ACTIONSCRIPT 3 Developer’s Guide en

ACTIONSCRIPT 3.0 DEVELOPER’S GUIDE
Using the TextField class
for (var i = 0; i < this.numChildren; i++) {
var displayitem:DisplayObject = this.getChildAt(i);
if (displayitem instanceof StaticText) {
trace("a static text field is item " + i + " on the display list");
var myFieldLabel:StaticText = StaticText(displayitem);
trace("and contains the text: " + myFieldLabel.text);
}
}
Once you have a reference to a static text field, you can use the properties of that field in ActionScript 3.0. The following
code is attached to a frame in the Timeline, and assumes that a variable named myFieldLabel is assigned to a static
text reference. A dynamic text field named myField is positioned relative to the x and y values of myFieldLabel and
displays the value of myFieldLabel again.
var myField:TextField = new TextField();
addChild(myField);
myField.x = myFieldLabel.x;
myField.y = myFieldLabel.y + 20;
myField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
myField.text = "and " + myFieldLabel.text
Using the TextSnapshot class
Flash Player 9 and later, Adobe AIR 1.0 and later
If you want to programmatically work with an existing static text instance, you can use the flash.text.TextSnapshot
class to work with the textSnapshot property of a flash.display.DisplayObjectContainer. In other words, you create
a TextSnapshot instance from the DisplayObjectContainer.textSnapshot property. You can then apply methods
to that instance to retrieve values or select parts of the static text.
For example, place a static text field that contains the text "TextSnapshot Example" on the Stage. Add the following
ActionScript to Frame 1 of the Timeline:
var mySnap:TextSnapshot = this.textSnapshot;
var count:Number = mySnap.charCount;
mySnap.setSelected(0, 4, true);
mySnap.setSelected(1, 2, false);
var myText:String = mySnap.getSelectedText(false);
trace(myText);
The TextSnapshot class is useful for getting the text out of static text fields in a loaded SWF file, if you want to use the
text as a value in another part of an application.
TextField Example: Newspaper-style text formatting
Flash Player 9 and later, Adobe AIR 1.0 and later
The News Layout example formats text to look something like a story in a printed newspaper. The input text can
contain a headline, a subtitle, and the body of the story. Given a display width and height, this News Layout example
formats the headline and the subtitle to take the full width of the display area. The story text is distributed across two
or more columns.
Last updated 6/6/2012
387