Class

TextEdit


Warning

This item was deprecated in version 2021r3. Please use DesktopTextControl as a replacement.

Description

The base class for TextField and TextArea. TextEdit is an abstract class and should not be instantiated directly. Use the TextField and TextArea controls in windows. ListBox is a TextEdit object.

Methods

Name

Parameters

Returns

Shared

AcceptFileDrop

FileType As String

AcceptPictureDrop

AcceptRawDataDrop

Type As String

AcceptTextDrop

AddText

text As String

CharacterPosition

LineNumber As Integer

Integer

X As Integer, Y As Integer

Integer

Close

Copy

DrawInto

g As Graphics, x As Integer, y As Integer

InsertionPosition

X As Integer, Y As Integer

Integer

Invalidate

[EraseBackground As Boolean]

LineNumber

CharPosition As Integer

Integer

Paste

Refresh

eraseBackground As Boolean

SelectAll

SetFocus

Events

Name

Parameters

Returns

Close

ConstructContextualMenu

Base As MenuItem, x As Integer, y As Integer

Boolean

ContextualMenuAction

HitItem As MenuItem

Boolean

DragEnter

obj As DragItem, Action As Integer

Boolean

DragExit

obj As DragItem, Action As Integer

DragOver

x As Integer, y As Integer, obj As DragItem, Action As Integer

Boolean

DropObject

Obj As DragItem Action As Integer

EnableMenuItems

KeyDown

Key As String

Boolean

KeyUp

Key As String

MouseEnter

MouseExit

MouseMove

X As Integer, Y As Integer

MouseWheel

X As Integer, Y As Integer, DeltaX As Integer, DeltaY As Integer

Boolean

Open

Property descriptions


TextEdit.Active

Active As Boolean

Indicates whether the RectControl is active.

This property is read-only.

Active is False when the RectControl's window is not in the foreground. When a Window is deactivated, its controls are automatically deactivated unless AutoDeactivate is set to False.


TextEdit.AllowAutoDeactivate

AllowAutoDeactivate As Boolean

Determines whether the control should be deactivated (on macOS) when the parent window is deactivated. The default is True.


TextEdit.AllowFocusRing

AllowFocusRing As Boolean

If True, the control indicates that it has the focus with a ring around its border; if False, the appearance of the control does not change when it has the focus.

This example is in the Initialized event of the control:

Me.AllowFocusRing = False

TextEdit.AllowSpellChecking

AllowSpellChecking As Boolean

If True, words that are believed to be misspelled are underlined.

This example is in the Initialized event of a TextArea:

Me.AllowSpellChecking = True

TextEdit.AllowTabs

AllowTabs As Boolean

If True, pressing the Tab key will enter a tab into the control instead of moving the focus to the next item in the tab order.


TextEdit.AllowTabStop

AllowTabStop As Boolean

If True, the RectControl is in the Tab Order and accepts the focus when the user tabs into it. The default is True. If False, the user cannot tab into it to give it the focus. However, the RectControl can gain the focus by other means, such as the user's clicking on it or by setting the focus in code.

This example removes the control from the Tab Order:

Me.AllowTabStop = False

TextEdit.BackgroundColor

BackgroundColor As Color

The background color for the control.

This code sets the value of the BackgroundColor property:

Me.BackgroundColor = &c110034

TextEdit.Bold

Bold As Boolean

If True, applies the bold style to the control's caption and/or its text content if any.

This property is read-only.

Mac apps can only display font styles that are available. You cannot force a font to display in bold or italic if it does not have bold or italic variations available. In this situation, the Bold property will not affect the font.


TextEdit.Enabled

Enabled As Boolean

Determines if the control should be enabled when the owning window is opened.

A disabled control cannot be clicked and cannot receive the focus.

This example disables the control. Its caption is grayed out.

Me.Enabled = False

TextEdit.FontName

FontName As String

Name of the font used to display the text content.

You can enter any font that is installed on the computer or the names of the two metafonts, "System" and "SmallSystem".

The System font is the font used by the system software as its default font. Different operating systems use different default fonts. If the system software supports both a large and small System font, you can also specify the "SmallSystem" font as your TextFont.

On macOS, "SmallSystem" specifies the OS's smaller system font and may make the control smaller in size as well. On Windows and Linux, "SmallSystem" is the same as "System".

This code sets the FontName property.

Me.FontName = "Helvetica"

TextEdit.FontSize

FontSize As Single

Point size of the font used to display text content of a Control.

