Shared fonts and the new components...

[bgetting]

Well, it's nice that I can use CSS to format the text in the new components, however that assumes that I want to use a font that everyone has on their system (since CSS draws from the clients fonts). However, I have been desperately searching for a way to embed the fonts that I want in the TextArea component.

Of course, I can do it fine by setting the component instance "embed" attribute to true, however this is not a feasible solution. The project that I am working on will load many SWF's with many more TextArea instances in them. Ideally I could use a shared font to get the font to download once. However I am lost on getting this one to work. Been trying for days now.

Embedding the font in each component instance makes my file size shoot up, and they are still not available in loaded SWF's. While there are problems with shared fonts, I think that I can get it to work with what I have planned. I have also come across some info about something called Font Manager, which is exactly what I need. However, the web site is poor at best, and does not have links to the download, demo, or purchase of this product (despite saying that it does). At $15 per commercial site, I can deal with that, and it appears to be my solution, if it were available.

Anyone have anything that might help me? Anyone with experience using Font Manager? Am I the only stupid one that can't find the demo of this, or how to buy it?

Thanks, all...

[yorkeylady]

I've successfully used shared fonts. But it was with Flash MX. I haven't tried it yet with 2004. It's very easy once you know how.
step 1
Put the font in an swf and put an mc with a shape in the same swf. In the library select linkage for the mc. Check export and export for actionscript. Type in the relative or absolute url of the swf of this swf in the field that says URL. You can just type in the name of the file in most instances. ( by file I'm refering to the same swf that you're typing in , I got that confused with the file that's loading the exported movie when I started learning flash mx.) And put in an identifier name for both the font and the mc, then publish the swf.



step 2
Then in the movie that's loading the font (import movie) put an mc offscreen and in the library the linkage identifier for the mc with the shape must have the same name as in the MC that you put in the export movie. Click import for runtime sharing and the absolute or relative URL of the swf in step 1.

Be sure to test that it has loaded before using the font identifier in actionscript. You could use setInterval for testing if the font identifier is undefined and clear the interval if it's defined. I have a demo fla here somewhere that I will upload if I can find it.

I just typed this in off the top of my head. Please forgive me for any mistakes.
I'm usually on ICQ, or you can correspond through email if you need more help

[bgetting]

Thanks for that, however I have been using shared fonts in MX for a while now. That is why I am suddenly up against this TextArea wall. I would like to use it due to the scale of the project and the amount of components that I will be using. It's much easier to just create a new theme than to do it the old way.

If you have the time, check out the TextArea component in 2004, and see if you can figure a way to attach a shared font to it.

Thanks again.