ActionSctipt 2.0 version available here
ActionSctipt 3.0 version available here

Features Supported:

1. Embedding Fonts (just put a dynamic textfield on-stage and select at least Basic Latin (95 glyphs) and Arabic (1088 glyphs) from the Character Embedding menu).
2. Arabic Ligatures.
3. Word Wrapping.
4. Bi-Directional text.
5. HTML Text.
6. Loading External text on run-time.
7. Windows/Mac/Linux support.
8. Arabic enabled input fields using actionscript method (createArabicInput) with the help of javascript (arabicinput.js) beta

Features Not Supported:

1. Arabic Diacritics (not necessarily for reading Arabic language in general, arabs are using diacritics mostly for writing Quran, and in that case diacritics are not the only missing feature, there’re many other ligatures cases in Arabic used for Quran writing).

You can use the old example found here, just replace the StringUtils.as class file ..

It is said that our brain is capable of performing certain dual multiple tasks at the same time, for example, listening to the radio while writing an email, increasing the amount of tasks was one of the very basic reasons for inventing the CPU from the first place ..

Well, I completely disagree, actually there is no such thing as multitasking, only context switching which simulates multitasking, even for the CPU!
Let me explain ..

Human brain and CPU are quite different, our brain is more complicated, so I will take the CPU for an easier example ..
Consider that you need to perform 2 tasks on your PC, each requires exactly 10 seconds ..
The total time required will be 20 seconds for both tasks if running sequentially, first task will be completed after 10 sec and second task after 20 sec ..
But if you run both tasks simultaneously with the use of what called CPU multitasking, the CPU will do a context switch between both tasks, in other words, breaking down each task to segments and switch back and forth between them, assuming that each task will have 10 segments, each segment requires one second, then first task will be processed at odd seconds (1, 3, 5, ..) and second task at even seconds (2, 4, 6, ..), in that case we will have first task completed after 19 sec and second task after 20 sec, considering that the switch takes no time at all !!

Imagine the above procedure in our brain with the unexpected time required for the context switching, there is no accurate numbers but obviously the sequential approach will take much less processing than the simultaneous one, using only one switch between tasks !

On the other hand, human context switching (what I call distraction) means spreading attention among tasks, like talking on the phone while driving a car, since 2003 car accidents increased about 40% because of cell phones!

Observation:

• CPU can not actually perform simultaneous tasks, it uses context switching to simulate multitasking, even with mutli-core processors, yet each core still performs exactly the same.
• Context switching will not reduce the total time required for all tasks, it just adds an extra time for the switching operation.
• Multitasking more accurately refers to Managed Tasking!
• Human context switching consumes much more time than the CPU, in addition to the continuous partial attention.

Conclusion:

Never think or act simultaneously!

Facts:

• “Multitasking hurts brain’s ability to focus” – The Seattle Times – 6 Jun 2010
• “Divided Attention” – The Chronicle – 28 Feb 2010
• “New research shows multitasking is counter-productive” – CNET Asia – 26 Aug 2009

Zorro: abnormally active and extremely stupid ..

This tutorial uses ActionScript 2.0, for ActionScript 3.0 follow this one ..

The following is a step-by-step tutorial for using shared fonts in Flash with the use of Arabic Parsing solution:

1. Create New Flash file to store shared fonts, in this case “arabic_fonts.fla”
2. Create new MovieClip symbol, in this case “arabic_fonts” and check the option “Export for runtime sharing”, in this case “arabic_fonts.swf”
   
3. Edit “arabic_fonts” MovieClip and create as many TextFields as you require, each with specific font to be shared
   
4. Select each TextField individually and embed fonts from the properties panel
   
5. Make sure you have checked the Arabic glyphs and you have chosen font name for linkage
   
6. Complie the output movie, save and close “arabic_fonts.fla”
7. Open your rendering Flash file, in this case “arabic_as2.fla” located in the same directory with “arabic_fonts.fla”
8. Create new MovieClip symbol and give it the exact same name for the shared library symbol, in this case “arabic_fonts”, then check the option “Import for runtime sharing”, in this case “arabic_fonts.swf”
   

   When asked to edit the newly created symbol, make sure that you choose “No”

   
9. Drag and instance of “arabic_fonts” MovieClip off-stage
   
10. Compile the output movie, you should see fonts displayed correctly
11. Download sample files here

Another recent project also has won an award, an educational project called Nile Egyptian Schools, rewarded a Bronze Award in Governmental Organizations Category ..

