mx.controls.Text (Flex™ 2 Language Reference)

Package	mx.controls
Class	public class Text
Inheritance	Text Label UIComponent FlexSprite Sprite DisplayObjectContainer InteractiveObject DisplayObject EventDispatcher Object

The Text control displays multiline, noneditable text. Use the Label control if you need only a single line of text.

The Text control does not support scroll bars. If you need scrolling, you should use a non-editable TextArea control.

You can format the text in a Text control using HTML tags, which are applied after the control's CSS styles are applied. You can also put padding around the four sides of the text.

The text in a Text control is selectable by default, but you can make it unselectable. When using a Text control in an item renderer, always set its selectable property to false.

If the control is not as wide as the text, the text will wordwrap. The text is always aligned top-left in the control.

To size a Text component, it's common to specify an explicit width and let Flex determine the height as required to display all the text. If you specify an explicit height, some of the text may get clipped; unlike Label, Text does not truncate its text with "...". It's also common to use percentage widths and heights with Text.

If you leave both the width and the height unspecified, Flex calculates them based on any explicit line breaks in the text, with no wordwrapping within lines. For example, if you set the text property, the newline character "\n" causes a line break. If you set the htmlText property, the HTML markup <br> causes a line break. If your text or htmlText is lengthy and doesn't contain line breaks, you can get a very wide Text component; you can set the maxWidth to limit how wide the component is allowed to grow.

Text controls do not have backgrounds or borders and cannot take focus.

MXML Syntax expanded

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The <mx:Text> tag inherits all of the tag attributes of its superclass, and adds the following tag attributes:

  <mx:Text
  />

View the examples.

