Text Scrollbars in Flash

Simple Scrollers for Flash Textboxes

1. In Flash, textboxes are of 3 types namely - Static, Dynamic & Input. The size of Dynamic/Input text varies depending on the source file/user input and hence may require the use of scrollers.
2. Create a Dynamic textbox with Multiline property selected using the Properties panel, name the variable and the instance as 'addr' and 'scrtxt' respectively.
3. Create 2 buttons for Upward and Downward scrolling and write the following Actionscript code:

Upward Button
on(press)
{
scrtxt.scroll=scrtxt.scroll-1;
}

Downward Button
on(press)
{
scrtxt.scroll=scrtxt.scroll+1;
}

4. Save your work and test the Movie (Ctrl + Enter). That's it you have learnt how to create simple scrollers for textboxes in Flash using Actionscript.

Simple Scrollbars

Advanced Scrollers for Flash Textboxes

1. Functions can be used to control the button's scrolling action to create a more advanced type of text scrolling as explained below.
2. Write two Actionscript functions, scrup and scrdown for scrolling upwards and downwards as shown below:

function scrup()
{
scrtxt.scroll=scrtxt.scroll-1;
}

function scrdown()
{
scrtxt.scroll=scrtxt.scroll+1;
}


3. Call these functions from the two Buttons using the following Actionscript code:

Upward Button
on(press)
{
upint=setInterval(scrup,100);
}

on(release)
{
clearInterval(upint);
}

Downward Button
on(press)
{
downint=setInterval(scrdown,100);
}

on(release)
{
clearInterval(downint);
}


4. SetInterval is used to call a function after a certain period of time until it is cleared using the ClearInterval.
5. Thus they help in creating scrollers that can scroll until the mouse is released as shown below.
6. Save your work and test the Movie (Ctrl + Enter). That's it you have learnt how to create simple scrollers for textboxes in Flash using Actionscript.

Advanced Scrollbars using Mouse Press and Mouse Over Actions

Note: This is also applicable to Input text type. The rollOver and rollOut events of a Buttons can also be used to enable scrolling during mouseover events as shown above in the second swf.