adobe flash cs5 on demand part 31 ppsx

ptg Chapter 5 Working with Text 185 Set a Text Box to Device Font Select the text box you want to set to the device font with the Selection tool. Click the Anti-Alias list arrow in the Property Inspector, and then click Use Device Fonts. Choose a Built-In Flash Device Font Select the text box you want to set to the device font with the Selection tool. Click the Family list arrow in the Property Inspector or click the Text menu, point to Font, and then select one of the following fonts: ◆ _sans. Matches up with a sans- serif font, such as Helvetica or Arial. ◆ _serif. Matches up with a serif font, such as Times or Garamond. ◆ _typewriter. Matches up with a typewritten-looking font, such as Courier. 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 Did You Know? You can test for missing fonts. If there is incomplete font information on your computer, fonts may appear in the Font list in Flash but will not embed in the final movie. To test whether a font is complete, click the View menu, point to Preview Mode, and then click Anti- alias Text. If the text appears jagged, this means the font outlines are miss- ing from the system. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 186 Chapter 5 When you create Classic text boxes in Flash, they default to static boxes. A static box is for display only and is hard-coded in the .swf. One cannot be changed unless you return to the Flash development environment, edit it, and re-export the file. If you need your text to be updatable from an outside source, such as a text document on a server or if you need the user to input text for you to retrieve and process with ActionScript, you can set your text box to enable this functionality. Setting your text box to dynamic text turns it into an ActionScript object that can be given an instance name or turned into a variable that can be populated from some other source outside of the .swf. This is great when you need to update content on the fly and would rather not have to deal directly with Flash for each update. If you require the user to enter a string of text, such as in a form, you can set a text box to input text. This enables the user to enter information in the text box that can be retrieved and processed. Creating Classic Dynamic Text and Input Text Set a Classic Text Box to be Dynamic Select the Classic text box you want to be a dynamic box with the Selection tool. Click the Text Type list arrow in the Property Inspector, and then click Dynamic Text. Select from the following properties: ◆ Instance Name. Gives the text box an instance name so it can be controlled with ActionScript. ◆ Embed Options. Allows you to choose which characters you want to embed in the text. ◆ Letter Spacing. Changes character position on a line. ◆ Render Text As HTML. Preserves Rich Text Formatting, allowing you to include hyperlinks and HTML tags. ◆ Show Border. Displays a border around the text box in the exported movie. ◆ Variable Name. Gives the text box a variable name for use with ActionScript. 3 2 1 Show Border, Render Text As HTML Variable Name 2 Instance Name 1 Embed Options 3 Line Type Letter Spacing Dynamic text boxes display in a dashed bounding box. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 5 Working with Text 187 Set a Classic Text Box to be an Input Box Select the Classic text box you want to be an input box with the Selection tool. Click the Text Type list arrow in the Property Inspector, and then click Input Text. Select from the following properties: ◆ Instance Name. Gives the text box an instance name so it can be controlled with ActionScript. ◆ Embed Options. Allows you to choose which characters you want to embed in the text. ◆ Letter Spacing. Changes character position on a line. ◆ Line Type. Choose from Single Line and Multi-Line with or without Wrap, and Password (available only for Input text). ◆ Selectability. Allows or denies the user the ability to select the text in the exported movie. ◆ Show Border. Displays a border around the text box in the exported movie. ◆ Variable Name. Gives the text box a variable name for use with ActionScript. ◆ Maximum Characters. Limit the amount of characters a user can enter into the box. 3 2 1 Show Border, Render Text As HTML Embed Options Line Type 2 Instance Name Maximum Characters Input text boxes display in a dashed bounding box. 3 1 Letter spacing Did You Know? You can create scrolling text. Shift- double-click the handle of dynamic and input text to create text boxes that don’t expand when you enter text on the Stage. Using Multiple Languages in a Document When you're working with Classic text in a Flash document, don't for- get the global community. Flash supports multi-language authoring. You could create a document that displays text in Spanish and English, using a variety of methods: The text can be written within an external file and called using the #include ActionScript within a dynamic or text input box, or the text can be inserted into the docu- ment at runtime using an external XML (Extensible Markup Language) file. This allows you to insert different languages that automatically appear to the visitor. When you're working with multi-language Flash documents, click the Window menu, point to Other Panels, and then click Strings. The Strings panel lets you streamline the process of localizing content into multiple languages, because it collects and tracks all character strings throughout the development process in a central place. In the Strings panel, you can select a language and assign each text string, either a dynamic or input text box, in the document with a unique ID. The Strings panel has been improved to include multi-line support in the String box and the language XML file. For Your Information Variable Name From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 188 Chapter 5 Flash includes a global spell-checker that is fully configurable. Search the entire Flash document or isolate specific elements to search in the Spelling Setup dialog box. You can choose from a variety of built-in dic- tionaries as sources including a personal dictionary you can edit. Additionally, you can choose which text characteristics to ignore, such as words with numbers and internet addresses, as well as choose what type of alternative suggestions you want Flash to provide. Checking Spelling Set Up Spell Checking Click the Text menu, and then click Spelling Setup. Select from the following options: ◆ Document Options. Specify which elements in the Flash document you want to spell check. You can also specify whether you want to live-edit the document during the Check