TextArea hyperlink styling

Question

Although Flex Builder 3 gives a wide variety of controls over
the style of a TextArea, I have not found a property that allows
styling of hyperlinks. I would like to be able to have htmlText
shown in a TextArea to have styling for hyperlinks, including
different styles for the pseudo-classes of hover, etc.
I have seen a couple of complex workarounds for this from FB
2 days, but would love to find a simple or elegant way to
accomplish this.
Thanks in advance,
James

Answer 1

I have found a way to do this reasonably easily. Here is what
I did:
1. Include in <mx:Application>:
creationComplete="defineStyles();"
2. ....which refers to this function and the variable it
needs:
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
public var ss:StyleSheet = new StyleSheet();
public function defineStyles():void
this.styledTxt.styleSheet = this.ss;
var h:Object = new Object();
h.color = "#970909";
h.textDecoration = "underline";
ss.setStyle("a:hover", h);
var a:Object = new Object();
a.color = "#0066ff";
a.textDecoration = "none";
ss.setStyle("a:link", a);
var v:Object = new Object();
v.color = "#0066ff";
v.textDecoration = "none";
ss.setStyle("a:visited", v);
var t:Object = new Object();
t.color = "#0066ff";
t.textDecoration = "none";
ss.setStyle("a:active", t);
]]>
</mx:Script>
3. And id your TextArea as id="styledTxt"
-=-=-=-=-=-
You may of course adjust variables above as needed.
I am using this for an application that imports blog postings
through HTTPService, and for my content call I use
htmlText="{gettheItem.lastResult.item.thetext}" referring to that
HTTPService call. I mention this so that you can know that this
styling is working on bulk imported data that has anchor links in
it and is properly showing them with the styling I have specified.
Note that this posting from the Flashlit blog was helpful to
me:
http://rantworld.blogs.com/flashlit/2006/08/styling_flex_te.html
I hope this is helpful,
James