Flash CS3 Documentation

Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Adobe Flash > Working with Text and Strings > About text fields > About text field instance and variable names

About text field instance and variable names

In the Instance Name text box in the Property inspector, you must assign an instance name to a text field to invoke methods and get and set properties on that text field.

In the Var text box in the Property inspector, you can assign a variable name to a dynamic or input text field. You can then assign values to the variable. This is a deprecated functionality that you might use when you create applications for older versions of Flash Player (such as Flash Player 4). When you target newer players, target the text of a text field by using its instance name and ActionScript.

Do not confuse a text field's instance name with its variable name, however. A text field's variable name is a variable reference to the text contained by that text field; it is not a reference to an object.

For example, if you assigned a text field the variable name myTextVar, you can use the following code to set the contents of the text field:

var myTextVar:String = "This is what will appear in the text field";

However, you can't use the variable name myTextVar to set the text field's text property. You have to use the instance name, as shown in the following code:

// This won't work.
myTextVar.text = "A text field variable is not an object reference";

// For input text field with instance name "myField", this will work.
myField.text = "This sets the text property of the myField object";

Use the TextField.text property to control the contents of a text field, unless you're targeting a version of Flash Player that doesn't support the TextField class. This reduces the chances of a variable name conflict, which could result in unexpected behavior at runtime.

For samples that demonstrate how to work with text fields using ActionScript, see the Flash Samples page at www.adobe.com/go/learn_fl_samples. Download the Samples zip file and navigate to the ActionScript 2.0/TextFields folder to access these samples:

• textfieldsA.fla
• textfieldsB.fla

Flash CS3