DataGrid ItemRenderer First Row

Question

Hi,
I have a DataGrid:
<mx:DataGrid  id="gamesGrid" x="10" y="81" width="828" variableRowHeight="false">
        <mx:columns>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Game" itemRenderer="GameContainer"/>
            <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="Starts"  itemRenderer="StartsContainer"/>
        </mx:columns>
</mx:DataGrid>
Its dataProvider is an XMLListCollection.
Its ItemRenderer are VBox objects (either written in Actionscript or in MXML - either way).
My problem is, that when the XMLListCollection is updated, my ItemRenderer's are either reinstantiated or reinitialised.
However, the creationComplete handler of the ItemRenderer (in my case a VBox) is only called for the first row of the DataGrid.
This is a problem, because it clears the display data.
If i have the ItemRenderer in code, then i see the constructor called when i update the dataProvider.
If i have ItemRenderera an MXML component, then i see creationComplete called when i update the dataProvider.
All i want to do is update the contents of the ItemRenderer - not re instantiate it (especially not JUST the first row of ym datagrid).
How do i get around this and is this a bug?
Sounds quite similar to:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/604259
Regards, Sam

Answer 1

Apologies if I've misunderstood your problem.
But if you just want to update the data displayed in the renderer when the dataProvider data changes, it's normal to override the "set data" function in the renderer. Simple example based on those found in the docs:
<mx:VBox xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
    horizontalAlign="center">
    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.events.FlexEvent;
            override public function set data(value:Object):void {     
                if(value != null)  {
                    super.data = value;
                    // do whatever you need to do here
                    // for example
                    var xml:XML = value as XML;
                    myTextArea.text = xml.myProperty
                // Dispatch the dataChange event.
                dispatchEvent(new FlexEvent(FlexEvent.DATA_CHANGE));
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>
    <mx:TextArea id="myTextArea"/>
</mx:VBox>
As renderer instances are recycled in data grids, I think using creationComplete will have unpredictable results.