If you enter zero as the FontSize, your app will use the font size that works best for the platform on which it is running.

This code sets the font size to 16 points.

Me.FontSize = 16

TextEdit.FontUnit

FontUnit As FontUnits

The units in which FontSize is measured.

See the FontUnits enumeration for valid values.

This example is in the Initialized event of the control. It sets the font unit to Pixel.

Me.FontUnit = FontUnits.Pixel

TextEdit.Format

Format As String

Formats the contents of the control when it loses the focus.

It uses the same formatting conventions as the Format function. To turn off formatting, set the Format property to the empty string, "".

If you need to enforce an entry format rather than permitting any entry, use the Format property in conjunction with the Mask property. See the description of the ValidationMask property and the section "Masks" in the Notes section.

This line applies a dollar format when the user tabs out of the field.

Me.Format = "\$###,###.##"

TextEdit.Handle

Handle As Integer

Returns a handle to the control.

This property is read-only.

For interfacing with Mac APIs using Declare).

On Windows returns the HWND of the control.

On Linux it returns a GtkWidget.

The following gets a handle to the control.

Var i As Integer = Me.Handle

TextEdit.HasBorder

HasBorder As Boolean

Indicates whether or not the border is visible.


TextEdit.Height

Height As Integer

The height (in points) of the control.

This example sets the height of the control to 100:

Me.Height = 100

TextEdit.HorizontalScrollPosition

HorizontalScrollPosition As Integer

Scrolls the text control horizontally to the position (in points) from the left edge of the control.

This code scrolls the control horizontally by 200 points.

TextArea1.HorizontalScrollPosition = 200

TextEdit.Index

Index As Integer

If the control is used in a control set, this specifies the control's index in the set.

This property is read-only.

The control set is often used to manage a group of RadioButtons since a single RadioButton in a window doesn't make much sense. Most typically, you create an instance of the RadioButton, assign 0 to its Index property, and then duplicate it. This increments the value of Index for each new instance but retain the original control's name.

To determine which RadioButton the user clicked, use the Action event handler of the control set. The parameter Index contains the value of Index for the RadioButton that was clicked. The event handler is this:

Sub Action(Index As Integer)
  Label1.Text = "You chose radio button " + index.ToString + "."
End Sub

To set a RadioButton in a control set, you use its Index property to refer to the RadioButton whose value you want to set. For example, the following line selects the second RadioButton from code:

RadioButton1(1).Value = True ' 0-based

TextEdit.Italic

Italic As Boolean

If True, applies the italic style to the control's caption and/or its text content if any.

This property is read-only.

Mac apps can only display font styles that are available. You cannot force a font to display in bold or italic if it does not have bold or italic variations available. In this situation, the Italic property will not affect the font.


TextEdit.Left

Left As Integer

The left side of the control in local coordinates (relative to the window).

The following example moves the control 100 points from the left side of the window:

Me.Left = 150

TextEdit.LiveUpdate

LiveUpdate As Boolean

If True, then the control will dynamically update the bound data value. Relevant when the control is bound to another control.

Me.LiveUpdate = True

TextEdit.LockBottom

LockBottom As Boolean

Determines whether the bottom edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the bottom edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning window.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.

Me.LockBottom = True

TextEdit.LockLeft

LockLeft As Boolean

Determines whether the left edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the left edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning window.

Beginning with version 2009r5, LockLeft and Locktop default to True when you add a new control to a window. Existing controls will be altered only if LockRight and/or LockBottom are not set. LockLeft has no effect unless LockRight is True.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.

Me.LockLeft = True

TextEdit.LockRight

LockRight As Boolean

Determines whether the right edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the right edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning window.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.

Me.LockRight = True

TextEdit.LockTop

LockTop As Boolean

Determines whether the top edge of the control should stay at a set distance from the top edge of the parent control, if there is one, or the owning window.

Beginning with version 2009r5, LockTop and LockLeft default to True when you add a control to a window. Existing controls will be altered only if LockRight and/or LockBottom are not set. LockTop has no effect unless LockBottom is True.

This property can be set in the control's Inspector. The following example sets it in code.

Me.LockTop = True

TextEdit.MouseCursor

MouseCursor As MouseCursor

The cursor to be displayed while the mouse is within the control and both the DesktopApplication and Window class's MouseCursor properties are Nil.

If the DesktopApplication class's MouseCursor property is not Nil or the Window's MouseCursor property is not Nil, then any control's MouseCursor property is ignored. You can use a cursor stored in the Cursors module. On Macintosh, you can also obtain a MouseCursor from a resource file.

