flash (macromedia): Newbie here, so try not to be shocked if this is really dumb....

Is there anyway to use a mask on top of a dynamic text field. When I add a
mask layer above my dynamic text field in author mode, it seems to work, but as
soon as I test, the dynamic text seems to disappear. If I make the dynamic
text field static, the masking works just fine. But I don't seem to be able to
give an instance name to static text, and therefore can't access it in
actionscript. Am I missing something here?

On a more general note, I read in a book called Flash 8 Cookbook that the
TextArea component is pretty heavy weight and that you sometimes might be
better off developing your own scrolling text field. Does anyone have thoughts
on that?

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yes you do miss something, font outlines :)
Flash can't animate or mask text that does not has outlines. Static text has it by
default. Dynamic text needs the outlines to be included, via text field property
panel or action script.
Static text, once typed, is on stage. Flash can gather all the characters and include
its outlines upon export. Tho this is not the case with dynamic text. There is no
actual text for flash to take outlines from so you need to include the font outlines
manually.
Select your dynamic text field, hit CTRL F3 to open properties panel.
Once you got it, look for EMBED button on the right hand side.
Hold down CTRL button and select, Upper, Lower, Numeric, Punctuation...
or whatever is that you need. If you have something like name coming from dynamic source
than you might want to include just small range or characters. Do not include all unless
you need it. It increases file size, not much but with complex projects all the little
bytes here and there contribute to overall big file.

[quoted text, click to view]

That is correct. Most of the components are what we call Bloatware.
Can't blame Macromedia tho :) Imagine a component that is meant to suit general user needs
and variety of options one might want to have with it. The engineers usually over code it,
to make it one-fit-all, making it klunky and large in the same time. To make your own, it's
really much easier has many benefits, from customizing it to bottom line of having full control
over it.


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Best Regards

Urami


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<urami>
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