Introduction

F*CSS is a custom CSS parser for Flash. The main class called FStyleSheet (found inside of the com.flashartofwar.fcss.stylesheets package), goes well beyond the native StyleSheet class by supporting style inheritance, pseudo selectors, and merging styles on the fly. The goal of F*CSS is to make styles something you can apply to any of your classes instead of just TextFields. CSS is a great way to define your class’s properties in an external file and F*CSS helps convert these css styles into property/value pairs you can apply to any Object.

Intro Video

Intro To FCSS from Jesse Freeman on Vimeo.

Examples

This Demo Class will show you how to use the main features of F*CSS including creating TextFields, using Native StyleSheets, and applying styles to any object.

FCSSDemo Class

package com.flashartofwar.fcss.examples
{
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.applicators.StyleApplicator;
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.applicators.TextFieldApplicator;
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.factories.TextFieldFactory;
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.managers.SingletonManager;
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.styles.IStyle;
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.stylesheets.FStyleSheet;
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.stylesheets.IStyleSheet;
 
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.stylesheets.IStyleSheetCollection;
 
    import com.flashartofwar.fcss.stylesheets.StyleSheetCollection;
 
    import flash.display.Shape;
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.text.TextField;
 
    public class FCSSDemo extends Sprite
    {
        public function FCSSDemo()
        {
            /** Sample CSS ***/
 
            // Get some css. Normally you would load CSS from an external file but
            // for this example we are going to put some CSS in a XML variable.
            var css:XML = <css><![CDATA[
 
                /* This is a class */
                .TextField
                {
                    border: true;
                    borderColor: red;
                    selectable: false;
                }
 
                /* This is an ID */
                #demoStyle
                {
                    color:#ff000;
                    size: 30;
                    autoSize: left;
                    x: 50;
                    y: 50;
                }
 
                /* This is how you can inharit from another style */
                #demoStyle #demoStyle2
                {
                    y:100;
                }
 
                #demoStyle #demoTextFieldFactroy
                {
                    y:160;
                    color: green;
                    borderColor: green;
                }
 
                /* This is how you do inline StyleSheets for TextFields */
                #demoStyle #demoInlineStyleSheet
                {
                    size:25;
                    y: 210;
                    styleSheet:.highLight,a,a:hover;
                }
 
                .highLight
                {
                    color:#00ff00;
                }
 
                a
                {
                    color:#0000ff;
                    text-decoration: underline;
                }
 
                a:hover
                {
                    color:#000000;
                    text-decoration: none;
                }
 
                #demoShapeStyle
                {
                    x:50;
                    y:10;
                    width:300;
                    height:25;
                }
 
 
                ]]>
            </css>;
 
            /** Style A TextField **/
 
            // Create a new StyleSheet
            var styleSheet:IStyleSheet = new FStyleSheet();
            styleSheet.parseCSS(css.toString());
 
            // Get a style (Returns an object with properties as strings)
            var style:IStyle = styleSheet.getStyle("#demoStyle");
 
            // Trace out the style's properties
            trace("style", style);
 
            // Create a TextField
            var tf:TextField = new TextField();
 
            // Use a TextFieldApplicator to apply the style to the TextField
            var tfApplicator:TextFieldApplicator = new TextFieldApplicator();
            tfApplicator.applyStyle(tf, style);
 
            // Use TextField like you would normally
            tf.htmlText = "F*CSS - Hello World";
            addChild(tf);
 
 
            /** Merging styles at runtime **/
 
            // You can merge styles on the fly when you call getStyle().
            // Here we merge .TextField with #demoStyle2 to setup a new TF.
 
            // Lets get the 2 styles. Simply pass in any number
            // of style names and separate them with a comma.
            var style2:IStyle = styleSheet.getStyle(".TextField", "#demoStyle2");
 
            // Trace out the style we just created
            trace("style2 (Merged .TextField + #demoStyle2)", style2);
 
            // Create a TextField
            var tf2:TextField = new TextField();
 
            // Use TextFieldUtility to apply the style to the TextField
            tfApplicator.applyStyle(tf2, style2);
 
            // Use TextField like you would normally
            tf2.htmlText = "F*CSS Demo 2 - Hello World";
            addChild(tf2);
 
 
            /** Global StyleSheetManager **/
 
            // If you want to make the CSS available globally use the
            // StyleSheetManager/StyleSheetCollection
 
            // Get a reference of the StyleSheetCollection from the StyleSheetManager
            var styleSheetCollection:IStyleSheetCollection = SingletonManager.getClassReference(StyleSheetCollection) as IStyleSheetCollection;
 
            // Register style sheet with the Collection.
            styleSheetCollection.addStyleSheet(styleSheet, "defaultSheet");
 
 
            /** How To Use The TextFieldFactory **/
 
            // This assumes you are have created a StyleSheetCollection. If not, you will have to
            // create a new FStyleSheet, parse css data then pass that into the factory.
 
            // Create a new factory and pass in a reference to a IStyleSheet and an IApplicator
            var tff:TextFieldFactory = new TextFieldFactory(styleSheetCollection, tfApplicator);
 
            // The first param is the id and the second is the calls. It will
            // automatically add # and . to the string to "emulate" how
            // HTML/CSS would work.
            var tf3:TextField = tff.createTextField("demoTextFieldFactroy", "TextField");
 
            // Use TextField like you would normally
            tf3.htmlText = "F*CSS TextFactory - Hello World";
            addChild(tf3);
 
 
            /** Add Native StyleSheets To TextField with F*CSS **/
 
            // To use native StyleSheets you simply add the Style names into the
            // F*CSS's StyleSheet param on any F*CSS Style. Check out
            // .demoInlineStyleSheet to see what I am talking about
            var tf4:TextField = tff.createTextField("demoInlineStyleSheet");
 
            // Use TextField like you would normally
            tf4.htmlText = "<a href='http://fcss.flashartofwar.com' target='_blank'>F*CSS</a> <span class='highLight'>Native</span> StyleSheet - Hello World";
            addChild(tf4);
 
 
            /** Style Any Object With StyleApplierUtil **/
 
            // For this demo we are going to create a simple shape
            // then use CSS to position it and change it's dimensions
            var shape:Shape = new Shape();
            shape.graphics.beginFill(0xff0000);
            shape.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, 10, 10);
            shape.graphics.endFill();
            addChild(shape);
 
            // Get a Style
            var shapeStyle:IStyle = styleSheetCollection.getStyle("#demoShapeStyle");
 
            // Now you can apply the style to any object, lets use the
            // shape as our target.
            var styleApplicator:StyleApplicator = new StyleApplicator();
            styleApplicator.applyStyle(shape, shapeStyle);
        }
    }
}