Using JSON as HTML data within Flexbox for interactive hyperlink rollovers

Question

Using JSON as HTML data within Flexbox for interactive hyperlink rollovers

Utilizing JSON to extract HTML data with unique html tags within Flex has presented a challenge. The limited support for HTML in Flex has made it difficult to implement a basic font color rollover effect on links. While Flex only allows for a few HTML tags, it does provide the option to incorporate CSS using unorthodox methods.

Is it feasible to modify HTML content from JSON files using an external CSS file? Alternatively, is there a more straightforward approach by embedding CSS directly into the JSON file?

html css apache-flex json rollovers

Answer 1

Answer №1

Unfortunately, there isn't a simple solution to this problem. It will require considerable effort and perseverance.

One approach is to enhance the Text class by including a static StyleSheet property (e.g., styleSheet:StyleSheet = null). Then create an array containing specific styles supported by Flex:

listOfStyles:Array = ['fontSize', 'color', 'fontWeight', 'fontFamily', 'fontStyle', 'textDecoration'];

Next, you need to initialize the StyleManager.selectors by defining selectors for usage. Essentially, locate the "A" tag and apply the aforementioned listOfStyles to it, followed by creating a new CSSStyleDeclaration for each style.

This enhancement enables the application of the specified styles to the htmlText property of your extended class. While this allows for diverse styles to be set for anchor tags upon loading using an external stylesheet, implementing a rollover effect where each link changes color on hover within the HTML presents challenges. The MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER would be applied to the entire class rather than individual HTML elements. To address this, detecting if the mouse is over an anchor in that HTML text would be necessary, involving determining the text range - which can be labor-intensive. I encountered a similar challenge when incorporating emoticons into text flow (an area where Flex's HTML implementation lacks support), and it was quite complex.

It's possible that Flex 4 may offer improved native support for such tasks, although I haven't delved into that specifically.

While I don't have a quick fix for your issue, I hope this provides some insight into the matter.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, there isn't a simple solution to this problem. It will require considerable effort and perseverance.

One approach is to enhance the Text class by including a static StyleSheet property (e.g., styleSheet:StyleSheet = null). Then create an array containing specific styles supported by Flex:

listOfStyles:Array = ['fontSize', 'color', 'fontWeight', 'fontFamily', 'fontStyle', 'textDecoration'];

Next, you need to initialize the StyleManager.selectors by defining selectors for usage. Essentially, locate the "A" tag and apply the aforementioned listOfStyles to it, followed by creating a new CSSStyleDeclaration for each style.

This enhancement enables the application of the specified styles to the htmlText property of your extended class. While this allows for diverse styles to be set for anchor tags upon loading using an external stylesheet, implementing a rollover effect where each link changes color on hover within the HTML presents challenges. The MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER would be applied to the entire class rather than individual HTML elements. To address this, detecting if the mouse is over an anchor in that HTML text would be necessary, involving determining the text range - which can be labor-intensive. I encountered a similar challenge when incorporating emoticons into text flow (an area where Flex's HTML implementation lacks support), and it was quite complex.

It's possible that Flex 4 may offer improved native support for such tasks, although I haven't delved into that specifically.

While I don't have a quick fix for your issue, I hope this provides some insight into the matter.

Answer 3

Answer №2

I am not very experienced with Flex, so my knowledge of the framework is not very deep. However, I found a need to do something similar:

create a simple font color change rollover effect

Below is a code snippet that achieves this:

var linkRegEx:RegExp = new RegExp("(https?://)?(www\\.)?([a-zA-Z0-9_%]*)\\b\\.[a-z]{2,4}(\\.[a-z]{2})?((/[a-zA-Z0-9_%]*)+)?(\\.[a-z]*)?(:\\d{1,5})?","g");
var link:String = 'generic links: www.google.com http://www.yahoo.com  stackoverflow.com';
link = addLinks(linkRegEx,link);
textField.htmlText = link;//textField is a TextField I have on stage

function addLinks(pattern:RegExp,text:String):String{
    var result = '';
    while(pattern.test(text)) result = text.replace(pattern, "<font color=\"#0000dd\"><a href=\"$&\">$&</a></font>");
    if(result == '') result+= text;//if there was nothing to replace
    return result;
}

In my implementation, I used an inline font tag, but using CSS may be more optimal. You can also check out my original question.

Hope this helps, George

Answer 4

I am not very experienced with Flex, so my knowledge of the framework is not very deep. However, I found a need to do something similar:

create a simple font color change rollover effect

Below is a code snippet that achieves this:

var linkRegEx:RegExp = new RegExp("(https?://)?(www\\.)?([a-zA-Z0-9_%]*)\\b\\.[a-z]{2,4}(\\.[a-z]{2})?((/[a-zA-Z0-9_%]*)+)?(\\.[a-z]*)?(:\\d{1,5})?","g");
var link:String = 'generic links: www.google.com http://www.yahoo.com  stackoverflow.com';
link = addLinks(linkRegEx,link);
textField.htmlText = link;//textField is a TextField I have on stage

function addLinks(pattern:RegExp,text:String):String{
    var result = '';
    while(pattern.test(text)) result = text.replace(pattern, "<font color=\"#0000dd\"><a href=\"$&\">$&</a></font>");
    if(result == '') result+= text;//if there was nothing to replace
    return result;
}

In my implementation, I used an inline font tag, but using CSS may be more optimal. You can also check out my original question.

Hope this helps, George

Using JSON as HTML data within Flexbox for interactive hyperlink rollovers

Answer №1

Answer №2

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