Well, I discovered some annoying bugs, all fixed in this version ..
As per my previous post here, I still recommend embedding fonts to avoid improper rendering.

ActionSctipt 2.0 version available here
ActionSctipt 3.0 version available here

Requirements:

1. Dynamic TextField
2. HTML Enabled TextField
3. Pre-Assigned TextFormat
4. Arabic Font

Recommended Properties:

1. embedFonts: for proper rendering on Mac/Linux.

Properties:

1. data: for referencing original input string, use the data property (utils.data) instead of (TextField.text) where “utils” is an instance of StringUtils class.
2. wrapFactor: optional reduction value (Mac only) for wrapping correction when using bi-directional text, possible values: .98 or less.
3. htmlLines: array of spliced text block HTML lines.
4. numLines: integer value of total text block lines.

Features Supported:

1. Embedding Fonts (just put a dynamic textfield on-stage and select at least Basic Latin (95 glyphs) and Arabic (1088 glyphs) from the Character Embedding menu).
2. Arabic Ligatures.
3. Word Wrapping.
4. Bi-Directional text.
5. HTML Text.
6. Loading External text on run-time.
7. Windows/Mac/Linux support.
8. Arabic enabled input fields using actionscript method (createArabicInput) with the help of javascript (arabicinput.js) beta

Features Not Supported:

1. Arabic Diacritics (not necessarily for reading Arabic language in general, arabs are using diacritics mostly for writing Quran, and in that case diacritics are not the only missing feature, there’re many other ligatures cases in Arabic used for Quran writing).

Change List:

1. Proper rendering for HTML bullet list (include the bullet character “•” in the Character Embedding menu).
2. Optimized conditions for basic thorough loop.
3. New properties for referencing text block lines (htmlLines, numLines).

Fixed Bugs:

1. Multi-level HTML tags, for example:

   <a href="#"><font>text</font></a>

2. Line-break determination on Mac.

Known Bugs:

1. Improper wrapping for non-embedded fonts only on Mac when begin text line with non-Arabic characters or when using custom format HTML tags.

Here is an example works with this external XML file (with run-time resizing vs. wrapping):

download the above example here

Test files are available here using ASUnit Framework

This is a bit late, my apologies to you all, yet again, thanks to Jan Jonas and Yasmin (geekgirl)
I tried my best to solve bi-directional issues, it took me sometime to re-construct the wrapping part using completely different approach, it seems to be good when embedding fonts, but more wrapping issues pops-up for non-embedded fonts and only on Mac! this is weird, the whole solution was to solve Arabic ligatures when embedding Arabic fonts!
In addition, an overall code review has been taken care of, a lot of modifications in several places throughout the code has been done, if you like this one then you can start from hear instead, but if you don’t I think I need to know
Anyways, this is exactly why I released my solution as open-source from the first place, what good of a solution without sharing it with others to contribute, may be you’ll have better luck than I did when you update this one yourself ..

ActionSctipt 2.0 version available here
ActionSctipt 3.0 version available here

Requirements:

1. Dynamic TextField
2. HTML Enabled TextField
3. Pre-Assigned TextFormat
4. Arabic Font

Features Supported:

1. Embedding Fonts (just put a dynamic textfield on-stage and select at least Basic Latin (95 glyphs) and Arabic (1088 glyphs) from the Character Embedding menu).
2. Arabic Ligatures.
3. Word Wrapping.
4. Bi-Directional text.
5. HTML Text.
6. Loading External text on run-time.
7. Windows/Mac/Linux support.
8. Arabic enabled input fields using actionscript method (createArabicInput) with the help of javascript (arabicinput.js) beta

Properties:

1. For matching/comparing input string, when referencing original input string use the data property (utils.data) instead of (TextField.text) where “utils” is an instance of StringUtils class.