This line in the Open event of the control sets the default cursor to the finger pointer.

Me.MouseCursor = System.Cursors.FingerPointer

TextEdit.MouseX

MouseX As Integer

The X coordinate of the mouse (points). Measured from the top-left corner of the control.

This property is read-only.

This code is in the MouseDown event of a TextField and displays the X-coordinate at the point of the MouseDown event.

Me.Value = Str(Me.MouseX)

TextEdit.MouseY

MouseY As Integer

The Y coordinate of the mouse (points). Measured from the top-left corner of the control.

This property is read-only.

This code is in the MouseDown event of a TextField and displays the Y-coordinate at the point of the MouseDown event.

Me.Value = Str(Me.MouseY)

TextEdit.Name

Name As String

The name of the control. Set the name of the control in the Inspector.

This property is read-only.


TextEdit.PanelIndex

PanelIndex As Integer

If the control has been placed on a TabPanel or PagePanel control, this is the panel (page/tab) that the control is on. If the control is not on a panel, it returns -1.

The first panel is numbered zero. If the control has been placed on a panel of a TabPanel or PagePanel control, it returns the panel number. If the control is not on a PagePanel or TabPanel, it returns -1. If you change the PanelIndex to a nonexistent panel, the control will disappear until you give it a PanelIndex value that corresponds to a panel that exists.

If you are looking to change the currently selected panel (page/tab), use PagePanel.

This code displays the panel index of the control that is on the page.

Label3.Value = Str(Me.PanelIndex)

TextEdit.Parent

Parent As Control

Used to get and set the control's parent control or window.

Returns Nil if the parent is the window. Assign Nil to make the control's parent the window, even if it is enclosed by another control. The child control's behavior in the IDE will reflect the parent's state. If the parent control is somehow in another window, an InvalidParentException will occur.

The following example sets the parent of the control to the window.

Me.Parent = Nil

TextEdit.ReadOnly

ReadOnly As Boolean

If True, the text of the control cannot be modified.

This example is in the Open event of the control.

Me.ReadOnly = True

TextEdit.Scope

Scope As Integer

Used to determine whether access to the control is Public (0) or Private (2). The default is Public.

This property is read-only.

If the Scope of a control is set to Private, it cannot be accessed from outside its parent window.


TextEdit.SelectedText

SelectedText As String

The currently selected text.

This example places the selected text from a TextArea into a TextField.

TextArea1.SelectionStart = 0
TextArea1.SelectonLength = 10

TextField1.Text = TextArea1.SelectedText

TextEdit.SelectionLength

SelectionLength As Integer

The number of selected characters.

A SelectionLength of 0 means an insertion point rather than a selection. A value greater than the number of characters in the control means that the selection is from SelectionStart to the end of the control.

On Windows, selecting text via code does not display the text as selected unless the control has the focus. If you want this behavior, call SetFocus before setting the selection.

This example selects the first 10 characters of TextArea1.

TextArea1.SelectionStart = 0
TextArea1.SelectionLength = 10

TextEdit.SelectionStart

SelectionStart As Integer

The position of the insertion point.

A value of zero means that the insertion point is before the first character. Use SelectionStart to set the position of the insertion point in the text. Use SelectionStart in conjunction with SelectionLength to select a portion of the text in the control, beginning with SelectionStart and extending for SelectionLength characters.

On Windows, selecting text via code does not display the text as selected unless the control has the focus. If you want this behavior, call SetFocus before setting the selection.

This example selects the first 10 characters of TextArea1.

TextArea1.SelectionStart = 0
TextArea1.SelectionLength = 10

TextEdit.TabIndex

TabIndex As Integer

The RectControl's position in the Tab Order. It is 0-based. A TabIndex of 0 is the first RectControl to get the focus.

On the Mac you need Full Keyboard Access turned on in System Preferences (Keyboard->Shortcuts) in order to manually set focus to non-text controls.

This example sets the control's TabIndex.

Me.TabIndex = 2

TextEdit.Text

Text As String

The text displayed.

Assigning a string to the Text property replaces the entire contents of the control. The font, size, and color are uniform and match the values last set with the FontName, FontSize, and TextColor properties, or if these haven't been used, the settings in the IDE.

Please note that the implementation of the TextField and TextArea controls is platform dependent. Do not expect that the text you assign is the same as the text you receive from this property. For example on Mac your text is converted to UTF-8 internally. On Windows all text after a null character (which means chr(0) and not "0") is ignored. End of line characters can change to their platform specific counterpart. Special characters with Asc values below 32 may be ignored or removed.

