Use Canvas to hold controls
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="vertical"> <mx:Style> @namespace mx "http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"; mx|TextInput { font-size:24 } </mx:Style> <mx:Canvas borderStyle="solid" borderColor="#000000" width="400" height="313"> <mx:TextInput text="TextInput 1"/> <mx:TextInput text="TextInput 2" x="71" y="47"/> <mx:TextInput text="TextInput 3" x="141" y="97"/> <mx:VBox width="100" backgroundAlpha=".5" x="224" y="144"/> <mx:VBox width="100" height="100" backgroundAlpha=".5" x="249" y="169"/> <mx:VBox width="100" height="100" backgroundColor="#000000" backgroundAlpha=".5" x="274" y="194"/> </mx:Canvas> </mx:Application>