Features Not Supported:

1. Arabic Diacritics.

Change List:

1. New approach for wrapping text properly involving HTML tags, brackets, punctuation marks and bi-directional cases.
2. Looping through input string thoroughly only once for better performance.
3. Object class model structure with public properties and methods instead of static parser.

Fixed Bugs:

1. Arabic character condition for letter (?).
2. Beginning and ending text lines with non-Arabic characters (Embedding fonts required for Mac).
3. Inline HTML tags (Embedding fonts required for Mac).
4. Symmetrical swapping for bi-directional brackets.

Known Bugs:

1. improper wrapping for non-embedded fonts only on Mac when begin text line with non-Arabic characters or when using custom format HTML tags.

Here is an example works with this external XML file (with run-time resizing vs. wrapping):

download the above example here

Well, still not perfect, for some reason I feel that a tiny code snippet can do all the magic to contain the mac issues with non-embedded fonts, just can’t find that one … yet!

Test files are available here using ASUnit Framework

]]> http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/2010/05/23/actionscript-2-0-arabic-parsing-v1-3/feed/ 2 http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/2010/03/26/actionscript-2-0-arabic-parsing-v1-2/ http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/2010/03/26/actionscript-2-0-arabic-parsing-v1-2/#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:05:21 +0000 xVisage http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/?p=288 Update: a newer version available here

As per my previous post here, I have another improved version, my deepest thanks to Jan Jonas who did contribute on this one, you can use and test my new parseArabic method ..

Requirements:

1. Dynamic TextField
2. HTML Enabled TextField
3. Pre-Assigned TextFormat
4. Arabic Font

Features Supported:

1. Embedding Fonts (just put a dynamic textfield on-stage and select at least Basic Latin (95 glyphs) and Arabic (1088 glyphs) from the Character Embedding menu).
2. Arabic Ligatures.
3. Word Wrapping.
4. Bi-Directional text.
5. HTML Text.
6. Loading External text on run-time.
7. Windows/Mac/Linux support.
8. Arabic enabled input fields using actionscript method (createArabicInput) with the help of javascript (arabicinput.js) beta

Properties:

1. For matching/comparing input string, when referencing original input string use the data property (TextField.data) instead of (TextField.text)

Features Not Supported:

1. Arabic Diacritics.

Fixed Bugs:

1. Single Characters.
2. Single-line TextField with autoSize.
3. Upper-Case non-arabic characters.
4. Extra Spacing at the end of each line (fixed by “Jan Jonas”).
5. Double line-breaks (fixed by “Jan Jonas”).
6. Empty String input.
7. All Arabic Fonts are supported (requires embedding)
8. Improved string processing performance

Here is an example works with this external XML file (with run-time resizing vs. wrapping):

download the above example here

And here is another example for using a work-around approach for solving Arabic Input on Mac/Linux, the approach uses this JavaScript file in conjunction with ActionScript to create transparent HTML controls and place them exactly over our input TextFields inside flash, the method works fine on Firefox, but it needs a lot more modifications for cress-browser compatibility, your contributions are most welcome for sure ..

download arabic input example here

]]> http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/2010/03/26/actionscript-2-0-arabic-parsing-v1-2/feed/ 21 http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/2010/02/25/actionscript-3-0-arabic-parsing-v1-1/ http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/2010/02/25/actionscript-3-0-arabic-parsing-v1-1/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:11:08 +0000 xVisage http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/?p=283 Update: a newer version available here

As per my previous post here, I’ve followed the same approach, but this time using ActionScript 3.0 to produce my method for proper Arabic rendering in a dynamic TextField.

You can find this one here.

]]> http://ixd-consultant.com/blog/2010/02/25/actionscript-3-0-arabic-parsing-v1-1/feed/ 0