> HI, > > It now transpires that the project I am quoting for needs > much of it done in Arabic. As it is my first multi language > project in Flash are there any issues with that in Flash (I > could write an encyclopedia full about Director and its > characater set issues)
Just got back from holiday and noticed this post which doesn't seem to have had any replies. Arabic in Flash is possible but tricky. Exactly how tricky depends on what exactly you need to do. Just putting static Arabic text on screen is easy - no different from Roman. Dynamic text is essentially okay, but you need to watch out for RTL and Bidirectional issues. One major issue is that Flash behaves differently for embedded and non-embedded fonts. Text rendered using non-embedded fonts uses the OS-level text renderer, and so renders the text using the standard Bidirectional algorithm. For single-line text this is perfect (although we didn't test for a very wide range of OS's and browsers - I suspect there might be some niggles on various combinations); for multiple-line text you'll find that line breaks do not get added correctly (words get broken half-way across) so you'll need to add your line breaks directly into the dynamic text. Text rendered using embedded fonts does not render correctly: it has the same line-break issues as before, but also it renders LTR and fails to correctly interpret the Arabic characters into their cursive variants (that is, join them correctly to give the 'handwritten' style that Arabic text should have). There are ways around this, including some code libraries (check out FlashRTL). Personally, I prefer this option as you're in more control - I hate leaving things to the OS unless I absolutely have to! Of course, the above also depends on the *source* of your dynamic text: if you're in complete control, you can store the text directly as the characters that will appear on-screen. But if it's coming from something like an external XML file or some other data source, you'll need to consider these issues. If you want input text, you're in a different kettle of crustaceans. We managed to solve it, but it was a big job. There aren't currently any available commercial solutions to this, but hopefully as soon as I'm finished with my enormous globalisation job that's taken me the best part of a year, we'll be releasing my solution in some form. Danny _______________________________________________ Flashcoders@chattyfig.figleaf.com To change your subscription options or search the archive: http://chattyfig.figleaf.com/mailman/listinfo/flashcoders Brought to you by Fig Leaf Software Premier Authorized Adobe Consulting and Training http://www.figleaf.com http://training.figleaf.com
