Working with Text and HTML in Flash

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. The text that is newly inserted, such as text entered by a user or inserted with ActionScript, does not assume the formatting specified by a setTextFormat() methodcall. To specify the default formatting for newly inserted text you need to use the setNewTextFormat() method.

Now let's see an example of how to use the TextFormat class.

// Create a TextFormat object

var txtfmt:TextFormat = new TextFormat();

// Specify paragraph and character formatting

txtfmt.bold = true;

txtfmt.italic = true;

txtfmt.underline = true;

txtfmt.bullet = false;

txtfmt.align = “center”;

txtfmt.color = “0xFF0000”;

txtfmt.font = “Verdana”;

txtfmt.url = “http://www.devarticles.com”;

txtfmt.target = “_blank”;

txtfmt.indent = 10;

txtfmt.size = 24;

// apply the TextFormat object to the text field

sample _txt.setTextFormat(txtfmt);

You can also apply the TextFormat object properties to a specific part of the text field as shown below.

// applies the TextFormat object only to the first three characters of the text field

sample_txt.setTextFormat(0, 3, txtfmt);

You can also apply the TextFormat object properties to a specific character of the text field as shown below.

// applies the TextFormat object only to the second character of the text field

sample_txt.setTextFormat(3, txtfmt);