'glasspane' for as3 to intercept events to everything on stage? - actionscript-3

Question

Is there something like the java 'glasspane' in as3?
The glass pane is useful when you want to be able to catch events or paint over an area that already contains one or more components. For example, you can deactivate mouse events for a multi-component region by having the glass pane intercept the events. Or you can display an image over multiple components using the glass pane. http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/rootpane.html
Why do this? While some animations are underway in flash, I want to prevent any mouseevents from firing. I could remove all listeners systematically, then re-add them after the animation, but if there is something like a glasspane, it might be an easier way to achieve the same effect.
My current thinking is to:
add a sprite to the stage
stretch to width and height of the stage,
give the sprite the highest z-order,
grab all events on this sprite, and stop their propagation?

Answer 1

if you set
enabled=false;
mouseChildren=false;
on to the top most DisplayObject it should disable all mouse events for your app. I've used it and it works a treat.

Answer 2

For a more specific approach, e.g. only block clicks but let mouse down etc. through I use this approach. It uses a 'clickBlocker' stage event handler during capture phase, stopping propagation to any other object.
public function blockClicks():void{
if(!stage) return;
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clickBlocker, true); //useCapture!
}
private function clickBlocker(event:MouseEvent):void{
trace("Me (the stage) gets the "+event.type+" first, and I block it #"+event.stageX+"/"+event.stageY);
event.stopImmediatePropagation();
}