ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

TextField.tabEnabled Property

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ActionScript Language Reference

Here, using setTextFormat(), we first assign our text and then apply formatting to it:

// Create the text field

this.createTextField("title_txt", 1, 0, 0, 150, 40);

// Assign the field some text for display

title_txt.text = "What's New?";

// Now create and apply our TextFormat object

title_txt.setTextFormat(new TextFormat("Arial", 14, 0xFF0000));

If we mistakenly apply our format before the text is assigned, nothing happens:

// Oops! Wrong order...

title_txt.setTextFormat(new TextFormat("Arial", 14, 0xFF0000));

title_txt.text = "What's New?";

Conversely, when using setNewTextFormat(), we must be sure to apply our format before

assigning text to the text field:

title_txt.setNewTextFormat(new TextFormat("Arial", 14, 0xFF0000));

title_txt.text = "What's New?";

The setNewTextFormat() method is convenient when text is likely to change, because it

applies to all future assignments for the field:

// The text "Latest News" is still red, 14-point Arial.

title_txt.text = "Latest News";

For a detailed description of TextFormat objects, see the TextFormat class. Note that text

can also be formatted with HTML, as described under

TextField.html and TextField.

htmlText

.

Example

The following code adds to all TextField objects a rainbow() method ...