     }
     
     //----------------------------------
+    //  iconPlaceholder
+    //----------------------------------
+    
+    /**
+     *  @private 
+     */ 
+    private var _iconPlaceholder:Object;
+    
+    /**
+     *  The icon asset to use while an externally loaded asset is
+     *  being downloaded.
+     * 
+     *  <p>This asset should be an embedded image and not an externally 
+     *  loaded image.</p>
+     *
+     *  @default null
+     * 
+     *  @langversion 3.0
+     *  @playerversion Flash 10
+     *  @playerversion AIR 2.5
+     *  @productversion Flex 4.5
+     */
+    public function get iconPlaceholder():Object
+    {
+        return _iconPlaceholder;
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     *  @private
+     */ 
+    public function set iconPlaceholder(value:Object):void
+    {
+        if (value == _iconPlaceholder)
+            return;
+        
+        _iconPlaceholder = value;
+        
+        iconChanged = true;
+        invalidateProperties();
+        
+        // clear clearOnLoad if necessary
+        if (iconDisplay)
+            iconDisplay.clearOnLoad = (iconPlaceholder == null);
+    }
+    
+    //----------------------------------
     //  iconScaleMode
     //----------------------------------
     

            labelWidth = Math.max(labelComponentsViewWidth, 0);
			labelHeight = labelTextHeight;

            setElementSize(labelDisplay, labelWidth, labelHeight);
            
            // attempt to truncate text
            labelDisplay.truncateToFit();

 *                 &lt;s:IconItemRenderer messageStyleName="myFontStyle" fontSize="25"
 *                     labelField="firstName"
 *                     messageField="lastName" 
 *                     decorator="&#64;Embed(source='assets/logo_small.jpg')"/&gt;
 *             &lt;/fx:Component&gt;
 *         &lt;/s:itemRenderer&gt;
 *         &lt;s:ArrayCollection&gt;