Public Properties

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	Property		Defined by
		accessibilityProperties : AccessibilityProperties The current accessibility options for this display object.	DisplayObject
		alpha : Number Indicates the alpha transparency value of the object specified.	DisplayObject
		baselinePosition : Number Determines the baseline y-coordinate of the first line of text of the component.	UIComponent
		blendMode : String A value from the BlendMode class that specifies which blend mode to use.	DisplayObject
		buttonMode : Boolean Specifies the button mode of this sprite.	Sprite
		cacheAsBitmap : Boolean If set to `true`, Flash Player caches an internal bitmap representation of the display object.	DisplayObject
		cacheHeuristic : Boolean Used by Flex to suggest bitmap caching for the object.	UIComponent
		cachePolicy : String Specifies the bitmap caching policy for this object.	UIComponent
		className : String The name of this instance's class, such as `"Button"`.	UIComponent
		condenseWhite : Boolean Specifies whether extra white space (spaces, line breaks, and so on) should be removed in a Label control with HTML text.	Label
		constructor : Object A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.	Object
		contentMouseX : Number Returns the x position of the mouse, in the content coordinate system.	UIComponent
		contentMouseY : Number Returns the y position of the mouse, in the content coordinate system.	UIComponent
		contextMenu : ContextMenu Specifies the context menu associated with this object.	InteractiveObject
		currentState : String The current view state of the component.	UIComponent
		data : Object Lets you pass a value to the component when you use it in an item renderer or item editor.	Label
		descriptor : UIComponentDescriptor Reference to the UIComponentDescriptor, if any, that was used by the `createComponentFromDescriptor()` method to create this UIComponent instance.	UIComponent
		document : Object A reference to the document object associated with this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		doubleClickEnabled : Boolean Specifies whether the UIComponent object receives `doubleClick` events.	UIComponent
		dropTarget : DisplayObject Specifies the display object over which the sprite is being dragged, or on which the sprite was dropped.	Sprite
		enabled : Boolean Whether the component can accept user interaction.	UIComponent
		errorString : String The text that will be displayed by a component's error tip when a component is monitored by a Validator and validation fails.	UIComponent
		explicitHeight : Number Number that specifies the explicit height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		explicitMaxHeight : Number Number that specifies the maximum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		explicitMaxWidth : Number Number that specifies the maximum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		explicitMinHeight : Number Number that specifies the minimum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		explicitMinWidth : Number Number that specifies the minimum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		explicitWidth : Number Number that specifies the explicit width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		filters : Array An indexed array that contains each filter object currently associated with the display object.	DisplayObject
		focusManager : IFocusManager Gets the FocusManager that controls focus for this component and its peers.	UIComponent
		focusRect : Object Specifies whether this object displays a focus rectangle.	InteractiveObject
		graphics : Graphics Specifies the Graphics object that belongs to this sprite where vector drawing commands can occur.	Sprite
		height : Number Number that specifies the height of the component, in pixels, in the parent's coordinates.	UIComponent
		hitArea : Sprite Designates another sprite to serve as the hit area for a sprite.	Sprite
		htmlText : String Specifies the text displayed by the Label control, including HTML markup that expresses the styles of that text.	Label
		id : String ID of the component.	UIComponent
		includeInLayout : Boolean Specifies whether this component is included in the layout of the parent container.	UIComponent
		inheritingStyles : Object The beginning of this component's chain of inheriting styles.	UIComponent
		initialized : Boolean A flag that determines if an object has been through all three phases of layout: commitment, measurement, and layout (provided that any were required).	UIComponent
		instanceIndex : int The index of a repeated component.	UIComponent
		instanceIndices : Array An Array containing the indices required to reference this UIComponent object from its parent document.	UIComponent
		isDocument : Boolean Determines whether this UIComponent instance is a document object, that is, whether it is at the top of the hierarchy of a Flex application, MXML component, or ActionScript component.	UIComponent
		isPopUp : Boolean Set to `true` by the PopUpManager to indicate that component has been popped up.	UIComponent
		listData : BaseListData When a component is used as a drop-in item renderer or drop-in item editor, Flex initializes the `listData` property of the component with the appropriate data from the List control.	Label
		loaderInfo : LoaderInfo Returns a LoaderInfo object containing information about loading the file to which this display object belongs.	DisplayObject
		mask : DisplayObject The calling display object is masked by the specified `mask` object.	DisplayObject
		maxHeight : Number Number that specifies the maximum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		maxWidth : Number Number that specifies the maximum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		measuredHeight : Number The default height of the component, in pixels.	UIComponent
		measuredMinHeight : Number The default minimum height of the component, in pixels.	UIComponent
		measuredMinWidth : Number The default minimum width of the component, in pixels.	UIComponent
		measuredWidth : Number The default width of the component, in pixels.	UIComponent
