Animating color of text with TweenMax

[froinds]

Hello,
Basically I have a menu with submenus. The submenu is a Sprite with two children, one is a square for the background and the text on top.
On mouse over, I can change the color of the first child, the background, but not the color of the text, the second child.
Here is the code.

private function subMenuItemOver(evt:MouseEvent):void {
     TweenLite.to(evt.target.getChildAt(0), 1, {tint:0x9ca26e}); // Works
     TweenLite.to(evt.target.getChildAt(1), 1, {tint:0xffffff});    // Doesn't work
}

The menus are created from an xml document and the color is assigned with TextFormat.

I have no idea why I can't animate the color of the text.

Thanks in advance.

[despisedIcon]

fonts embedded?

[mcmcom]

can you access the next item in the index? getChildAt(1) i mean? can you trace out somethign so you know it is infact being accessed. if evt.target is a menu item, the getChildAt may need to be on the parent.
just a thought.

hth,
mcm

[froinds]

trace("Menu Item is: " + evt.target + " - 1st Child: " + evt.target.getChildAt(0) + " - 2nd Child: " + evt.target.getChildAt(1) );

Output:
Menu Item is: [object MovieClip] - 1st Child: [object MovieClip] - 2nd Child: [object TextField]

[greensock]

Without seeing your FLA, it's tough to say what's going on in there. You're positive that you embedded the font in the TextField and that the actual font is included in the swf, right?

[froinds]

Originally Posted by greensock

You're positive that you embedded the font in the TextField and that the actual font is included in the swf, right?

Well, I hope the way I embed the font is the right way. I created a Font symbol in my library, selected the font, clicked export for as3 and then did the following for the textfield:

var font:Font = new BoldFont();
   var myFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat(); 
   myFormat.font = font.fontName;

I posted the code down below. I didn't post my whole AS file because it's big and I bet nobody would be patient enough to go through the whole thing, which I understand since it drives me nuts when I have to do it.

[greensock]

despisedIcon makes a good point - make sure you embed the fonts.

Also, if you're using TweenLite v11 or later, make sure you activate the TintPlugin (not necessary in v10 or before). You only need to do this once in your swf. And it's not necessary if you use TweenMax.

import com.greensock.plugins.*;
TweenPlugin.activate([TintPlugin]);

[froinds]

Ok, my fonts are embedded and I'm using TweenMax instead of TweenLite. Still nothing happens.

I'm setting the format for my text this way (maybe that's where the problem is):

subMenuItemText.setTextFormat(setTextFormat()); // this is within a function 

private function setTextFormat():TextFormat {
   var font:Font = new BoldFont();
   var myFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat(); 
   myFormat.font = font.fontName;
   myFormat.size = 10;
   myFormat.color = 0x8b8b8b; 
   myFormat.align = TextFormatAlign.CENTER;

   return myFormat;
}

Mouse over and mouse out events:

private function subMenuItemOver(evt:MouseEvent):void {
   TweenMax.to(evt.target.getChildAt(0), 1, {tint:0x9ca26e});
   TweenMax.to(evt.target.getChildAt(1), 1, {tint:0xffffff});
}
        
private function subMenuItemOut(evt:MouseEvent):void {
   TweenMax.to(evt.target.getChildAt(0), 1, {removeTint:true});
   TweenMax.to(evt.target.getChildAt(1), 1, {removeTint:true});
}

Like I said, the submenu is a Sprite with two children, one is the background and the other is a TextField.