Setting the block progression on a TextView control in Flex Gumbo

The following example shows how you can set the block progression on a Flex Gumbo TextView by setting the blockProgression style to one of the static constants in the BlockProgression class (flashx.textLayout.formats.BlockProgression).

Valid values for the blockProgression style are:

• “tb” (BlockProgression.TB): Top to bottom. Lines are laid out horizontally starting at the top of the container and progressing down to the bottom. Used for horizontal text. (Default)
• “rl” (BlockProgression.RL): Right to left. Lines are laid out vertically starting at the right edge of the container and progressing leftward. Used for vertical text, for instance, vertical Chinese or Japanese text.

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/2009/01/15/setting-the-block-progression-on-a-textview-control-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="TextView_blockProgression_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <Form styleName="plain">
            <FormItem label="blockProgression:">
                <ComboBox id="comboBox"
                        dataProvider="[tb,rl]" />
            </FormItem>
        </Form>
    </ApplicationControlBar>

    <Box backgroundColor="#DDDDDD">
        <TextView id="textView"
                blockProgression="{comboBox.selectedItem}"
                text="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." />
    </Box>

</Application>

You can also set the blockProgression style in an external .CSS file or <Script> block, as seen in the following example:

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/01/15/setting-the-block-progression-on-a-textview-control-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="TextView_blockProgression_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <Style>
        TextView {
            blockProgression: rl;
        }
    </Style>

    <Box backgroundColor="#DDDDDD">
        <TextView id="textView"
                text="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." />
    </Box>

</Application>

Or, you can set the blockProgression style using ActionScript, as seen in the following example:

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2009/01/15/setting-the-block-progression-on-a-textview-control-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="TextView_blockProgression_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="middle"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import flashx.textLayout.formats.BlockProgression;
            import mx.events.ListEvent;

            private function comboBox_change(evt:ListEvent):void {
                textView.setStyle("blockProgression", comboBox.selectedItem);
            }
        ]]>
    </Script>

    <ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <Form styleName="plain">
            <FormItem label="blockProgression:">
                <ComboBox id="comboBox"
                        change="comboBox_change(event);">
                    <dataProvider>
                        <String>{BlockProgression.TB}</String>
                        <String>{BlockProgression.RL}</String>
                    </dataProvider>
                </ComboBox>
            </FormItem>
        </Form>
    </ApplicationControlBar>

    <Box backgroundColor="#DDDDDD">
        <TextView id="textView"
                text="The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." />
    </Box>

</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.