		minHeight : Number Number that specifies the minimum height of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		minWidth : Number Number that specifies the minimum width of the component, in pixels, in the component's coordinates.	UIComponent
		mouseChildren : Boolean Determines whether or not the children of the object are mouse enabled.	DisplayObjectContainer
		mouseEnabled : Boolean Specifies whether this object receives mouse messages.	InteractiveObject
		mouseX : Number Indicates the x coordinate of the mouse position, in pixels.	DisplayObject
		mouseY : Number Indicates the y coordinate of the mouse position, in pixels.	DisplayObject
		name : String Indicates the instance name of the DisplayObject.	DisplayObject
		nestLevel : int Depth of this object in the containment hierarchy.	UIComponent
		nonInheritingStyles : Object The beginning of this component's chain of non-inheriting styles.	UIComponent
		numChildren : int Returns the number of children of this object.	DisplayObjectContainer
		opaqueBackground : Object Specifies whether the display object is opaque with a certain background color.	DisplayObject
		owner : DisplayObjectContainer The owner of this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		parent : DisplayObjectContainer The parent container or component for this component.	UIComponent
		parentApplication : Object A reference to the Application object that contains this UIComponent instance.	UIComponent
		parentDocument : Object A reference to the parent document object for this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		percentHeight : Number Number that specifies the height of a component as a percentage of its parent's size.	UIComponent
		percentWidth : Number Number that specifies the width of a component as a percentage of its parent's size.	UIComponent
		processedDescriptors : Boolean Set to `true` after immediate or deferred child creation, depending on which one happens.	UIComponent
		prototype : Object [static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.	Object
		repeater : IRepeater A reference to the Repeater object in the parent document that produced this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		repeaterIndex : int The index of the item in the data provider of the Repeater that produced this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		repeaterIndices : Array An Array containing the indices of the items in the data provider of the Repeaters in the parent document that produced this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		repeaters : Array An Array containing references to the Repeater objects in the parent document that produced this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		root : DisplayObject For a display object in a loaded SWF file, the `root` property is the top-most display object in the portion of the display list's tree structure represented by that SWF file.	DisplayObject
		rotation : Number Indicates the rotation of the DisplayObject instance, in degrees, from its original orientation.	DisplayObject
		scale9Grid : Rectangle The current scaling grid that is in effect.	DisplayObject
		scaleX : Number Number that specifies the horizontal scaling factor.	UIComponent
		scaleY : Number Number that specifies the vertical scaling percentage.	UIComponent
		screen : Rectangle Returns an object that contains the size and position of the base drawing surface for this object.	UIComponent
		scrollRect : Rectangle The scroll rectangle bounds of the display object.	DisplayObject
		selectable : Boolean Specifies whether the text can be selected.	Label
		soundTransform : SoundTransform Controls sound within this sprite.	Sprite
		stage : Stage The Stage of the display object.	DisplayObject
		states : Array The view states that are defined for this component.	UIComponent
		styleDeclaration : CSSStyleDeclaration Storage for the inline inheriting styles on this object.	UIComponent
		styleName : Object The class style used by this component.	UIComponent
		systemManager : ISystemManager Returns the SystemManager object used by this component.	UIComponent
		tabChildren : Boolean Determines whether the children of the object are tab enabled.	DisplayObjectContainer
		tabIndex : int Specifies the tab ordering of objects in a SWF file.	InteractiveObject
		text : String Specifies the plain text displayed by this control.	Label
		textHeight : Number The height of the text.	Label
		textSnapshot : TextSnapshot Returns a TextSnapshot object for this DisplayObjectContainer instance.	DisplayObjectContainer
		textWidth : Number The width of the text.	Label
		toolTip : String Text to display in the ToolTip.	UIComponent
		transform : Transform An object with properties pertaining to a display object's matrix, color transform, and pixel bounds.	DisplayObject
		transitions : Array An Array of Transition objects, where each Transition object defines a set of effects to play when a view state change occurs.	UIComponent
		truncateToFit : Boolean = true If this propery is `true`, and the Label control size is smaller than its text, the text of the Label control is truncated using a localizable string, such as `"..."`.	Label
		tweeningProperties : Array Array of properties that are currently being tweened on this object.	UIComponent
		uid : String A unique identifier for the object.	UIComponent
		updateCompletePendingFlag : Boolean A flag that determines if an object has been through all three phases of layout validation (provided that any were required).	UIComponent
		useHandCursor : Boolean A Boolean value that indicates whether the pointing hand (hand cursor) appears when the mouse rolls over a sprite in which the `buttonMode` property is set to `true`.	Sprite
		validationSubField : String Used by a validator to associate a subfield with this component.	UIComponent
		visible : Boolean Controls the visibility of this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		width : Number Number that specifies the width of the component, in pixels, in the parent's coordinates.	UIComponent
		x : Number Number that specifies the component's horizontal position, in pixels, within its parent container.	UIComponent
		y : Number Number that specifies the component's vertical position, in pixels, within its parent container.	UIComponent

