Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference
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flashx.textLayout.conversion 
TextConverter 
Packageflashx.textLayout.conversion
Classpublic class TextConverter
InheritanceTextConverter Inheritance Object

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

This is the gateway class for handling import and export. It serves as a unified access point to the conversion functionality in the Text Layout Framework.

View the examples

See also



Public Properties
 PropertyDefined By
 Inheritedconstructor : Object
A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.
Object
 Inheritedprototype : Object
[static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.
Object
Public Methods
 MethodDefined By
  
[static] Exports a TextFlow to a specified format.
TextConverter
  
[static] Creates an export filter.
TextConverter
  
[static] Creates an import filter.
TextConverter
 Inherited
Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.
Object
  
[static] Creates a TextFlow from source content in a specified format.
TextConverter
 Inherited
Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.
Object
 Inherited
Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of the specified object.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the primitive value of the specified object.
Object
Public Constants
 ConstantDefined By
  PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT : String = "plainTextFormat"
[static] Plain text format.
TextConverter
  TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT : String = "textFieldHTMLFormat"
[static] HTML format.
TextConverter
  TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT : String = "textLayoutFormat"
[static] TextLayout Format.
TextConverter
Method Detail

export

()method
public static function export(source:flashx.textLayout.elements:TextFlow, format:String, conversionType:String):Object

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Exports a TextFlow to a specified format. Supported formats include FXG, HTML, plain text, and TextLayout Markup.

Use one of the four static constants supplied with this class to specify the format parameter:

  • TextConverter.TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT

Specify the type of the exported data in the conversionType parameter with one of the two static constants supplied by the ConversionType class:

  • ConversionType.STRING_TYPE
  • ConversionType.XML_TYPE

Returns a representation of the TextFlow in the specified format.

Parameters

source:flashx.textLayout.elements:TextFlow — Source content
 
format:String — Output format
 
conversionType:String — Type of exported data

Returns
Object — Object Exported form of the TextFlow

See also

getExporter

()method 
public static function getExporter(format:String):flashx.textLayout.conversion:ITextExporter

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Creates an export filter. Returns an export filter, which you can then use to export from a TextFlow to a source string or XML object. Use this function if you have many separate exports to perform. It is equivalent to calling flashx.textLayout.conversion.TextConverter.export().

Use one of the four static constants supplied with this class to specify the format parameter:

  • TextConverter.TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT

Parameters

format:String — Target format for exported data

Returns
flashx.textLayout.conversion:ITextExporter — ITextExporter Text filter that can export in the specified format

See also


Example  ( How to use this example )

This code snippet shows a use of the getExporter method to perform repeated exports of formatted text.


package flashx.textLayout.conversion.examples
{
    import flashx.textLayout.conversion.ConversionType;
    import flashx.textLayout.conversion.ITextExporter;
    import flashx.textLayout.conversion.TextConverter;
    import flashx.textLayout.elements.TextFlow;
    
    public class getExporter_example 
    {
        // Serialize the TextFlow into a String
        public function export(textFlow:TextFlow):String
        {
            var exporter:ITextExporter = TextConverter.getExporter(TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT);
            return exporter.export(textFlow, ConversionType.STRING_TYPE) as String;
        }
    }
}

getImporter

()method 
public static function getImporter(format:String, config:IConfiguration = null):flashx.textLayout.conversion:ITextImporter

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Creates an import filter. Returns an import filter, which you can then use to import from a source string or XML object to a TextFlow. Use this function if you have many separate imports to perform, or if you want to handle errors during import. It is equivalent to calling flashx.textLayout.conversion.TextConverter.importToFlow().

Use one of the four static constants supplied with this class to specify the format parameter:

  • TextConverter.TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT

Parameters

format:String — Format of source content. Use constants from flashx.textLayout.conversion.TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT, PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT, TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT etc.
 
config:IConfiguration (default = null) — configuration to use during this import. null means take the current default.

Returns
flashx.textLayout.conversion:ITextImporter — ITextImporter Text filter that can import the source data

See also


Example  ( How to use this example )

This code snippet shows a use of the getImporter method to perform repeated imports of formatted text. Note that errors are cleared at the beginning of each call to importToFlow.


package flashx.textLayout.conversion.examples
{
    import flashx.textLayout.conversion.ITextImporter;
    import flashx.textLayout.conversion.TextConverter;
    import flashx.textLayout.elements.TextFlow;
    
    public class getImporter_example 
    {
        public function importAndCheckErrors():TextFlow
        {
            var markup:String = "<TextFlow xmlns='http://ns.adobe.com/textLayout/2008'><p><span>Hello, World</span></p></TextFlow>";
            var importer:ITextImporter = TextConverter.getImporter(TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT);
            importer.throwOnError = false;
            var textFlow:TextFlow = importer.importToFlow(markup);
            if (!textFlow)
            {
                var errors:Vector.<String> = importer.errors;
                //deal with import errors
            }
            return textFlow;
        }
    }
}

importToFlow

()method 
public static function importToFlow(source:Object, format:String, config:IConfiguration = null):flashx.textLayout.elements:TextFlow

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Creates a TextFlow from source content in a specified format. Supported formats include HTML, plain text, and TextLayout Markup.

Use one of the four static constants supplied with this class to specify the format parameter:

  • TextConverter.TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT
  • TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT

Parameters

source:Object — Source content
 
format:String — Format of source content
 
config:IConfiguration (default = null) — IConfiguration to use when creating new TextFlows

Returns
flashx.textLayout.elements:TextFlow — TextFlow that was created from the source.

See also

Constant Detail

PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT

Constant
public static const PLAIN_TEXT_FORMAT:String = "plainTextFormat"

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

Plain text format. Use this for creating a TextFlow from a simple, unformatted String, or for creating a simple, unformatted String from a TextFlow.

TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT

Constant 
public static const TEXT_FIELD_HTML_FORMAT:String = "textFieldHTMLFormat"

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

HTML format. Use this for importing from, or exporting to, a TextFlow using the HTML fomat. The Text Layout Framework HTML supports a subset of the tags and attributes supported by the TextField class in the flash.text package.

The following table lists the HTML tags and attributes supported for the import and export process (tags and attributes supported by TextField, but not supported by the Text Layout Framework are specifically described as not supported):

Tag Description
Anchor tag The <a> tag creates a hypertext link and supports the following attributes:
  • target: Specifies the name of the target window where you load the page. Options include _self, _blank, _parent, and _top. The _self option specifies the current frame in the current window, _blank specifies a new window, _parent specifies the parent of the current frame, and _top specifies the top-level frame in the current window.
  • href: Specifies a URL. The URL can be either absolute or relative to the location of the SWF file that is loading the page. An example of an absolute reference to a URL is http://www.adobe.com; an example of a relative reference is /index.html. Absolute URLs must be prefixed with http://; otherwise, Flash treats them as relative URLs. Note: Unlike the TextField class, ActionScript link events are not supported. Neither are a:link, a:hover, and a:active styles.
Bold tag The <b> tag renders text as bold. A bold typeface must be available for the font used.
Break tag The <br> tag creates a line break in the text.
Font tag The <font> tag specifies a font or list of fonts to display the text.The font tag supports the following attributes:
  • color: Only hexadecimal color (#FFFFFF) values are supported.
  • face: Specifies the name of the font to use. As shown in the following example, you can specify a list of comma-delimited font names, in which case Flash Player selects the first available font. If the specified font is not installed on the local computer system or isn't embedded in the SWF file, Flash Player selects a substitute font.
  • size: Specifies the size of the font. You can use absolute pixel sizes, such as 16 or 18 or relative point sizes, such as +2 or -4.
  • letterspacing: Specifies the tracking (manual kerning) in pixels to be applied to the right of each character.
  • kerning: Specifies whether kerning is enabled or disabled. A non-zero value enables kerning, while zero disables it.
Image tag The <img> tag lets you embed external image files (JPEG, GIF, PNG), SWF files, and movie clips inside text.

The <img> tag supports the following attributes:

  • src: Specifies the URL to an image or SWF file, or the linkage identifier for a movie clip symbol in the library. This attribute is required; all other attributes are optional. External files (JPEG, GIF, PNG, and SWF files) do not show until they are downloaded completely.
  • width: The width of the image, SWF file, or movie clip being inserted, in pixels.
  • height: The height of the image, SWF file, or movie clip being inserted, in pixels.

Note: Unlike the TextField class, the following attributes are not supported: align, hspace, vspace, id, and checkPolicyFile.

Italic tag The <i> tag displays the tagged text in italics. An italic typeface must be available for the font used.
List item tag Note: Unlike the TextField class, the List item tag is not supported.
Paragraph tag The <p> tag creates a new paragraph. The <p> tag supports the following attributes:
  • align: Specifies alignment of text within the paragraph; valid values are left, right, justify, and center.
  • class: Specifies a class name that can be used for styling
Span tag The <span> tag supports the following attributes:
  • class: Specifies a class name that can be used for styling
Text format tag

The <textformat> tag lets you use a subset of paragraph formatting properties of the TextFormat class within text fields, including line leading, indentation, margins, and tab stops. You can combine <textformat> tags with the built-in HTML tags.

The <textformat> tag has the following attributes:

  • indent: Specifies the indentation from the left margin to the first character in the paragraph; corresponds to TextFormat.indent. Both positive and negative numbers are acceptable.
  • blockindent: Specifies the indentation applied to all lines of the paragraph.
  • leftmargin: Specifies the left margin of the paragraph, in points; corresponds to TextFormat.leftMargin.
  • rightmargin: Specifies the right margin of the paragraph, in points; corresponds to TextFormat.rightMargin.
  • leading: Specifies the leading (line height) measured in pixels between a line's ascent and the previous line's descent
  • tabstops: Specifies a comma-separated list of tab stop positions for the paragraph.
Underline tag The <u> tag underlines the tagged text.

TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT

Constant 
public static const TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT:String = "textLayoutFormat"

Language Version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime Versions: Flash Player 10, AIR 1.5

TextLayout Format. Use this for importing from, or exporting to, a TextFlow using the TextLayout markup format. Text Layout format will detect the following errors:

  • Unexpected namespace
  • Unknown element
  • Unknown attribute

TextConverter_example.as

This example shows a use of the TextConverter conversion class. Text in a standard markup format is imported into a TextFlow object and then displayed. The text is then exported in XML format.

package flashx.textLayout.conversion.examples 
{
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flashx.textLayout.container.ContainerController;
    import flashx.textLayout.elements.TextFlow;
    import flashx.textLayout.conversion.TextConverter;
    import flashx.textLayout.conversion.ConversionType;

    public class TextConverter_example extends Sprite
    {
        public function TextConverter_example()
        {
            var markup:String = "<TextFlow xmlns='http://ns.adobe.com/textLayout/2008'><p><span>Hello, World</span></p></TextFlow>";
            var textFlow:TextFlow = TextConverter.importToFlow(markup, TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT);
            textFlow.flowComposer.addController(new ContainerController(this, 200, 50));
            textFlow.flowComposer.updateAllControllers();
            //export to XML
            var xmlOut:XML = TextConverter.export(textFlow,TextConverter.TEXT_LAYOUT_FORMAT, ConversionType.XML_TYPE) as XML;
        }
    }
}