Flash CS3 & ActionScript 3 Example: Loading fonts at runtime

This example demonstrates, how a movie can use fonts embedded into another movie. All resources I found so far (like AS3 Runtime Font Loading) use some Flex2 code to get it done. My example is based on pure Flash CS3.

Step 1: Create Embedded Font Movie:

Create a new movie with name embeddedFont.fla and add a new font to your Library:

Now edit the Linkage Properties:

Save the file and publish as swf.

Step 2: Create Class Files:

Create a new movie with name FontLoadingExample.as and add the following code:

package {
 import flash.display.Sprite;
 import flash.text.TextField;
 import flash.events.Event;

 public class FontLoadingExample extends Sprite {

   private var textFieldFactory:TextFieldFactory;

   public function FontLoadingExample() {
     trace("FontLoadingExample")
     textFieldFactory = new TextFieldFactory();
     textFieldFactory.addEventListener(TextFieldFactory.FONT_LOADED, fontReady);
     textFieldFactory.loadFont("embeddedFont.swf")
   }

   private function fontReady(e:Event):void {
     var tf:TextField = textFieldFactory.getNewTextField("Bingo!", 0x000000, 14);
     addChild(tf);
   }
 }
}

Now create a new movie with name TextFieldFactory.as and add the following code:

package {

 import flash.text.Font;
 import flash.text.TextField;
 import flash.text.TextFormat;
 import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize;
 import flash.text.TextFormatAlign;
 import flash.text.TextFieldType;
 import flash.text.AntiAliasType;
 import flash.utils.*;
 import flash.display.Loader;
 import flash.events.Event;
 import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
 import flash.net.URLRequest;
 import flash.system.ApplicationDomain;
 import flash.system.LoaderContext;

 public class TextFieldFactory extends EventDispatcher {

   public static var FONT_LOADED:String = "fontLoaded";
   private static var embeddedFont:Font = null;
   private var loader:Loader = null;

   public function TextFieldFactory() {
     loader = new Loader();
         loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,completeHandler);
   }
  
   public function loadFont(swfURL:String):void {
     var context:LoaderContext = new LoaderContext();
     context.applicationDomain=ApplicationDomain.currentDomain;
     loader.load(new URLRequest(swfURL), context);
   }
  
   private function completeHandler(event:Event):void {
     var embeddedFontClass:Class = loader.contentLoaderInfo.applicationDomain.getDefinition("EmbeddedGaramond") as Class;
     Font.registerFont(embeddedFontClass);
     var embeddedFontsArray:Array = Font.enumerateFonts(false);
     embeddedFont = embeddedFontsArray[0];
     dispatchEvent(new Event(TextFieldFactory.FONT_LOADED));
   }

   public function getNewTextField(t:String, c:uint, s:uint):TextField {
     if ((embeddedFont != null) && embeddedFont.hasGlyphs(t)) {
       return getNewTextFieldEmbeddedFont(t, c, s)
     }
     else {
       return getNewTextFieldDeviceFont(t, c, s)
     }
   }

   public function getNewTextFieldEmbeddedFont(t:String, c:uint, s:uint):TextField {
     trace("getNewTextFieldEmbeddedFont: "+t);

     var tf:TextField = new TextField();
     var fo:TextFormat = new TextFormat();

     fo.font = embeddedFont.fontName;
     fo.color = c;
     fo.size = s
     tf.defaultTextFormat = fo;
     tf.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT
     tf.type = TextFieldType.DYNAMIC;
     tf.multiline = false;
     tf.selectable = false;
     tf.textColor = c;
     tf.embedFonts = true;
     tf.antiAliasType = AntiAliasType.ADVANCED;
     tf.border = true;
     tf.wordWrap = false;
     tf.text = t;
     return tf;
   }

   public function getNewTextFieldDeviceFont(t:String, c:uint, s:uint):TextField {
     var tf:TextField = new TextField();
     var fo:TextFormat = new TextFormat();

     trace("getNewTextFieldDeviceFont: "+t);
     fo.font = "_serif";
     fo.color = c;
     fo.size = s
     tf.defaultTextFormat = fo;
     tf.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT
     tf.type = TextFieldType.DYNAMIC;
     tf.multiline = false;
     tf.selectable = false;
     tf.textColor = c;
     tf.embedFonts = false;
     tf.border = true;
     tf.wordWrap = false;
     tf.text = t;
     return tf;
   }
  
 }
}

Save both files.

Step 3: Create the Font Loading Movie:

Create a new movie with name FontLoadingExample.fla and and set the document class to FontLoadingExample.fla.

Save, publish and run the movie. You will see the words "Bingo!" set with the embedded font.