Protected Properties

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	Property		Defined by
		textField : UITextField The internal UITextField that renders the text of this Label.	Label
		unscaledHeight : Number A convenience method for determining the unscaled height of the component All of a component's drawing and child layout should be done within a bounding rectangle of this height, which is also passed as an argument to `updateDisplayList()`.	UIComponent
		unscaledWidth : Number A convenience method for determining the unscaled width of the component All of a component's drawing and child layout should be done within a bounding rectangle of this width, which is also passed as an argument to `updateDisplayList()`.	UIComponent

Public Methods

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	Method		Defined by
		Text() Constructor.	Text
		addChild(child:DisplayObject):DisplayObject Adds a child DisplayObject instance to this DisplayObjectContainer instance.	DisplayObjectContainer
		addChildAt(child:DisplayObject, index:int):DisplayObject Adds a child DisplayObject instance to this DisplayObjectContainer instance.	DisplayObjectContainer
		addEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = false, priority:int = 0, useWeakReference:Boolean = false):void Registers an event listener object with an EventDispatcher object so that the listener receives notification of an event.	EventDispatcher
		areInaccessibleObjectsUnderPoint(point:Point):Boolean Indicates whether the security restrictions would cause any display objects to be omitted from the list returned by calling the `DisplayObjectContainer.getObjectsUnderPoint()` method with the specified `point` point.	DisplayObjectContainer
		callLater(method:Function, args:Array = null):void Queues a function to be called later.	UIComponent
		clearStyle(styleProp:String):void Deletes a style property from this component instance.	UIComponent
		contains(child:DisplayObject):Boolean Determines whether the specified display object is a child of the DisplayObjectContainer instance or the instance itself.	DisplayObjectContainer
		contentToGlobal(point:Point):Point Converts a `Point` object from content coordinates to global coordinates.	UIComponent
		contentToLocal(point:Point):Point Converts a `Point` object from content to local coordinates.	UIComponent
		createReferenceOnParentDocument(parentDocument:IFlexDisplayObject):void Creates an `id` reference to this IUIComponent object on its parent document object.	UIComponent
		deleteReferenceOnParentDocument(parentDocument:IFlexDisplayObject):void Deletes the `id` reference to this IUIComponent object on its parent document object.	UIComponent
		determineTextFormatFromStyles():UITextFormat Returns a UITextFormat object corresponding to the text styles for this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		dispatchEvent(event:Event):Boolean Dispatches an event into the event flow.	EventDispatcher
		drawFocus(focused:Boolean):void Shows or hides the focus indicator around this component.	UIComponent
		drawRoundRect(x:Number, y:Number, w:Number, h:Number, r:Object = null, c:Object = null, alpha:Object = null, rot:Object = null, gradient:String = null, ratios:Array = null, hole:Object = null):void Programatically draws a rectangle into this skin's Graphics object.	UIComponent
		effectFinished(effectInst:EffectInstance):void Called by the effect instance when it stops playing on the component.	UIComponent
		effectStarted(effectInst:EffectInstance):void Called by the effect instance when it starts playing on the component.	UIComponent
		endEffectsStarted():void Ends all currently playing effects on the component.	UIComponent
		executeBindings(recurse:Boolean = false):void Executes the data bindings into this UIComponent object.	UIComponent
		finishPrint(obj:Object, target:IFlexDisplayObject):void Called after printing is complete.	UIComponent
		getBounds(targetCoordinateSpace:DisplayObject):Rectangle Returns a rectangle that defines the area of the display object relative to the coordinate system of the `targetCoordinateSpace` object.	DisplayObject
		getChildAt(index:int):DisplayObject Returns the child display object instance that exists at the specified index.	DisplayObjectContainer
		getChildByName(name:String):DisplayObject Returns the child display object that exists with the specified name.	DisplayObjectContainer
		getChildIndex(child:DisplayObject):int Returns the index position of a `child` DisplayObject instance.	DisplayObjectContainer
		getClassStyleDeclarations():Array Finds the type selectors for this UIComponent instance.	UIComponent
		getExplicitOrMeasuredHeight():Number A convenience method for determining whether to use the explicit or measured height	UIComponent
		getExplicitOrMeasuredWidth():Number A convenience method for determining whether to use the explicit or measured width	UIComponent
		getFocus():InteractiveObject Gets the object that currently has focus.	UIComponent
		getLineMetrics(lineIndex:int):TextLineMetrics Returns a TextLineMetrics object with information about the text position and measurements for a line of text in the control.	Label
