Getting the links from a TextArea

This is a very basic trick to get a link url from a TextArea control.

To do this we are going to use the "link" event.

There are just two simple rules to follow:

1- The format of the htmlText has to be as following:

<a href='event:http://www.theriadeveloper.com'>nice Flex blog!</a>

The text after "event:" will be the text sent on he TextEvent (the link event).

2- The TextArea must have the "selectable" property set to TRUE (the default value), otherways the "link" event will not be dispatched (even if you see the handCursor when you roll over the link).

Here you can see a very basic Applcation using this feature:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
layout="absolute"
height="100"
width="400"
>
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.controls.Alert;

[Bindable]
private var htmlText : String = "Ey mate! Yo should check out this really" +
" <u><a href='event:http://www.theriadeveloper.com'>nice Flex blog!</a></u>"

private function onLink( event : TextEvent ) : void
{
        Alert.show(event.text);
}
]]>
</mx:Script>

<mx:VBox
width="100%"
paddingTop="15"
paddingRight="10"
paddingLeft="10">

<mx:Label text="Click on the link to see the URL:"/>

<mx:TextArea
id="txtLinkText"
height="100%"
width="100%"
htmlText="{ htmlText }"
link="onLink( event )"/>
</mx:VBox>
</mx:Application>

And the result of the code above: