ActionScript: The Definitive Guide

Chapter 18. On-Screen Text Fields

Because Flash is fundamentally a visual environment, movies often present on-screen information to users. Similarly, because Flash is an interactive environment, movies often retrieve information from users through a GUI. To display the value of a variable on screen or to allow a user to type data into a Flash movie, we use text fields.

Text fields provide a means of both setting and retrieving the values of variables that have a visual representation. Text fields come in two varieties—dynamic text fields, which we use to display information to the user, and user-input text fields, which we use to retrieve information from the user.

Dynamic Text Fields

A dynamic text field is like a variable viewport—it displays the value of a specified variable as a text string. Dynamic text fields are created using the Text tool in Flash. However, unlike regular static text, the content of a dynamic text field is connected to a variable and can be changed or retrieved via ActionScript.

By retrieving a text field’s value, we can capture on-screen information for use in a script. By setting a text field’s value, we cause that value to display on screen.

Creating a Dynamic Text Field

To make a new dynamic text field, follow these steps:

1. Select the Text tool.

2. Click and drag a rectangle on the Stage. The outline that you create will define the size of the new text field.

3. Select Text → Options. The Text Options panel appears.

4. In the Text Type menu, choose Dynamic Text (the other ...