		getObjectsUnderPoint(point:Point):Array Returns an array of objects that lie under the specified point and are children (or grandchildren, and so on) of this DisplayObjectContainer instance.	DisplayObjectContainer
		getRect(targetCoordinateSpace:DisplayObject):Rectangle Returns a rectangle that defines the boundary of the display object, based on the coordinate system defined by the `targetCoordinateSpace` parameter, excluding any strokes on shapes.	DisplayObject
		getRepeaterItem(whichRepeater:int = -1):Object Returns the item in the `dataProvider` that was used by the specified Repeater to produce this Repeater, or `null` if this Repeater isn't repeated.	UIComponent
		getStyle(styleProp:String):* Gets a style property that has been set anywhere in this component's style lookup chain.	UIComponent
		globalToContent(point:Point):Point Converts a `Point` object from global to content coordinates.	UIComponent
		globalToLocal(point:Point):Point Converts the `point` object from the Stage (global) coordinates to the display object's (local) coordinates.	DisplayObject
		hasEventListener(type:String):Boolean Checks whether the EventDispatcher object has any listeners registered for a specific type of event.	EventDispatcher
		hasOwnProperty(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.	Object
		hitTestObject(obj:DisplayObject):Boolean Evaluates the display object to see if it overlaps or intersects with the `obj` display object.	DisplayObject
		hitTestPoint(x:Number, y:Number, shapeFlag:Boolean = false):Boolean Evaluates the display object to see if it overlaps or intersects with the point specified by the `x` and `y` parameters.	DisplayObject
		horizontalGradientMatrix(x:Number, y:Number, width:Number, height:Number):Matrix Returns a box Matrix which can be passed to the `drawRoundRect()` method as the `rot` parameter when drawing a horizontal gradient.	UIComponent
		initialize():void Initializes the internal structure of this component.	UIComponent
		initializeRepeaterArrays(parent:IRepeaterClient):void Initializes various properties which keep track of repeated instances of this component.	UIComponent
		invalidateDisplayList():void Marks a component so that its `updateDisplayList()` method gets called during a later screen update.	UIComponent
		invalidateProperties():void Marks a component so that its `commitProperties()` method gets called during a later screen update.	UIComponent
		invalidateSize():void Marks a component so that its `measure()` method gets called during a later screen update.	UIComponent
		isPrototypeOf(theClass:Object):Boolean Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.	Object
		localToContent(point:Point):Point Converts a `Point` object from local to content coordinates.	UIComponent
		localToGlobal(point:Point):Point Converts the `point` object from the display object's (local) coordinates to the Stage (global) coordinates.	DisplayObject
		measureHTMLText(htmlText:String):TextLineMetrics Measures the specified HTML text, which may contain HTML tags such as `<font>` and `<b>`, assuming that it is displayed in a single-line UITextField using a UITextFormat determined by the styles of this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		measureText(text:String):TextLineMetrics Measures the specified text, assuming that it is displayed in a single-line UITextField using a UITextFormat determined by the styles of this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		move(x:Number, y:Number):void Moves the component to a specified position within its parent.	UIComponent
		notifyStyleChangeInChildren(styleProp:String, recursive:Boolean):void Propagate style changes to the children.	UIComponent
		owns(child:DisplayObject):Boolean Returns `true` if the chain of `owner` properties points from `child` to this UIComponent.	UIComponent
		parentChanged(p:DisplayObjectContainer):void Called by Flex when a UIComponent object is added to or removed from a parent.	UIComponent
		prepareToPrint(target:IFlexDisplayObject):Object Prepares an IFlexDisplayObject for printing.	UIComponent
		propertyIsEnumerable(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.	Object
		regenerateStyleCache(recursive:Boolean):void Builds or rebuilds the CSS style cache for this component and, if the `recursive` parameter is `true`, for all descendants of this component as well.	UIComponent
		registerEffects(effects:Array):void For each effect event, register the EffectManager as one of the event listeners.	UIComponent
		removeChild(child:DisplayObject):DisplayObject Removes the specified `child` DisplayObject instance from the child list of the DisplayObjectContainer instance.	DisplayObjectContainer
		removeChildAt(index:int):DisplayObject Removes a child DisplayObject from the specified `index` position in the child list of the DisplayObjectContainer.	DisplayObjectContainer
		removeEventListener(type:String, listener:Function, useCapture:Boolean = fal

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