class openfl.text.TextField extends InteractiveObject
Available on all platforms
The TextField class is used to create display objects for text display and
input.
To create a text field dynamically, use the TextField()
constructor.
The methods of the TextField class let you set, select, and manipulate text in a dynamic or input text field that you create during authoring or at runtime.
ActionScript provides several ways to format your text at runtime. The
TextFormat class lets you set character and paragraph formatting for
TextField objects. You can apply Cascading Style Sheets(CSS) styles to
text fields by using the TextField.styleSheet property and the
StyleSheet class. You can use CSS to style built-in HTML tags, define new
formatting tags, or apply styles. You can assign HTML formatted text, which
optionally uses CSS styles, directly to a text field. HTML text that you
assign to a text field can contain embedded media(movie clips, SWF files,
GIF files, PNG files, and JPEG files). The text wraps around the embedded
media in the same way that a web browser wraps text around media embedded
in an HTML document.
Flash Player supports a subset of HTML tags that you can use to format
text. See the list of supported HTML tags in the description of the
htmlText property.
@event change Dispatched after a control value is
modified, unlike the
textInput event, which is
dispatched before the value is modified.
Unlike the W3C DOM Event Model version of
the change event, which
dispatches the event only after the
control loses focus, the ActionScript 3.0
version of the change event
is dispatched any time the control
changes. For example, if a user types text
into a text field, a change
event is dispatched after every keystroke.
@event link Dispatched when a user clicks a hyperlink
in an HTML-enabled text field, where the
URL begins with "event:". The remainder of
the URL after "event:" is placed in the
text property of the LINK event.
Note: The default behavior,
adding the text to the text field, occurs
only when Flash Player generates the
event, which in this case happens when a
user attempts to input text. You cannot
put text into a text field by sending it
textInput events.
textInput event when a user
enters one or more characters of text.
Various text input methods can generate
this event, including standard keyboards,
input method editors(IMEs), voice or
speech recognition systems, and even the
act of pasting plain text with no
formatting or style information.
@event textInteractionModeChange Flash Player dispatches the
textInteractionModeChange
event when a user changes the interaction
mode of a text field. for example on
Android, one can toggle from NORMAL mode
to SELECTION mode using context menu
optionsInstance Fields
var antiAliasType:AntiAliasType
The type of anti-aliasing used for this text field. Use
flash.text.AntiAliasType constants for this property. You can
control this setting only if the font is embedded(with the
embedFonts property set to true). The default
setting is flash.text.AntiAliasType.NORMAL.
To set values for this property, use the following string values:
var autoSize:TextFieldAutoSize
Controls automatic sizing and alignment of text fields. Acceptable values
for the TextFieldAutoSize constants:
TextFieldAutoSize.NONE(the default),
TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT, TextFieldAutoSize.RIGHT,
and TextFieldAutoSize.CENTER.
If autoSize is set to TextFieldAutoSize.NONE
(the default) no resizing occurs.
If autoSize is set to TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT,
the text is treated as left-justified text, meaning that the left margin
of the text field remains fixed and any resizing of a single line of the
text field is on the right margin. If the text includes a line break(for
example, "\n" or "\r"), the bottom is also
resized to fit the next line of text. If wordWrap is also set
to true, only the bottom of the text field is resized and the
right side remains fixed.
If autoSize is set to
TextFieldAutoSize.RIGHT, the text is treated as
right-justified text, meaning that the right margin of the text field
remains fixed and any resizing of a single line of the text field is on
the left margin. If the text includes a line break(for example,
"\n" or "\r"), the bottom is also resized to fit the next
line of text. If wordWrap is also set to true,
only the bottom of the text field is resized and the left side remains
fixed.
If autoSize is set to
TextFieldAutoSize.CENTER, the text is treated as
center-justified text, meaning that any resizing of a single line of the
text field is equally distributed to both the right and left margins. If
the text includes a line break(for example, "\n" or
"\r"), the bottom is also resized to fit the next line of
text. If wordWrap is also set to true, only the
bottom of the text field is resized and the left and right sides remain
fixed.
var background:Bool
Specifies whether the text field has a background fill. If
true, the text field has a background fill. If
false, the text field has no background fill. Use the
backgroundColor property to set the background color of a
text field.
| default value | false |
var backgroundColor:Int
The color of the text field background. The default value is
0xFFFFFF(white). This property can be retrieved or set, even
if there currently is no background, but the color is visible only if the
text field has the background property set to
true.
