Flash glossary: TLF text (Text Layout Framework)

TLF text, introduced in Adobe Flash Professional CS5, enables you to add text to a FLA file using a new text engine called the Text Layout Framework (TLF). TLF supports a wider array of rich text layout features and fine control of text attributes. TLF text allows greater control of text than the previous text engine, now called "classic text."

Compared to classic text, TLF text provides additional character styles, including leading, ligatures, highlight color, underline, strikethrough, case, digit case, and more. It also includes additional paragraph styles, including multicolumn support with gutter width, last-line justification options, margins, indents, paragraph spacing, and container padding values.

When creating text, it is important to understand the following:

• TLF text is the default text type in Flash Professional CS5.
• There are two types of TLF text containers: point text and area text. A point text container's size depends solely on the text it contains, whereas an area text container's size is independent of the amount of text it contains. Point text is the default. To change a point text container to area text, resize it with the Selection tool or double-click the small circle at the bottom right of the container's bounding box.
• TLF text requires that you specify ActionScript 3 and Flash Player 10 or later in the publish settings of your FLA file. For more information, see the section titled Publish settings in the Flash documentation.

Using TLF text, you can control additional Asian text attributes, including Tate Chu Yoko, Mojikumi, Kinsoku Shori, and Leading model. You can also apply attributes such as 3D rotation, color effects, and blend modes to TLF text without placing it in a movie clip symbol.

TLF text can flow across multiple text containers. These containers are called threaded or linked text containers. It enables you to create right-to-left text for Arabic and Hebrew scripts. It also supports bi-directional text where right-to-left text can contain elements of left-to-right text. This is important for embedding English words or Arabic numerals within Arabic/Hebrew text:

The Property inspector has three display modes when using TLF text, depending on the current type of text selection:

• Text tool mode when the Text tool has been selected in the Tools panel and no text is selected in the Flash document
• Text object mode when an entire text block is selected on the Stage
• Text edit mode when a text block is being edited

You can create three types of text blocks with TLF text, depending on how you want the text to behave at runtime:

• Read only: Text cannot be selected or edited when it's published as a SWF file.
• Selectable: Text is selectable and can be copied to the Clipboard but is not editable. This setting is the default for TLF text.
• Editable: Text is selectable and can be edited.

TLF text requires a specific ActionScript library to be available to Flash Player at runtime. If this library is not already present on the playback computer, Flash Player automatically downloads it. For more information about the library, see Publishing SWF files with TLF text in the Flash documentation.

To learn more about working with TLF text, read the section titled Working with Text Layout Framework (TLF) text in the Flash documentation.

Note: TLF text cannot be used as a mask. To create a mask with text, use classic text.