ActionScript 3: Prevent graphics from blocking your button

In Flash 9, a non-button graphic that lays over a real button wil prevent the user from clicking the button underneath. This was never a problem in Flash before AS3 / Flash 9, but is quite a common problem to deal with. It's quite easy to get around the issue. You simply need to disable any mouse interaction with the inactive graphic. Even though you haven't told it to act as a button, the default is to capture mouse actions as a DisplayObject. Just add this code to the non-button graphic:

graphic.mouseChildren = false;
graphic.mouseEnabled = false;

Fixed!