Specifies whether the text field has a border. If true, the
text field has a border. If false, the text field has no
border. Use the borderColor property to set the border color.
| default value | false |
var borderColor:Int
The color of the text field border. The default value is
0x000000(black). This property can be retrieved or set, even
if there currently is no border, but the color is visible only if the text
field has the border property set to true.
var bottomScrollV:Int
An integer(1-based index) that indicates the bottommost line that is
currently visible in the specified text field. Think of the text field as
a window onto a block of text. The scrollV property is the
1-based index of the topmost visible line in the window.
All the text between the lines indicated by scrollV and
bottomScrollV is currently visible in the text field.
var caretIndex:Int
The index of the insertion point(caret) position. If no insertion point is displayed, the value is the position the insertion point would be if you restored focus to the field(typically where the insertion point last was, or 0 if the field has not had focus).
Selection span indexes are zero-based(for example, the first position is 0, the second position is 1, and so on).
var defaultTextFormat:TextFormat
Specifies the format applied to newly inserted text, such as text entered
by a user or text inserted with the replaceSelectedText()
method.
Note: When selecting characters to be replaced with
setSelection() and replaceSelectedText(), the
defaultTextFormat will be applied only if the text has been
selected up to and including the last character. Here is an example:
var my_txt:TextField new TextField();
my_txt.text = "Flash Macintosh version"; var my_fmt:TextFormat = new
TextFormat(); my_fmt.color = 0xFF0000; my_txt.defaultTextFormat = my_fmt;
my_txt.setSelection(6,15); // partial text selected - defaultTextFormat
not applied my_txt.setSelection(6,23); // text selected to end -
defaultTextFormat applied my_txt.replaceSelectedText("Windows version");
When you access the defaultTextFormat property, the
returned TextFormat object has all of its properties defined. No property
is null.
Note: You can't set this property if a style sheet is applied to the text field.
Specifies whether the text field is a password text field. If the value of
this property is true, the text field is treated as a
password text field and hides the input characters using asterisks instead
of the actual characters. If false, the text field is not
treated as a password text field. When password mode is enabled, the Cut
and Copy commands and their corresponding keyboard shortcuts will not
function. This security mechanism prevents an unscrupulous user from using
the shortcuts to discover a password on an unattended computer.
| default value | false |
var embedFonts:Bool
Specifies whether to render by using embedded font outlines. If
false, Flash Player renders the text field by using device
fonts.
If you set the embedFonts property to true
for a text field, you must specify a font for that text by using the
font property of a TextFormat object applied to the text
field. If the specified font is not embedded in the SWF file, the text is
not displayed.
| default value | false |
The type of grid fitting used for this text field. This property applies
only if the flash.text.AntiAliasType property of the text
field is set to flash.text.AntiAliasType.ADVANCED.
The type of grid fitting used determines whether Flash Player forces strong horizontal and vertical lines to fit to a pixel or subpixel grid, or not at all.
For the flash.text.GridFitType property, you can use the
following string values:
| default value | pixel |
Contains the HTML representation of the text field contents.
Flash Player supports the following HTML tags:
Flash Player and AIR also support explicit character codes, such as &(ASCII ampersand) and €(Unicode € symbol).
The maximum number of characters that the text field can contain, as
entered by a user. A script can insert more text than
maxChars allows; the maxChars property indicates
only how much text a user can enter. If the value of this property is
0, a user can enter an unlimited amount of text.
| default value | 0 |
Indicates whether field is a multiline text field. If the value is
true, the text field is multiline; if the value is
false, the text field is a single-line text field. In a field
of type TextFieldType.INPUT, the multiline value
determines whether the Enter key creates a new line(a value
of false, and the Enter key is ignored). If you
paste text into a TextField with a multiline
value of false, newlines are stripped out of the text.
| default value | false |
Defines the number of text lines in a multiline text field. If
wordWrap property is set to true, the number of
lines increases when text wraps.
Indicates the set of characters that a user can enter into the text field.
If the value of the restrict property is null,
you can enter any character. If the value of the restrict
property is an empty string, you cannot enter any character. If the value
of the restrict property is a string of characters, you can
enter only characters in the string into the text field. The string is
scanned from left to right. You can specify a range by using the hyphen
(-) character. Only user interaction is restricted; a script can put any
text into the text field.
If the string begins with a caret(^) character, all characters are initially accepted and succeeding characters in the string are excluded from the set of accepted characters. If the string does not begin with a caret(^) character, no characters are initially accepted and succeeding characters in the string are included in the set of accepted characters.
