Working with Text > Creating text |  |

Creating text

You can create three types of text fields: static, dynamic, and input. All text fields support Unicode. See Text encoding in the Flash MX authoring tool.

| Static text fields display text that doesn't change characters dynamically.
| Dynamic text fields display dynamically updating text, such as sports scores, stock quotes, or weather reports.
| Input text fields enable users to enter text in forms or surveys.

You can create horizontal text (with a left-to-right flow) or static vertical text (with either a right-to-left or left-to-right flow) in Flash. By default, text is created with horizontal orientation. You can choose preferences to make vertical text the default orientation and to set other options for vertical text.

You can also create scrolling text fields. See Creating scrolling text.

To create text, you place text blocks on the Stage using the Text tool. When creating static text, you can place text on a single line that expands as you type, or in a fixed-width block (for horizontal text) or fixed-height block (for vertical text) that expands and wraps words automatically. When creating dynamic or input text, you can place text on a single line, or create a text block with a fixed width and height.

Flash displays a handle on the corner of a text block to identify the type of text block:

| For static horizontal text blocks that extend, a round handle appears at the upper right corner of the text block.
| For static horizontal text blocks with a defined height, a square handle appears at the upper right corner of the text block.
| For static vertical text with right-to-left orientation that extends, a round handle appears at the lower left corner of the text block.
| For static vertical text with right-to-left orientation and a fixed height, a square handle appears at the lower left corner of the text block.
| For static vertical text with left-to-right orientation that extends, a round handle appears at the lower right corner of the text block.
| For static vertical text with left-to-right orientation and a fixed height, a square handle appears at the lower right corner of the text block.
| For dynamic or input text blocks that extend, a round handle appears at the lower right corner of the text block.
| For dynamic or input text with a defined height and width, a square handle appears at the lower right corner of the text block.
| For dynamic scrollable text blocks, the round or square handle becomes solid black instead of hollow. See Creating scrolling text.

You can shift-double-click the handle of dynamic and input text fields to create text blocks that don't expand when you enter text on the Stage. This allows you to create a text block of a fixed size and fill it with more text than it can display to create scrolling text. See Creating scrolling text.

After you use the Text tool to create a text field, you use the Property inspector to indicate which type of text field you want and set values to control the way the text field and its contents appear in the Flash movie.

To set preferences for vertical text:

1 | Choose Edit > Preferences and click the Editing tab in the Preferences dialog box.
2 | Under Vertical Text, select Default Text Orientation to make new text blocks automatically orient vertically.
3 | Select Right to Left Text Flow to make vertical text automatically flow right-to-left.
4 | Select No Kerning to prevent kerning from being applied to vertical text. (Kerning remains enabled for horizontal text.)

To create text:

1 | Select the Text tool.
2 | Choose Window > Property inspector.
3 | In the Property inspector, choose a text type from the pop-up menu to specify the type of text field:
| Choose Dynamic Text to create a field that displays dynamically updating text.
| Choose Input Text to create a field in which users can enter text.
| Choose Static Text to create a field which cannot update dynamically.
4 | For static text only: in the Property inspector, click the Text Direction button and select an option to specify the orientation of the text:
| Select Horizontal to flow text left to right horizontally (the default setting).
| Select Vertical Left-to-Right to flow text vertically, left to right.
| Select Vertical Right-to-Left to flow text vertically, right to left.
| Note: Layout options for vertical text are disabled if the text is dynamic or input. Only static text can be vertical.
5 | Do one of the following:
| To create a text block that displays text in a single line, click where you want the text to start.
| To create a text block with a fixed width (for horizontal text) or fixed height (for vertical text), position the pointer where you want the text to start and drag to the desired width or height.
| Note: If you create a text block that extends past the edge of the Stage as you type, the text isn't lost. To make the handle accessible again, add line breaks, move the text block, or choose View > Work Area.
6 | Select text attributes in the Property inspector as described in Setting text attributes.

To change the dimensions of a text block:

Drag its resize handle.

To switch a text block between fixed-width or fixed-height and extending:

Double-click the resize handle.