Skip to main content
Participant
Jan 26, 2009 7:27 PM UTC
Answered

Grouping elements

Hello,
I need help with a problem. I have some groups of text. For example ("HELLO", "HOW ARE YOU", "FINE"). I need to show them as if they were only one big text ("HELLO HOW ARE YOU FINE"), but at all times I need to know which one is selected, modified, the new text, the format (it can be changed), etc.

I did this with a TextField using a separator char (making it invisible), but it didn't work very well (and also there were problems with the images). So I decided to try this framework. My idea was to use a GroupElement for each text (Like DivElement). I can have one textFlow with all the text, but at all times I can see which DivElement is selected.
However, this approach has a problem, I need to have:
- Groups that have more than one paragraph. (<div><p>Paragraph 1</p><p>Paragraph 2</p></div>) and
- Several groups in one paragraph (<p><div>Group 1</div><div>Group 2</div></p> )

A DivElement can't be a child of a ParagraphElement. Also, if you use 2 DivElements, you get 2 paragraph (not what I need for the second case).
Is there a way to do this? maybe extending a class?

Thank you very much,
Martin
This topic is closed to new replies. Start a new post to keep the conversation going.
rdermerCorrect answer
Inspiring
Jan 26, 2009 9:42 PM UTC
I think what you want to do is make them each spans in a single paragraph. With the more recent TLF builds all FlowElements including SpanElement support the id property. Give each SpanElement a unique id and they won't merge. Should work in markup as well.

5 replies

rdermerCorrect answer
Inspiring
Jan 26, 2009 9:42 PM UTC
I think what you want to do is make them each spans in a single paragraph. With the more recent TLF builds all FlowElements including SpanElement support the id property. Give each SpanElement a unique id and they won't merge. Should work in markup as well.
Translate
brian_thomas2
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
Jan 28, 2009 7:10 PM UTC
Recent TLF builds can be found in the latest build of Gumbo. See the SWCs in the Gumbo Repository.
Translate
Participant
Feb 2, 2009 12:31 PM UTC
Thanks for answering.
The problem with using SpanElements to group is that if I change the formatting of a part of the text, the framework will create two or three different Spans.
for example:
1) <span>HELLO WORLD</span>
2) I select "WO" and make it italic
3) I get <span>HELLO </span><span fontStyle="italic">WO</span><span>RLD</span>

If I set an ID to the spanElement (for example: "span1") and then change the formatting, will the new SpanElements have the same ID? I need to keep them as one group/unit even if parts of the text have different formats. That´s why I wanted to use an element to group the Spans.

Another question: Where can I find the API Reference for recent TLF builds?

Thank you!
Martin
Translate