The following example allows only uppercase characters, spaces, and numbers to be entered into a text field:
my_txt.restrict = "A-Z 0-9";
The following example includes all characters, but excludes lowercase letters:
my_txt.restrict = "^a-z";
You can use a backslash to enter a ^ or - verbatim. The accepted backslash sequences are \-, \^ or \\. The backslash must be an actual character in the string, so when specified in ActionScript, a double backslash must be used. For example, the following code includes only the dash(-) and caret(^):
my_txt.restrict = "\\-\\^";
The ^ can be used anywhere in the string to toggle between including characters and excluding characters. The following code includes only uppercase letters, but excludes the uppercase letter Q:
my_txt.restrict = "A-Z^Q";
You can use the \u escape sequence to construct
restrict strings. The following code includes only the
characters from ASCII 32(space) to ASCII 126(tilde).
my_txt.restrict = "\u0020-\u007E";
| default value | null |
The current horizontal scrolling position. If the scrollH
property is 0, the text is not horizontally scrolled. This property value
is an integer that represents the horizontal position in pixels.
The units of horizontal scrolling are pixels, whereas the units of vertical scrolling are lines. Horizontal scrolling is measured in pixels because most fonts you typically use are proportionally spaced; that is, the characters can have different widths. Flash Player performs vertical scrolling by line because users usually want to see a complete line of text rather than a partial line. Even if a line uses multiple fonts, the height of the line adjusts to fit the largest font in use.
Note: The scrollH property is zero-based, not
1-based like the scrollV vertical scrolling property.
The vertical position of text in a text field. The scrollV
property is useful for directing users to a specific paragraph in a long
passage, or creating scrolling text fields.
The units of vertical scrolling are lines, whereas the units of horizontal scrolling are pixels. If the first line displayed is the first line in the text field, scrollV is set to 1(not 0). Horizontal scrolling is measured in pixels because most fonts are proportionally spaced; that is, the characters can have different widths. Flash performs vertical scrolling by line because users usually want to see a complete line of text rather than a partial line. Even if there are multiple fonts on a line, the height of the line adjusts to fit the largest font in use.
var selectable:Bool
A Boolean value that indicates whether the text field is selectable. The
value true indicates that the text is selectable. The
selectable property controls whether a text field is
selectable, not whether a text field is editable. A dynamic text field can
be selectable even if it is not editable. If a dynamic text field is not
selectable, the user cannot select its text.
If selectable is set to false, the text in
the text field does not respond to selection commands from the mouse or
keyboard, and the text cannot be copied with the Copy command. If
selectable is set to true, the text in the text
field can be selected with the mouse or keyboard, and the text can be
copied with the Copy command. You can select text this way even if the
text field is a dynamic text field instead of an input text field.
| default value | true |
The zero-based character index value of the first character in the current
selection. For example, the first character is 0, the second character is
1, and so on. If no text is selected, this property is the value of
caretIndex.
var selectionEndIndex:Int
The zero-based character index value of the last character in the current
selection. For example, the first character is 0, the second character is
1, and so on. If no text is selected, this property is the value of
caretIndex.
The sharpness of the glyph edges in this text field. This property applies
only if the flash.text.AntiAliasType property of the text
field is set to flash.text.AntiAliasType.ADVANCED. The range
for sharpness is a number from -400 to 400. If you attempt to
set sharpness to a value outside that range, Flash sets the
property to the nearest value in the range(either -400 or 400).
| default value | 0 |
A string that is the current text in the text field. Lines are separated
by the carriage return character('\r', ASCII 13). This
property contains unformatted text in the text field, without HTML tags.
To get the text in HTML form, use the htmlText
property.
The color of the text in a text field, in hexadecimal format. The
hexadecimal color system uses six digits to represent color values. Each
digit has 16 possible values or characters. The characters range from 0-9
and then A-F. For example, black is 0x000000; white is
0xFFFFFF.
| default value | 0(0x000000) |
var type:TextFieldType
The type of the text field. Either one of the following TextFieldType
constants: TextFieldType.DYNAMIC, which specifies a dynamic
text field, which a user cannot edit, or TextFieldType.INPUT,
which specifies an input text field, which a user can edit.
| default value | dynamic |
A Boolean value that indicates whether the text field has word wrap. If
the value of wordWrap is true, the text field
has word wrap; if the value is false, the text field does not
have word wrap. The default value is false.
