How to Create a Ticker in Flash

Tickers are a great way to display stock information.

A ticker is a constantly looped, scrolling piece of text. A scrolling ticker is a great effect to have on your website or Flash application. Tickers are good for news, stock information, or just to welcome someone to your website. To create a Ticker in Flash, you do not need to use any tools whatsoever---all you need is a little bit of ActionScript.

Instructions

1. Open Flash. Go to "File," "New," and create a new document in "Flash File (ActionScript 3.0)."

2. Click the blank "Keyframe" in the "Timeline" and select "Actions" to open the Actions window.

3. Copy and paste the following code into the Actions window:

   //PLEASE CHANGE THE FOLLOWING TO WHATEVER SUITS YOU:
   var ticker_speed:int = 8; //Speed of ticker
   var ticker_text:String = "Type Whatever You Want Here";//Text of ticker
   //---------------------------------------------------
   //CUSTOMIZATION OF TEXT FIELD:
   var mTextField:TextField = new TextField();
   addChild(mTextField);
   mTextField.text = ticker_text;
   var mTextField_form:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
   mTextField_form.size = 32;//Size of text. Change this if you'd like.
   mTextField.setTextFormat(mTextField_form);
   mTextField.selectable = false;
   mTextField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
   //-----------------------------------------------------
   //ADD SCROLLING CAPABILITIES:
   mTextField.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME,move_text);
   function move_text(myevent:Event):void {
   mTextField.x-=ticker_speed;
   if(mTextField.x<(0-mTextField.width)) mTextField.x=stage.stageWidth;
   }
   //-----------------------------------------------------

4. Change the "ticker_text" string to whatever you'd like your ticker to say and set the "ticker_speed" to determine how fast the ticker moves.

5. Go to "Control" and "Test Movie" to test your Flash ticker. You will see your text scroll across the screen. If it is moving too fast change the "ticker_speed" variable to a lower number, and if it's too slow, change it to a higher number.

References

• CreativeCow Tutorials: Creating a Ticker in Flash