Clear (remove) any text that is displayed in the TextArea:

TextArea1.Text = ""

This example places the selected text from a TextArea into a TextField.

TextArea1.SelStart = 0
TextArea1.SelLength = 10

TextField1.Text = TextArea1.SelText

TextEdit.TextAlignment

TextAlignment As Integer

Sets the paragraph alignment for entire contents of the control.

Use the TextAlignments enumeration to get/set the value of this property.

For the TextArea control, use the SelectionAlignment property to set paragraph alignments for individual paragraphs. Currently the Default alignment is the same as Left aligned. Setting the alignment on Linux requires GTK+ 2.4 or greater.

This example is in the Initialized event of the control.

Me.TextAlignment = TextAlignments.Center

TextEdit.TextColor

TextColor As Color

Gets or sets the color of the caption or the text content. The default value is black.


TextEdit.Tooltip

Tooltip As String

Text of help message displayed as a Windows or Linux "tooltip" or macOS help tag.

The tip/tag is displayed when the user hovers the mouse cursor over the control.

This example adds a tooltip to a BevelButton that has an icon.

Me.CaptionAlignment = 0 ' left
Me.CaptionDelta = 10
Me.Tooltip = "Click to bark."

Me.Icon = Woof ' added to the project
Me.CaptionPosition = 2

TextEdit.Top

Top As Integer

The top of the control in local coordinates (relative to the window).

This example sets the top of the control to 140 points from the top of the window:

Me.Top = 140

TextEdit.Transparent

Transparent As Boolean

Determines whether the control is transparent on Windows. The default is False. Has no effect on macOS or Linux.

Transparent controls draw more slowly and use more memory in order to cache the background. Unless you absolutely require transparency, leave this set to False.

For projects that were created prior to 2018r1, this property defaults to True to emulate previous behavior. Consider changing it to False to improve performance if you do not require transparency.


TextEdit.TrueWindow

TrueWindow As Window

Returns a reference to the actual enclosing Window.

This property is read-only.

TrueWindow walks up the window hierarchy and finds the actual enclosing window regardless of how deeply nested the RectControl or DesktopContainer hierarchy is.

Window also has a TrueWindow property.

This example accesses the TrueWindow and displays its Title property in a TextField.

TextField1.Text = Me.TrueWindow.Title

TextEdit.Underline

Underline As Boolean

If True, applies the underline style to the control's caption and/or its text content if any.

This property is read-only.


TextEdit.ValidationMask

ValidationMask As String

Use the ValidationMask property to filter user input on a character-by-character basis and add formatting characters.

For example, a mask for a Telephone number field can add parentheses, spaces, and dashes as literals, that are used for formatting, and the digit mask symbol '#' to restrict entry to numbers only. It uses the same mask characters as Visual Basic. If the user enters a character that is prohibited by the mask, it causes the ValidationFailed event to occur.

You can use the ValidationMask property in conjunction with the Format property. The ValidationMask filters the entry, while the Format property applies a format to the entry. The formats are the same as for the Format function.

The TextField will autocomplete any literal mask characters for the user. If the user uses the Backspace key he/she can backup the autocompletion but only 1 character at a time.

To turn off the ValidationMask, set it to the empty string, "".

You can set the ValidationMask property in the Properties pane. If you use the "#" character as the first character of the mask, there is the remote possibility that it may be confused with the name of a constant. When you use a constant in the Properties pane, you precede its name with the "#" sign. If you want both a constant and a mask to be named "Example", then you should create a new constant named "poundExample" with its value set to "#Example" and assign that in the Properties pane.

The following table shows the characters that you can use to define a mask.

Mask Character

Description

#

The single digit placeholder. The user can type only a digit (numeric) character in this position. For example, the mask "(###) ###-####" accepts the entry 5551212121" and returns "(555) 121-2121".

.

Decimal placeholder.

,

Thousands separator.

:

Time separator.

/

Date separator.

Mask escape character.

&

Character or space placeholder. It accepts one character.

C

Character or space placeholder, where entry is optional. It operates like the '&' placeholder. For example, the mask "CCCC-CC" formats "1233ed" as "1233-ed".

>

Convert all the characters that follow to uppercase.

<

Convert all the characters that follow to lowercase.

A

Alphanumeric character placeholder, where entry is mandatory.

a

Alphanumeric character placeholder, where entry is optional.

