Flash Components Missing Fonts
Posted by Chris Inch on Feb. 8th, 2006
So here's a nice bug that took me about a month to figure out:
Make a component (SWC file) in Flash 8 that uses a Dynamic text field. Set the font to Arial and make sure that you embed the characters that you need. I embedded [a-zA-Z0-9].
Export your SWC file.
Drag your component from the Components panel into a new flash file.
If your flash file does not use any text fields that contain the font Arial, then you'll be good to go. However, try putting a static text field on your stage with the word "HELLO". If your Flash acts the same way that mine does, it will drop all of the embedded characters from your component except for the characters that appear on the stage (i.e. H, E, L and O).
The only solutions that I have found are:
- Make a separate dynamic text field off the stage which embeds all of the characters that your Component does. This solution is not recommended though, because if your component ever changes its font, you may run into the same problem all over again.
- Never use static text on the same stage that you are putting a component. This seems a bit drastic, but if you make a point of only using dynamic text fields with reasonable font sets embedded, then you will run into this problem less.
I emailed Adobe about this problem, but they wouldn't support me because they don't deal with custom components. Hopefully it's addressed and fixed in future versions.
Tags: Flash, ActionScript, Tips
Comments
#2 inch commented on May 12th, 2007 at 12:06 p.m.:
Hi Eddie. Thanks for your comments. I didn't realize this article had so much spam in it. I've cleaned it up now.
As for your problem, I'm not sure what could be causing that, rather than perhaps your visitors aren't running your swf's at the same quality that you are. In my experience, the fonts that are exported with the SWF will be displayed the same for anyone who visits your site.
#3 Jeffrey commented on Nov. 10th, 2009 at 12:44 p.m.:
Hi, I know this thread is pretty old but did you ever find a more viable solution to this issue?
#4 inch commented on Nov. 10th, 2009 at 4:25 p.m.:
This problem seemed to disappear in more recent versions of Flash. Jeffrey, if you want to email me (use my contact page), I'll try and give you a hand.
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#1 Eddie commented on May 10th, 2007 at 11:25 p.m.:
I read your blog, but you have lots of spam in your comments. You should check to see if there are any anti-spam programs to stop these jokers from ruining your blog.
Anyway, about the post. I could not replicate the problem. I'm having an embedding issue. I don't understand why when I add a special font to a movie, it doesn't embed the font. Instead, visitors to my website report that the font looks different than what I intended. What gives?!?!