ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition

TextFormat.leftMargin Property

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TextFormat.leftMargin Property

specifies the margin to the left of a paragraph

Flash 6

read/write

theFormat.leftMargin

Description

The integer leftMargin property specifies the horizontal distance between the left border of

a text field and the left edge of a paragraph, in pixels. Negative values for

leftMargin are

converted to 0 by ActionScript. Note that regardless of the value of

leftMargin, Flash auto-

matically adds a small gutter between text and a text field’s border. There is no way to

align text perfectly flush with the border of a text field. The

leftMargin and rightMargin

properties can be used simultaneously on the same paragraph.

To set the left margin for an entire text field, invoke TextField.setTextFormat() without

specifying any index arguments:

this.createTextField("theField_txt", 1, 0, 0, 200, 40);

theField_txt.border = true;

theField_txt.text = "This is paragraph one.\nThis is paragraph two."

theField_txt.wordWrap = true;

// Create a TextFormat object

format = new TextFormat();

format.leftMargin = 10;

// Apply a 10-pixel left margin to the whole field

theField_txt.setTextFormat(format);

To set the left margin for the first paragraph in a text field, apply the format to the char-

acter at index 0:

theField_txt.setTextFormat(0, ...