0

The literal "0" (zero). For example, the mask "99.00" formats the entry "22" as "22.00". The mask "CC0-9999" accepts the entry "1234" and returns it as "CC0-1234". The mask "##,###.00" accepts the entry "12345" and returns "12,345.00". The mask "99.00" accepts "21" and returns "21.00".

9

A Single (numeric) digit, where entry is optional.

?

Alphabetic placeholder. Entry is optional. For example, the mask "???" accepts three alphabetic characters. It rejects numeric characters.

Any literal

All other symbols are displayed as literals for formatting purposes. For example, the mask "99[9]" accepts the entry "333" and returns "33[3]".

~

Reserved for future use. If you use "~" it will trigger an exception error. Use ~ instead.

Mask

Description

999,999.99

Formats 11122233 as "111,222.33" (Using the US thousands separator.)

99.00

Formats "22" as "22.00."

###-##-####

US Social Security number. Fomats "123456789" as 123-45-6789.

:

TextField1.ValidationMask = "###-##-####"
TextField1.ValidationMask = "(###) ###-####" ' US Phone number, with area code

If the user tries to enter a character that is prohibited by the mask, a ValidationFailed event occurs. The character that the user attempted to enter and the character position is passed to the ValidationFailed event, where you can handle the keystroke as you like.

To cancel the ValidationMask, set it to the empty string:

TextField1.ValidationMask = ""

TextEdit.Visible

Visible As Boolean

Determines whether the control is visible when its owning window is opened. The default is True: the control is visible.

The following code in the DisclosureTriangle Action event handler displays or hides a ListBox on the window:

ListBox1.Value = Me.Visible

TextEdit.Width

Width As Integer

The width (in points) of the control.

The following example resizes the control:

Me.Width = 200

TextEdit.Window

Window As Window

The control's parent window.

This property is read-only.

This code gets the parent window's Title property.

TextField1.Text = Me.Window.Title

Method descriptions


TextEdit.AcceptFileDrop

AcceptFileDrop(FileType As String)

Permits documents of type FileType to be dropped on the control. FileType must be a file type that you defined in via the FileType class or the File Type Sets Editor.

This code in the Open event of an ImageWell makes it possible for the user to drop either a picture or a file that is a jpeg image. The File Type Sets editor was used to define the “image/jpeg” file type. It is one of the “Common File Types” that is available in the editor.

Me.AcceptPictureDrop
Me.AcceptFileDrop("image/jpeg")

To restrict file drops to just folders (and not files), you can put this code in the DragEnter event:

If Not obj.FolderItem.IsFolder Then Return True

TextEdit.AcceptPictureDrop

AcceptPictureDrop

Permits pictures to be dropped on the control.

If a control should accept pictures in a drag and drop, then AcceptPictureDrop needs to be called prior to the drop. Typically, it is in the Open event of the control itself. For example, the line:

Me.AcceptPictureDrop

in the Open event of the control that will receive the dragged pictures is needed. When the picture is dropped, the DropObject event is called and this is where you will put your code to handle the drop.

Canvas.Open:

Me.AcceptPictureDrop

Canvas.DropObject:

If obj.PictureAvailable Then
  Me.Backdrop = obj.Picture
End If

TextEdit.AcceptRawDataDrop

AcceptRawDataDrop(Type As String)

Permits data (of the Type specified) to be dropped on the control.

The following specfies a generic file type defined in the File Type Sets editor.

Me.AcceptRawDataDrop("????")

TextEdit.AcceptTextDrop

AcceptTextDrop

Permits text to be dropped on the control.

This line in the Open event of a control that can accept dragged text.

Me.AcceptTextDrop

TextEdit.AddText

AddText(text As String)

Adds the passed text to the current Text. Call AddText rather than using the + operator to add text to existing text.

This example reads a text field in blocks of 1000 characters using Read.

Var f As FolderItem
Var dlg As OpenDialog
Var t As TextInputStream

' create a new openDialog
dlg = New OpenFileDialog
' set what type of file it looks for
dlg.Filter = "text/plain"

' run the dialog
f = dlg.ShowModal

' check to make sure the user didn't click cancel
If f <> Nil Then
  Try
    t = TextInputStream.Open(f)
    ' Read all of the text, 1000 characters at a time
    ' into the TextField
    While Not t.EndOfFile
      myTextArea.AddText(t.Read(1000, Encodings.UTF8))
    Wend
    t.Close
  Catch error As IOException
    ' the file could not be a read as a text file
    MessageBox("The selected file is not a text file. Error: " + error.Message)
  End If
Else
  ' the user clicked cancel... just ignore it
End If

TextEdit.CharacterPosition

CharacterPosition(LineNumber As Integer) As Integer

Returns as an Integer the character position for pixel coordinates X, Y relative to the control.


