Seems a lot of people ask about triggering roll over events with dynamic text in Flash… Well, using the TextField.getCharBoundaries() method in AS3, you can basically draw an invisible button over some chosen text and do just that…
[AS]package {
import flash.net.URLLoader
import flash.net.URLRequest
import flash.xml.XML;
import flash.display.;
import flash.events.;
import flash.text.;
import flash.geom.;
/*
requires xml document named “test.xml” that looks like:
<?xml version=‘1.0’ encoding=‘UTF-8’ standalone=‘yes’?>
<!-- rollover dynamic text in flash 9 -->
<document>
<string linkText = “these words”><![CDATA[Flash 9 is freakin’ hot! Just roll over <b><u>these words</u></b> to see another reason why…]]></string>
</document>
*/
public class DynTextLink extends Sprite {
private var _fmt:TextFormat;
private var _xml:XML;
private var _tf:TextField;
private var _s:String;
private var _linkText:String;
private var _output:TextField;
private var _loader:URLLoader;
public function DynTextLink() {
_loader = new URLLoader();
_fmt = new TextFormat(“Tahoma”, 11, 0x000000);
loadXML();
}
private function loadXML():void {
_loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onXMLloaded);
_loader.load(new URLRequest(“test.xml”));
}
private function onXMLloaded(e:Event):void {
_xml = new XML(_loader.data);
_xml.ignoreWhitespace = true;
_s = _xml.string[0].toString();
_linkText = _xml.string[0].@linkText.toString();
createTextFields();
}
private function createTextFields():void {
_tf = new TextField();
_tf.width = 500;
_tf.height = 100;
_tf.selectable = false;
_tf.x = 50;
_tf.y = 50;
_tf.htmlText = _s;
_tf.setTextFormat(_fmt);
_output = new TextField();
_output.width = 500;
_output.height = 100;
_output.selectable = false;
_output.x = 50;
_output.y = 150;
addChild(_tf);
addChild(_output);
createButton();
}
private function createButton() {
var index:Number = _tf.text.indexOf(_linkText);
var r:Rectangle = _tf.getCharBoundaries(index);
var r2:Rectangle = _tf.getCharBoundaries(index + _linkText.length);
var textButton:Sprite = drawSprite(r2.x - r.x, r.height);
textButton.x = r.x + _tf.x;
textButton.y = r.y + _tf.y;
textButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.ROLL_OVER, onTextButtonRollOver);
textButton.buttonMode = true;
}
private function onTextButtonRollOver(e:MouseEvent):void {
_output.text = “You just triggered a roll over event with dynamic text!”;
_output.setTextFormat(_fmt);
}
function drawSprite(w:Number, h:Number):Sprite {
var s:Sprite = new Sprite();
s.graphics.beginFill(0x000000, 0);
s.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, w, h);
addChild(s);
return s;
}
}
}[/AS]