Masking a Rect object with a TextGraphic in Flex Gumbo

The following example shows how you can use a TextGraphic object as a mask on a Rect object in Flex Gumbo by setting the maskType property to “alpha”.

Full code after the jump.

To use the following code, you must have Flash Player 10 and a Flex Gumbo SDK installed in your Flex Builder 3. For more information on downloading and installing the Gumbo SDK into Flex Builder 3, see “Using the beta Gumbo SDK in Flex Builder 3″.

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/01/14/masking-a-rect-object-with-a-textgraphic-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="Rect_mask_TextGraphic_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <Script>
        <![CDATA[
            private function init():void {
                rect.width = textGr.width;
                rect.height = textGr.height;
            }
        ]]>
    </Script>

    <Graphic maskType="alpha">
        <Rect id="rect">
            <fill>
                <LinearGradient>
                    <entries>
                        <GradientEntry color="red" />
                        <GradientEntry color="blue" />
                    </entries>
                </LinearGradient>
            </fill>
        </Rect>
        <mask>
            <Group updateComplete="init();">
                <TextGraphic id="textGr"
                        text="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
                        fontSize="32"
                        width="300" />
            </Group>
        </mask>
    </Graphic>

</Application>

This entry is based on a beta version of the Flex Gumbo SDK and therefore is very likely to change as development of the Flex SDK continues. The API can (and will) change causing examples to possibly not compile in newer versions of the Flex Gumbo SDK.