TextEdit.CharacterPosition

CharacterPosition(X As Integer, Y As Integer) As Integer

Returns as an Integer the character position for pixel coordinates X, Y relative to the control.

Characters are numbered consecutively from the start until the end of the control. The first character is numbered 1. The first line is numbered zero.

This example gets the character position of the first character of the second line.

Var i As Integer
i = TextArea1.CharacterPosition(1)

This example is in the MouseDown event of the control. The event passes in the X,Y coordinates of the MouseDown event. The example gets the position of the character at the passed coordinates.

Var i As Integer
i = Me.CharacterPosition(x, y)
MessageBox(i.ToString)
Return True

TextEdit.Close

Close

Closes a control.

Closing a control permanently removes the control from memory, making it impossible to access. You can close both non-indexed controls and indexed controls. When you close an indexed control, the indexes for the remaining controls will shift downward so that the indexes start with zero and are consecutive.

The following code closes the control. When this is executed from a visible control, the control disappears from the window.

Me.Close

TextEdit.Copy

Copy

Copies the selected text in the TextArea to the Clipboard, including the styled text information.

This example copies the selected text and places it on the Clipboard.

TextArea1.SelStart = 0
TextArea1.SelLength = 10
TextArea1.Copy

TextEdit.DrawInto

DrawInto(g As Graphics, x As Integer, y As Integer)

Draws the contents of the RectControl into the specified Graphics context. The parameters x and y are the coordinates of the top, left corner.

This method does not work with HTMLViewer and OpenGLSurface.

This example draws the current control into the Graphics of a Picture and then displays it as the Backdrop of a Canvas:

Var p As New Picture(Me.Width, Me.Height)
Me.DrawInto(p.Graphics, 0, 0)
Canvas1.Backdrop = p

TextEdit.InsertionPosition

InsertionPosition(X As Integer, Y As Integer) As Integer

Returns (as an Integer) returns the position of the insertion point closest to pixel coordinates X,Y relative to the control. The returned value is zero-based.

This example is in the MouseDown event of a TextArea. This event passes in the X,Y coordinates of the MouseDown event and the method returns the corresponding character position.

Var i As Integer
i = TextArea1.InsertionPosition(x, y)
MessageBox(i.ToString)
Return True

TextEdit.Invalidate

Invalidate([EraseBackground As Boolean])

Similar to RefreshRect, but causes the specified region of the RectControl to be marked dirty and to be redrawn when the window contents need to be redrawn. The region to be redrawn is specified by the X, Y, Width, and Height parameters. This form of Invalidate was formerly called InvalidateRect.

The following code refreshes the control. EraseBackground defaults to True.

Me.Invalidate(False)

TextEdit.LineNumber

LineNumber(CharPosition As Integer) As Integer

Returns (as an Integer) the line number in which the CharacterPosition character appears.

Characters are numbered consecutively with the first character numbered 1. The first line is numbered zero. Used with ScrollPosition, this lets you scroll the control to a particular place in the text.

The line number reflects line breaks from both hard line breaks in the text and soft line breaks caused by word-wrapping within the control.

Gets the line number for the character at position 100:

Var lineNum As Integer = TextArea1.LineNumber(100)

This example searches a TextArea using text provided in a TextField and then scrolls to the text in the TextArea:

Var searchText As String = TextField1.Text
Var position As Integer = InStr(TextArea1.Text, searchText)

If position > 0 Then
  TextArea1.VerticalScrollPosition = TextArea1.LineNumber(position)
Else
  ' InStr returns 0 if no match was found.
End If

TextEdit.Paste

Paste

Pastes the styled or unstyled text on the Clipboard into the editing area at the insertion point, adding the text to the existing text.

When pasting into a TextArea, if the text is styled, the style information is preserved.

This example pastes the contents of the Clipboard into TextArea2 at the insertion point.

TextArea2.Paste

TextEdit.Refresh

Refresh(eraseBackground As Boolean)

Repaints the portion specified of the contents of the control immediately.

Calling this frequently can cause the code executing to slow down. It is often preferable to call RectControl instead.

Refresh the entire area:

Me.Refresh(False)

Refresh a portion of the area:

Me.Refresh(100, 150, 200, 300)

TextEdit.SelectAll

SelectAll

Selects all of the text in the control. If there is no text in the control, SelectAll does nothing.

