User Guide

870 Chapter 2: ActionScript Language Reference
TextField class
Availability
Flash Player 6.
Description
All dynamic and input text fields in a SWF file are instances of the TextField class. You can give a
text field an instance name in the Property inspector and use the methods and properties of the
TextField class to manipulate it with ActionScript. TextField instance names are displayed in the
Movie Explorer and in the Insert Target Path dialog box in the Actions panel.
The TextField class inherits from the Object class.
To create a text field dynamically, you do not use the
new operator. Instead, you use
MovieClip.createTextField().
Method summary for the TextField class
Property summary for the TextField class
Method Description
TextField.addListener()
Registers an object to receive notification when the onChanged and
onScroller event handlers are invoked.
TextField.getFontList()
Returns names of fonts on the player’s host system as an array.
TextField.getDepth()
Returns the depth of a text field.
TextField.getNewTextFormat()
Gets the default text format assigned to newly inserted text.
TextField.getTextFormat()
Returns a TextFormat object containing formatting information for
some or all text in a text field.
TextField.removeListener()
Removes a listener object.
TextField.removeTextField()
Removes a text field that was created with
MovieClip.createTextField().
TextField.replaceSel()
Replaces the current selection.
TextField.replaceText()
Replaces a range of characters.
TextField.setNewTextFormat()
Sets a TextFormat object for text that is inserted by a user or by a
method.
TextField.setTextFormat()
Sets a TextFormat object for a specified range of text in a
text field.
Property Description
TextField._alpha
The transparency value of a text field instance.
TextField.autoSize
Controls automatic alignment and sizing of a text field.
TextField.background
Indicates if the text field has a background fill.
TextField.backgroundColor
Indicates the color of the background fill.
CHAPTER 2
ActionScript Language Reference