Using the Flash Text Engine

The Adobe® Flash® Text Engine (FTE), available starting with Flash Player 10 and Adobe® AIR™1.5, provides low-level support for sophisticated control of text metrics, formatting, and bi-directional text. It offers improved text flow and enhanced language support. While it can be used to create and manage simple text elements, the FTE is primarily designed as a foundation for developers to create text-handling components. As such, Flash Text Engine assumes a more advanced level of programming expertise. To display simple text elements, see Using the TextField class.

The Text Layout Framework, which includes a text-handling component based on the FTE, provides an easier way to use its advanced features. The Text Layout Framework is an extensible library built entirely in ActionScript 3.0. You can use the existing TLF component, or use the framework to build your own text component. For more information, see Using the Text Layout Framework.