This example selects all the text in the control.

TextArea1.SelectAll

TextEdit.SetFocus

SetFocus

If applicable, sets the focus to the RectControl. KeyDown events are directed to the control.

If the control cannot get the focus on the platform on which the application is running, SetFocus does nothing. The SetFocus method of the Window class or the ClearFocus method can be used to remove the focus from the control that currently has the focus, leaving no control with the focus.

On the Mac you need Full Keyboard Access turned on in System Preferences (Keyboard->Shortcuts) in order to manually set focus to non-text controls.

The following example sets the focus to TextField1. If another control has the focus when this line is executed, then the user sees that TextField1 gets the focus.

TextField1.SetFocus

Event descriptions


TextEdit.Close

Close

The control is about to close.


TextEdit.ConstructContextualMenu

ConstructContextualMenu(Base As MenuItem, x As Integer, y As Integer) As Boolean

This event is called when it is appropriate to display a contextual menu for the control.

This event handler is the recommended way to handle contextual menus because this event figures out whether the user has requested the contextual menu, regardless of how they did it. Depending on platform, it might be in the MouseUp or MouseDown event and it might be a right+click or by pressing the contextual menu key on the keyboard, for example.

Base is analogous to the menu bar for the contextual menu. Any items you add to Base will be shown as menu items. If you return False, the event is passed up the parent hierarchy.

If you return True, the contextual menu is displayed. The parameters x and y are the mouse locations. If the event was fired because of a non-mouse event, then x and y are both set to -1. See the example of a contextual menu in the following section.

The following ConstructContextualMenu event handler builds a menu with three menu items plus a submenu with three additional menu items.

' Add some items
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Test 1"))
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Test 2"))
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem("Test 3"))

' Add a Separator
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem(MenuItem.TextSeparator))

' Add a sub menu
Var submenu As New MenuItem("SubMenu")
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("SubMenu Test 1"))
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("SubMenu Test 2"))
submenu.AddMenu(New MenuItem("SubMenu Test 3"))
base.AddMenu(submenu)

' Add a Separator
base.AddMenu(New MenuItem(MenuItem.TextSeparator))

Return True

TextEdit.ContextualMenuAction

ContextualMenuAction(HitItem As MenuItem) As Boolean

Fires when a contextual menuitem hitItem was selected but the Action event and the MenuHandler for the menuitem did not handle the menu selection.

This event gives you a chance to handle the menu selection by inspecting the menuitem's Text or Tag properties to see which item was selected. Use this in conjunction with ConstructContextualMenu if you have not specified the Action event or the Menu Handler for the items on the contextual menu. See the example of a contextual menu in the examples for the RectControl class.

Return True if this event has handled the item the user chose from the contextual menu. Returning False will cause the control's parent to execute its ContextualMenuAction event. This can be handy if you have the same contextual menu for several controls who share the same Parent (several on the same window for example). By returning False you can handle them all in a single event.

This simple event handler displays the value of the selected menu item.

If hitItem <> Nil Then MessageBox(hitItem.Value)
Return True

TextEdit.DragEnter

DragEnter(obj As DragItem, Action As Integer) As Boolean

Fires when the passed DragItem enters the RectControl.

Returns a Boolean. Return True from this event to prevent the drop from occurring.

The Action parameter specifies the drag action. It can take the following class constants of the DragItem class:

Value

Class Constant

0

DragItem.DragActionDefault

1

DragItem.DragActionCopy

2

DragItem.DragActionMove

3

DragItem.DragActionLink

To restrict file drops to just folders (and not files), you can put this code in the DragEnter event:

If Not obj.FolderItem.IsFolder Then Return True

TextEdit.DragExit

DragExit(obj As DragItem, Action As Integer)

Fires when the passed DragItem exits the RectControl.

The Obj parameter is the item being dragged. The Action parameter specifies the drag action. It can take the following class constants of the DragItem class:

Value

Constant

0

DragItem.DragActionDefault

1

DragItem.DragActionCopy

2

DragItem.DragActionMove

3

DragItem.DragActionLink


TextEdit.DragOver

DragOver(x As Integer, y As Integer, obj As DragItem, Action As Integer) As Boolean

Fires when the DragItem is over the RectControl.

The Obj parameter is the object being dragged. The coordinates x and y are relative to the RectControl. Returns a Boolean. Return True from this event to prevent the drop from occurring.

