Many thanks Fabio, I've managed to get somewhere with your actionscript. I also had a problem with how I was creating my swf from pdf2swf.
For everyone else make sure you follow these steps: 1. Use Flash 8 or previous version (I used 6) with the -T command : pdf2swf -T 6 2. Use the -f command for full fonts : pdf2swf -f 3. Test your outputted swf with: swfdump -t filename.swf , you should see a list of DEFINETEXT statements and the corresponding text. Due to a font conflict I was seeing DEFINETEXT followed by jumbled up text on my first pdf. 4. Test your outputted swf with: swfstrings filename.swf, you should see your text and a LOT of ???????s. Again, I had garbage text when trying to convert my original PDF. If the swfdump and swfstrings tests are working, load your pdf2swf.swf into Flash. Publish it for 8. I loaded it into a movieclip on my root timeline called 'loader' : loader.loadMovie("pdf2swf_files/6new.swf"); I have a movieclip called 'searchText_mc' and have the following code for it: searchText_mc.onRelease = function() { hltext ("wonderful"); } And then the hltext is as Fabio provided. This will yellow-highlight all the occurrences of the search string: function hltext ( txt ) { trace("hltext"); var mc = _root.loader; var my_snap:TextSnapshot = mc.getTextSnapshot(); var start_pos:Number = 0; start_pos = my_snap.findText ( start_pos, txt, false ); trace("start_pos : " + start_pos); while ( start_pos > 0 ) { trace ( start_pos ); my_snap.setSelected( start_pos, start_pos + txt.length, true ); start_pos += txt.length; start_pos = my_snap.findText ( start_pos, txt, false ); } } If anyone would like some sample files give me a shout, mark lowe senior multimedia developer multimedia resource australia t: +61 3 9602 4750 f: +61 3 9606 0408 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] w: www.mmr.com.au level 2, 351 elizabeth st, melbourne vic 3000 [ courier correspondence ] p.o. box 205, fitzroy vic 3065 [ all other correspondence ] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Fabio Rotondo Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 8:39 PM To: swftools-common@nongnu.org Subject: Re: [Swftools-common] PDF2SWF and getTextSnapShot() Mark A. Lowe wrote: Hi Mark, > > I’m still learning it and the answer may be obvious, but where would I > > find some documentation/examples on how to search the text once I have > > loaded my (pdf2swf) .swf file into my Flash application? this is a common question. You should have had a look to the mailing list archives before asking ;-) that said, here there is my ActionScript code to highlight the text inside a PDF page. It works with Flash 8 or previous ONLY because the new Flash 9 has a different AVM interpreter (AVM2) and many things have changed. Please note: - ``txt`` is the text to search and highlight inside your page - ``mc`` points to _root.text that's where I was keeping my swf/pdf page you should change that so it references yours. Here is the code: function hltext ( txt ) { var mc = _root.text; var my_snap:TextSnapshot = mc.getTextSnapshot(); var start_pos:Number = 0; start_pos = my_snap.findText ( start_pos, txt, false ); while ( start_pos > 0 ) { trace ( start_pos ); my_snap.setSelected( start_pos, start_pos + txt.length, true ); start_pos += txt.length; start_pos = my_snap.findText ( start_pos, txt, false ); } } Have fun! Ciao, Fabio