Spelling process. ◆ Dictionaries. Select a built-in dictionary as a source. At least one dictionary must be selected to activate Check Spelling. ◆ Personal Dictionary. Specify an option to use a dictionary created and edited by you. Navigate to a text document on your hard drive or edit the default one included by clicking the Edit Personal Dictionary button. Each new entry in the personal dictionary must be on a separate line. ◆ Checking Options. Set word- level behaviors. You can have Internet addresses ignored, find duplicate words, or specify the types of suggestions you want displayed in the Check Spelling window. Click OK. 3 2 1 3 Set parameters for Spell Check Set new location for Personal Dictionary Built-in Dictionaries Spell Check Set locations to Allow or deny on-the-fly editing during Spell Check From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 5 Working with Text 189 Use Spell Checking Click the Text menu, and then click Check Spelling. If Flash finds suspect words, the Check Spelling dialog box opens. Otherwise, Flash displays a message that the Spell Check is complete. Word not found (*element*): This identifies the suspect word and what type of element it was found in parenthesis. Do one of the following: ◆ Add To Personal. Click to add the word to your personal dictionary. ◆ Ignore. Click the Ignore and Ignore All buttons to not flag this word again in this Check Spelling session. ◆ Change. Click Change or Change All. In the Change To and Suggestions boxes, Flash displays the closest altern- atives to the suspect word. ◆ Delete. Click to delete the word from the box that contains it. Continue until Flash produces a message that Check Spelling is complete or click Close to stop the Check Spelling process before it is completed. 4 3 2 1 Ignore all incidences of the word Change all incidences of the word Ignore the word Delete the text box from the document Change the word to one from the suggestion list or one you’ve typed in Adds word to your personal Library Identifies the location (the element) the misspelled word is located in Suggestions generated from built-in and personal dictionaries Displays Misspelled word and allows you to enter a new one to replace it 2 3 Access Spelling setup Did You Know? You must access the Spelling Setup once to activate Check Spelling. You need to activate Check Spelling to select a dictionary. Click the Text menu, and then click Spelling Setup. 4 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 190 Chapter 5 Use Find and Replace to locate specific elements in your Flash docu- ment. You can specify where to look, what to look for, and what to replace it with. Choose to search the entire Flash document or the cur- rently active scene. Each element you search for has its own config- urable settings and options. Included is a log that shows the exact locations of the found element. Using Find and Replace Locate Items with Find and Replace Click the Edit menu, and then click Find And Replace. TIMESAVER Press A +F (Mac) or Ctrl+F (Win) to quickly open the Find and Replace window. Select where you want to search from the Search In list arrow menu. Select which element from the For list arrow menu you want to search for in Flash: ◆ Text ◆ Font ◆ Color ◆ Symbol ◆ Sound ◆ Video ◆ Bitmap Enter and/or select the parameters you want for your search. To find the elem ent with the characteristics you've entered, click Find Next or Find All. To update the found element with the new characteristics, click Replace or Replace All. 6 5 4 3 2 1 5 6 2 4 3 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 5 Working with Text 191 Using Cascading Style Sheets with HTML Text Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) contain sets of formatting rules for HTML and XML text. CSS allow you to define certain text attributes and give them a style name. This style name, called a selector, can be applied to any imple- mented text. Each time you need to imple- ment the defined style, you can refer back to the CSS. This allows for more control over the text displayed on your Web page. Load styles from an external CSS or create them within Flash using the Style Sheet Object. The ActionScript class for CSS is described as: Text Fi el d. St yl eS he e t. Th is is a n e w fu nc ti on al - ity and it is only available to SWFs in the Flash 7 Player or later. Load an external CSS In any text or HTML editor, place the follow- ing code: // External CSS File: styles.css headline { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12 px; } bodyText { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10 px; } This code is typically found in a CSS. This example defines two styles, one for a sans- serif headline at 12 pixels, the other a sans- serif body text at 10 pixels. Select the first frame of your Flash movie. Place the following code in the Actions panel: var css_styles = new TextField.StyleSheet(); css_styles.load("styles.css"); css_styles.onLoad = function(ok) { if(ok) { // display style names trace(this.getStyleNames()); } else { trace("Error loading CSS file."); } } The CSS you created, “styles.css” is loaded into this object. A loader is created to ensure the CSS is loaded properly. Make sure the CSS and the swf are in the same directory. Create a CSS in Flash Select the first frame of your Flash movie. The following code creates a text style for head- line text and body text. Place the following code in the Actions panel: var styles = new TextField.StyleSheet(); styles.setStyle("headline", {fontFamily: 'Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif', fontSize: '12px'} ); styles.setStyle("bodyText", {fontFamily: 'Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif', fontSize: '10px'} ); This CSS code can now be placed in the Actions panel in Flash. This example defines two styles, one for a sans-serif headline at 12 pixels, the other a sans-serif body text at 10 pixels. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg This page intentionally left blank From the Library of Wow! eBook . typewritten-looking font, such as Courier. 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 Did You Know? You can test for missing fonts. If there is incomplete font information on your computer, fonts may appear in the Font list in Flash. or edit the default one included by clicking the Edit Personal Dictionary button. Each new entry in the personal dictionary must be on a separate line. ◆ Checking Options. Set word- level. least one dictionary must be selected to activate Check Spelling. ◆ Personal Dictionary. Specify an option to use a dictionary created and edited by you. Navigate to a text document on your