The Action parameter specifies the drag action, which is typically done by holding down a modifier key (Shift, Alt, Option, Command, etc.) while doing the drag. It can take the following class constants of the DragItem class:

Value

Constant

0

DragItem.DragActionDefault

1

DragItem.DragActionCopy

2

DragItem.DragActionMove

3

DragItem.DragActionLink


TextEdit.DropObject

DropObject(Obj As DragItem Action As Integer)

The item represented by Obj has been dropped on the control.

The Obj parameter is the object being dragged. The Action parameter specifies the drag action. It can take the following class constants of the DragItem class:

{| class="genericTable" ! width=10% |Value ! width=60% |Class Constant |- |0 | DragItem.DragActionDefault |- |1 | DragItem.DragActionCopy |- |2 | DragItem.DragActionMove |- |3 | DragItem.DragActionLink |- |}

The following DropObject event handler can handle either a dropped picture or a dropped file. The type of file that it can handle needs to have been specified in a call to AcceptFileDrop prior to the drop, for example, in the Open event.

If Obj.PictureAvailable Then
  Me.Image = obj.Picture
ElseIf Obj.FolderItemAvailable Then
  Me.Image = Picture.Open(obj.FolderItem)
End If

TextEdit.EnableMenuItems

EnableMenuItems

Indicates that the control has the focus and a menu is about to be displayed.


TextEdit.KeyDown

KeyDown(Key As String) As Boolean

The user has pressed the Key passed while the control has the focus.

How KeyDown works depends on the type of control.

TextField and TextArea Returning True means the key is intercepted, preventing the key from actually reaching the control at all. This would be useful if you want to override the behavior of the tab key for example. Returning False means the key reaches the control.

All Other Controls Returning True prevents the KeyDown event on the parent control (usually the window) from executing. Returning False results in the execution of the KeyDown event of the parent control.


TextEdit.KeyUp

KeyUp(Key As String)

Fires when the passed Key is released in the RectControl that has the focus.

It is not guaranteed to be the same key that received the KeyDown event.


TextEdit.MouseEnter

MouseEnter

The mouse has entered the area of the control.


TextEdit.MouseExit

MouseExit

The mouse has left the area of the control.


TextEdit.MouseMove

MouseMove(X As Integer, Y As Integer)

The mouse has moved within the control to the coordinates passed. The coordinates are local to the control, not to the window.


TextEdit.MouseWheel

MouseWheel(X As Integer, Y As Integer, DeltaX As Integer, DeltaY As Integer) As Boolean

The mouse wheel has been moved.

The parameters X and Y are the mouse coordinates relative to the control that has received the event. The parameters DeltaX and DeltaY hold the number of scroll lines the wheel has been moved horizontally and vertically, as defined by the operating system. DeltaX is positive when the user scrolls right and negative when scrolling to the left. DeltaY is positive when the user scrolls down and negative when scrolling up.

Returns a Boolean. Return True to prevent the event from propagating further.


TextEdit.Open

Open

The control is about to be displayed. Use this event to initialize a control.

The Open event is called after the Constructor.

Be warned that initializing control property values using the Constructor instead of the Open event may result in those property values being overwritten by what is set in the Inspector. For best results, use the Open event for control initialization rather than the control Constructor.

If the control is supposed to handle drag and drop, you need to tell it which type of item it needs to be able to handle. The following example informs the control that pictures and files can be dropped on it. The type of the file it needs to support is specified via the File Types Editor.

Sub Open()
  Me.AcceptPictureDrop
  Me.AcceptFileDrop("JPEG")
End Sub

Notes

TextEdit is the base class for both TextArea and TextField. TextEdit is an abstract class and it is not intended for instantiation. Use TextArea for multiline and styled controls and TextField for single line text fields.


Execution order of menuhandlers

The intrinsic control menu handlers (such as TextField.SelectAll) are handled after any user-defined menu handlers on the TextField subclass (if it was subclassed). This means that if you have a SelectAll handler on the Window of the TextField, it will no longer be called when the TextField has focus, because the TextField will now handle it first. In this situation, create a TextField subclass that defines its own SelectAll handler, and handle the desired behavior there.


Masks

Use the ValidationMask property to filter user input on a character-by-character basis and add formatting characters. For example, a mask for a Telephone number field can add parentheses, spaces, and dashes as literals, that are used for formatting, and the digit mask symbol '#' to restrict entry to numbers only. See ValidationMask for details.

Compatibility

All project types on all supported operating systems.

See also

RectControl parent class; RectControl, TextArea, TextField classes.