March 2007
Mar 15, 2007
It’s a feature that plays like a bug.
This is not a bug. But it is not, not a bug.
I have a textfield with embedded fonts created by a custom object populated with the text “Enter a name”. When a user clicks into this textfield, I want to erase the current text and leave an empty textfield with a cursor blinking and ready for input.
Here’s the textfield:
__myContainer_mc.createTextField( "my_tf", 1, 0, 0, 200, 20 );
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].border = true;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].borderColor = 0×8DAC3E;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].type = “input”;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].embedFonts = true;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].text = “Enter a name”;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].setTextFormat( getMyTextFormat() );
Here’s what I wrote to capture the focus event:
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].onSetFocus = function() {
this.text = “”;
}
When this script is run, the user, upon clicking into the textfield sees an empty textfield without a cursor. On top of that, the user cannot enter any text into the textfield. Or rather as I later discovered, the user cannot enter any text that they can see into the textfield.
After much trial and error (and very little help from to all powerful Google), this is the functioning script:
var myRef = this;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].onSetFocus = function() {
this.text = “”;
this.setTextFormat( myRef.getMyTextFormat() );
};
It would seem that embedded text that is programmatically reset, needs to be reformatted as well. That is a nuisance. Why does a textfield lose its format at any time?
Because I cannot let a frustrating problem die, I refined the script a little bit more. What if there were multiple textfields on the Stage that each required different actions in response to a focus change? Setting individual onSetFocus handlers for every instance is tedious and greatly increases the chances of writing in bugs.
So scrapping the onSetFocus handler and taking advantage of the Selection object, we have this:
Selection.addListener( this );
/.../
public function onSetFocus( oldFocus, newFocus ) {
switch( newFocus ) {
// The 'add a name' textfield has been selected.
case __myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ]:
// Erase the current text.
newFocus.text = “”;
newFocus.setTextFormat( getMyTextFormat() );
break;
}
}
With our custom object now broadcasting all focus events to the Selection object, we can have a single event handler in our object handle the different actions required for different textfield instances.
Here’s the whole thing for copy / paste enthusiasts:
private function gatherName( ):Void {
// Create a name input field.
__myContainer_mc.createTextField( "my_tf", 1, 0, 0, 200, 20 );
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].border = true;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].borderColor = 0×8DAC3E;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].type = “input”;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].embedFonts = true;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].text = “Enter a name”;
__myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ].setTextFormat( getMyTextFormat() );
// Start listening to selection events.
Selection.addListener( this );
}
/*
* When a new object is selected, this method controls the actions taken according to the selected object.
*/
public function onSetFocus( oldFocus, newFocus ) {
switch( newFocus ) {
// The ‘add a name’ textfield has been selected.
case __myContainer_mc[ "my_tf" ]:
// Erase the current text.
newFocus.text = “”;
newFocus.setTextFormat( getMyTextFormat() );
break;
}
}
This one is definitely going in theWell(currently being built out). I’ve run into it before and lost close to three days working the details out. I know that it’s not a bug, but it is one of those idiosyncrasies of a scripting language that drive developers and designers alike insane. Hopefully, I just saved someone else’s sanity and free time.
Mar 9, 2007
Spring Cleaning
Have you noticed that close to 90% of the links on this site point to all the wrong places? Frustrating? I’ll bet. I never notice. Being content producer and tech support tends to makes it easy to remember the direct URL to just about everything here on the Big Green.
The short version is I’m updating. The shorter version is I hate and aim to frustrate all my visitors.
Except you. We’re cool.
This site is modular. It can be adapted to my every aesthetic whim. I intentionally left the last 20% of the project unresolved so that I could constantly make unforgivable design mistakes. Hot red links. Oh yeah. Saturated yellow background? Hot as the sun, baby. Navigation below the fold in the lower right hand corner? Damn straight.
But sometimes it works. So why the hell not give it a shot?
So bare with me over the next couple of months as I steal time from my wife, work and sleep to shuffle my content like a magician’s deck of cards while concurrently re-discoving that Baroque and Bauhaus are fundamentally opposed styles .
Mar 7, 2007
By your command.
The Sci-Fi channel hit my inbox this morning with a link to Battlestar Galatica’s Videomaker site. Fans of the show get access to the show’s video, audio and effects to do with as they see fit. They can do anything with it. They could change all the characters to teddy bears piloting Vipers…which would be unspeakably awesome.
Imagine that. The owners of one of the most popular sci-fi shows on TV are giving fans access to content that would otherwise get them sued. And there’s no limit on how the clips can be used. As far as I can tell, the only limit is time…which is a very good thing. Anything over 4 minutes, not from a professional editor, will be crap. And even then, it’s possible. If that’s not a stated law of media it ought to be.
Anyway….
Those who watched the original series from the 70’s probably remember that it used the same 4-7 “space” scenes in every show. Every Viper took off the same way. Every Baseship was in the upper right hand corner of the screen moving menacingly slowly to the middle. There were only three ways a Cylon raider could explode. I used to think that the Cylons needed to be reprogrammed because, clearly, they all keep making the exact same mistake. It’s a subtle nod to the original series. I would love to see someone riff off of that.
