Flex - TextArea Control

Introduction

The TextArea control is a text-entry control that allows users enter and edit multiple lines of formatted text.

Class Declaration

Following is the declaration for spark.components.TextArea class −

public class TextArea 
   extends SkinnableTextBase

Public Properties

Sr.No	Properties & Description
1	content : Object This property is intended for use in MXML at compile time; to get or set rich text content at runtime, use the textFlow property instead.
2	heightInLines : Number The default height of the control, measured in lines.
3	textFlow : flashx.textLayout.elements:TextFlow The TextFlow representing the rich text displayed by this component.
4	widthInChars : Number The default width of the control, measured in em units.

Public Methods

Sr.No	Method & Description
1	TextArea() Constructor.
2	getFormatOfRange (requestedFormats:Vector.<String> = null, anchorPosition:int = -1, activePosition:int = 1):flashx.textLayout.formats:TextLayoutFormat Returns a TextLayoutFormat object specifying the computed formats for the specified range of characters.
3	scrollToRange(anchorPosition:int = 0, activePosition:int):void Scrolls so that the text range is visible in the container.
4	setFormatOfRange (format:flashx.textLayout.formats:TextLayout Format, anchorPosition:int = -1, activePosition:int = -1):void Applies the specified formats to each element in the specified range that correspond to the given format.

Methods Inherited

This class inherits methods from the following classes −

spark.components.supportClasses.SkinnableTextBase
spark.components.supportClasses.SkinnableComponent
mx.core.UIComponent
mx.core.FlexSprite
flash.display.Sprite
flash.display.DisplayObjectContainer
flash.display.InteractiveObject
flash.display.DisplayObject
flash.events.EventDispatcher
Object

Flex TextArea Control Example

Let us follow the following steps to check usage of TextArea control in a Flex application by creating a test application −

Step	Description
1	Create a project with a name HelloWorld under a package com.tutorialspoint.client as explained in the Flex - Create Application chapter.
2	Modify HelloWorld.mxml as explained below. Keep rest of the files unchanged.
3	Compile and run the application to make sure business logic is working as per the requirements.

Following is the content of the modified mxml file src/com.tutorialspoint/HelloWorld.mxml.

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx = "http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
   xmlns:s = "library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
   xmlns:mx = "library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"
   width = "100%" height = "100%" minWidth = "500" minHeight = "500">
   
   <fx:Style source = "/com/tutorialspoint/client/Style.css" />   
   <s:BorderContainer width = "550" height = "400" id = "mainContainer" 
      styleName = "container">
      
      <s:VGroup width = "100%" height = "100%" gap = "50" 
         horizontalAlign = "center" verticalAlign = "middle">
         <s:Label id = "lblHeader" text = "Form Controls Demonstration" 
            fontSize = "40" color = "0x777777" styleName = "heading" />
         
         <s:Panel id = "textAreaPanel" title = "Using TextArea"
            width = "420" height = "200">
            <s:layout>
               <s:VerticalLayout  gap = "10" verticalAlign = "middle" 
                  horizontalAlign = "center" />	
            </s:layout>
            
            <s:TextArea width = "400" height = "100">
               <s:content>
                  This is <s:span color = "#FF0000">HTML text</s:span>
                  in an <s:span fontWeight = "bold">TextArea control</s:span>.
                  <s:span textDecoration = "underline">content</s:span> property
                  of the <s:span color = "#008800">TextArea control</s:span> 
                  can be used to include basic HTML markup in including
                  <s:a href = "http://www.tutorialspoint.com" 
                  target = "_blank">links</s:a>.
               </s:content>
            </s:TextArea>
         </s:Panel>
      </s:VGroup>	 
   </s:BorderContainer>	
</s:Application>

Once you are ready with all the changes done, let us compile and run the application in normal mode as we did in Flex - Create Application chapter. If everything is fine with your application, it will produce the following result: [ Try it online ]

flex_form_controls.htm