Creates a new TextField instance. After you create the TextField instance,
call the addChild() or addChildAt() method of
the parent DisplayObjectContainer object to add the TextField instance to
the display list.
The default size for a text field is 100 x 100 pixels.
function appendText(text:String):Void
Appends the string specified by the newText parameter to the
end of the text of the text field. This method is more efficient than an
addition assignment(+=) on a text property
(such as someTextField.text += moreText), particularly for a
text field that contains a significant amount of content.
| newText | The string to append to the existing text. |
function getCharBoundaries(charIndex:Int):Rectangle
Returns a rectangle that is the bounding box of the character.
| charIndex | The zero-based index value for the character(for example, the first position is 0, the second position is 1, and so on). |
| returns | A rectangle with |
function getCharIndexAtPoint(x:Float, y:Float):Int
Returns the zero-based index value of the character at the point specified
by the x and y parameters.
| x | The x coordinate of the character. |
| y | The y coordinate of the character. |
| returns | The zero-based index value of the character(for example, the first position is 0, the second position is 1, and so on). Returns -1 if the point is not over any character. |
function getLineIndexAtPoint(x:Float, y:Float):Int
Returns the zero-based index value of the line at the point specified by
the x and y parameters.
| x | The x coordinate of the line. |
| y | The y coordinate of the line. |
| returns | The zero-based index value of the line(for example, the first line is 0, the second line is 1, and so on). Returns -1 if the point is not over any line. |
function getLineMetrics(lineIndex:Int):TextLineMetrics
Returns metrics information about a given text line.
| lineIndex | The line number for which you want metrics information. |
| returns | A TextLineMetrics object. |
function getLineOffset(lineIndex:Int):Int
Returns the character index of the first character in the line that the
lineIndex parameter specifies.
| lineIndex | The zero-based index value of the line(for example, the first line is 0, the second line is 1, and so on). |
| returns | The zero-based index value of the first character in the line. |
function getLineText(lineIndex:Int):String
Returns the text of the line specified by the lineIndex
parameter.
| lineIndex | The zero-based index value of the line(for example, the first line is 0, the second line is 1, and so on). |
| returns | The text string contained in the specified line. |
function getTextFormat(?beginIndex:Int = 0, ?endIndex:Int = 0):TextFormat
Returns a TextFormat object that contains formatting information for the
range of text that the beginIndex and endIndex
parameters specify. Only properties that are common to the entire text
specified are set in the resulting TextFormat object. Any property that is
mixed, meaning that it has different values at different points in
the text, has a value of null.
If you do not specify values for these parameters, this method is applied to all the text in the text field.
The following table describes three possible usages:
| returns | The TextFormat object that represents the formatting properties for the specified text. |
function setSelection(beginIndex:Int, endIndex:Int):Void
Sets as selected the text designated by the index values of the first and
last characters, which are specified with the beginIndex and
endIndex parameters. If the two parameter values are the
same, this method sets the insertion point, as if you set the
caretIndex property.
| beginIndex | The zero-based index value of the first character in the selection(for example, the first character is 0, the second character is 1, and so on). |
| endIndex | The zero-based index value of the last character in the selection. |
function setTextFormat(format:TextFormat, ?beginIndex:Int = 0, ?endIndex:Int = 0):Void
Applies the text formatting that the format parameter
specifies to the specified text in a text field. The value of
format must be a TextFormat object that specifies the desired
text formatting changes. Only the non-null properties of
format are applied to the text field. Any property of
format that is set to null is not applied. By
default, all of the properties of a newly created TextFormat object are
set to null.
Note: This method does not work if a style sheet is applied to the text field.
The setTextFormat() method changes the text formatting
applied to a range of characters or to the entire body of text in a text
field. To apply the properties of format to all text in the text field, do
not specify values for beginIndex and endIndex.
To apply the properties of the format to a range of text, specify values
for the beginIndex and the endIndex parameters.
You can use the length property to determine the index
values.
The two types of formatting information in a TextFormat object are character level formatting and paragraph level formatting. Each character in a text field can have its own character formatting settings, such as font name, font size, bold, and italic.
For paragraphs, the first character of the paragraph is examined for the paragraph formatting settings for the entire paragraph. Examples of paragraph formatting settings are left margin, right margin, and indentation.
Any text inserted manually by the user, or replaced by the
replaceSelectedText() method, receives the default text field
formatting for new text, and not the formatting specified for the text
insertion point. To set the default formatting for new text, use
defaultTextFormat.
| format | A TextFormat object that contains character and paragraph formatting information. |