的时候都会经历四个事件：preinitialize, initialize, creationComplete和updateComplete （updateComplete事件在任何改动视觉的情况下都会发生，不是初始化时独有的）。我这里有个例子来检测在嵌套和平行的情况下，测试各个组件的事件抛出顺序。
程序代码
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute"
preinitialize="showEvent(event)"
initialize="showEvent(event)"
creationComplete="showEvent(event)"
updateComplete="showEvent(event)">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import flash.utils.getTimer;
private function showEvent(event:Event):void
{
trace(flash.utils.getTimer().toString()+" >> "+event.currentTarget.name+" "+event.type);
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:Canvas id="canv1"
preinitialize="showEvent(event)"
initialize="showEvent(event)"
creationComplete="showEvent(event)"
updateComplete="showEvent(event)">
<mx:Button id="btn1"
preinitialize="showEvent(event)"
initialize="showEvent(event)"
creationComplete="showEvent(event)"
updateComplete="showEvent(event)"/>
</mx:Canvas>
<mx:Button id="btn2"
preinitialize="showEvent(event)"
initialize="showEvent(event)"
creationComplete="showEvent(event)"
updateComplete="showEvent(event)"/>
</mx:Application>
它的输出是：
1299 >> eventTest0 preinitialize
1307 >> canv1 preinitialize
1310 >> btn1 preinitialize
1318 >> btn1 initialize
1319 >> canv1 initialize
1320 >> btn2 preinitialize
1321 >> btn2 initialize
1321 >> eventTest0 initialize
[SWF] G:\projects\eventTest\bin-debug\eventTest.swf - 588,818 bytes after decompression
1387 >> btn1 creationComplete
1387 >> btn1 updateComplete
1387 >> canv1 creationComplete
1387 >> canv1 updateComplete
1388 >> btn2 creationComplete
1388 >> btn2 updateComplete
1388 >> eventTest0 creationComplete
1390 >> eventTest0 updateComplete
看着有点混乱，不过仔细看看，可以把过程分成两个部分。很明显，所有的creationComplete和updateComplete发生在第二次update的时候，之前flex组件只是做一些设置和计算的工作，并没有在画布上画任何东西。除此以外，还有这么一些规律：
* 就单个组件而言，事件的抛出顺序是preinitialize，initialize，creationComplete
* 嵌套关系的两个组件（比如Canvas和button1），preinitialize先外后内，initialize和creationComplete先内后外。只是creationComplete要在下一次update才会发生。
* 平行关系的两个组件（比如Canvas和button2），按mxml内的顺序，只有前面组件initialize结束后，后面的组件才会抛出preinitialize。