User Guide

224 Chapter 9: Working with Text

Using the TextFormat class

You can use the ActionScript TextFormat class to set formatting properties of a text field. The

TextFormat class incorporates character and paragraph formatting information. Character

formatting information describes the appearance of individual characters: font name, point size,

color, and an associated URL. Paragraph formatting information describes the appearance of a

paragraph: left margin, right margin, indentation of the first line, and left, right, or

center alignment.

To use the TextFormat class, you first create a TextFormat object and set its character and

paragraph formatting styles. You then apply the TextFormat object to a text field using the

TextField.setTextFormat() or TextField.setNewTextFormat() methods.

The

setTextFormat() method changes the text format that is applied to individual characters,

to groups of characters, or to the entire body of text in a text field. Newly inserted text,

however—such as text entered by a user or inserted with ActionScript—does not assume the

formatting specified by a

setTextFormat() call. To specify the default formatting for newly

inserted text, use

TextField.setNewTextFormat(). For more information, see

TextField.setTextFormat() and TextField.setNewTextFormat() in Flash ActionScript

Language Reference.

To format a text field with the TextFormat class:

In a new Macromedia Flash document, create a text field on the Stage using the Text tool. Type

some text in the text field on the Stage, such as

“Bold, italic, 24 point text”.

In the Property inspector, type myText_txt in the Instance Name text box, select Dynamic

from the Text Type pop-up menu, and select Multiline from the Line Type pop-up menu.

In the Timeline, select the first frame in Layer 1, and open the Actions panel (Window >

Development Panels > Actions).

Enter the following code in the Actions panel to create a TextFormat object, set the bold and

italic properties to true, and the size property to 24:

// Create a TextFormat object

var txtfmt:TextFormat = new TextFormat();

// Specify paragraph and character formatting

txtfmt.bold = true;

txtfmt.italic = true;

txtfmt.size = 24;