flash.text.TextSnapshot - Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference (Flex 4)

Package	flash.text
Class	public class TextSnapshot
Inheritance	TextSnapshot Object

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9

TextSnapshot objects let you work with static text in a movie clip. You can use them, for example, to lay out text with greater precision than that allowed by dynamic text, but still access the text in a read-only way.

You don't use a constructor to create a TextSnapshot object; it is returned by flash.display.DisplayObjectContainer.textSnapshot property.

Public Properties

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	Property		Defined By
		charCount : int [read-only] The number of characters in a TextSnapshot object.	TextSnapshot
		constructor : Object A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.	Object
		prototype : Object [static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.	Object

Public Methods

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	Method		Defined By
		findText(beginIndex:int, textToFind:String, caseSensitive:Boolean):int Searches the specified TextSnapshot object and returns the position of the first occurrence of textToFind found at or after beginIndex.	TextSnapshot
		getSelected(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int):Boolean Returns a Boolean value that specifies whether a TextSnapshot object contains selected text in the specified range.	TextSnapshot
		getSelectedText(includeLineEndings:Boolean = false):String Returns a string that contains all the characters specified by the corresponding setSelected() method.	TextSnapshot
		getText(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int, includeLineEndings:Boolean = false):String Returns a string that contains all the characters specified by the beginIndex and endIndex parameters.	TextSnapshot
		getTextRunInfo(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int):Array Returns an array of objects that contains information about a run of text.	TextSnapshot
		hasOwnProperty(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.	Object
		hitTestTextNearPos(x:Number, y:Number, maxDistance:Number = 0):Number Lets you determine which character within a TextSnapshot object is on or near the specified x, y coordinates of the movie clip containing the text in the TextSnapshot object.	TextSnapshot
		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
		propertyIsEnumerable(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.	Object
		setPropertyIsEnumerable(name:String, isEnum:Boolean = true):void Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.	Object
		setSelectColor(hexColor:uint = 0xFFFF00):void Specifies the color to use when highlighting characters that have been selected with the setSelected() method.	TextSnapshot
		setSelected(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int, select:Boolean):void Specifies a range of characters in a TextSnapshot object to be selected or deselected.	TextSnapshot
		toLocaleString():String Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.	Object
		toString():String Returns the string representation of the specified object.	Object
		valueOf():Object Returns the primitive value of the specified object.	Object

Property Detail

charCount

property

charCount:int [read-only]

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9

The number of characters in a TextSnapshot object.

Implementation
public function get charCount():int

See also

flash.text.TextSnapshot.getText()

Method Detail

findText

()

method

public function findText(beginIndex:int, textToFind:String, caseSensitive:Boolean):int

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9

Searches the specified TextSnapshot object and returns the position of the first occurrence of textToFind found at or after beginIndex. If textToFind is not found, the method returns -1.

Parameters

	`beginIndex:int` — Specifies the starting point to search for the specified text.

	`textToFind:String` — Specifies the text to search for. If you specify a string literal instead of a variable of type String, enclose the string in quotation marks.

	`caseSensitive:Boolean` — Specifies whether the text must match the case of the string in `textToFind`.

Returns

int — The zero-based index position of the first occurrence of the specified text, or -1.

See also

flash.text.TextSnapshot.getText()

getSelected

()

method

public function getSelected(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int):Boolean

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9

Returns a Boolean value that specifies whether a TextSnapshot object contains selected text in the specified range.

To search all characters, pass a value of 0 for start, and charCount (or any very large number) for end. To search a single character, pass the end parameter a value that is one greater than the start parameter.

Parameters

	`beginIndex:int` — Indicates the position of the first character to be examined. Valid values for `beginIndex` are `0` through `TextSnapshot.charCount - 1`. If `beginIndex` is a negative value, `0` is used.

	`endIndex:int` — A value that is one greater than the index of the last character to be examined. Valid values for `endIndex` are `0` through `charCount`. The character indexed by the `endIndex` parameter is not included in the extracted string. If this parameter is omitted, `charCount` is used. If this value is less than or equal to the value of `beginIndex`, `beginIndex + 1` is used.

Returns

Boolean — A Boolean value that indicates whether at least one character in the given range has been selected by the corresponding setSelected() method (true); otherwise, false.

getSelectedText

()

method

public function getSelectedText(includeLineEndings:Boolean = false):String

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9.

Returns a string that contains all the characters specified by the corresponding setSelected() method. If no characters are specified (by the setSelected() method), an empty string is returned.

If you pass true for includeLineEndings, newline characters are inserted in the return string, and the return string might be longer than the input range. If includeLineEndings is false or omitted, the method returns the selected text without adding any characters.

Parameters

includeLineEndings:Boolean (default = false) — An optional Boolean value that specifies whether newline characters are inserted into the returned string where appropriate. The default value is false.

Returns

String — A string that contains all the characters specified by the corresponding setSelected() command.

getText

()

method

public function getText(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int, includeLineEndings:Boolean = false):String

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9.

Returns a string that contains all the characters specified by the beginIndex and endIndex parameters. If no characters are selected, an empty string is returned.

To return all characters, pass a value of 0 for beginIndex and charCount (or any very large number) for endIndex. To return a single character, pass a value of beginIndex + 1 for endIndex.

If you pass a value of true for includeLineEndings, newline characters are inserted in the string returned where deemed appropriate. In this case, the return string might be longer than the input range. If includeLineEndings is false or omitted, the selected text is returned without any characters added.

Parameters

	`beginIndex:int` — Indicates the position of the first character to be included in the returned string. Valid values for `beginIndex` are`0` through `charCount - 1`. If `beginIndex` is a negative value, `0` is used.

	`endIndex:int` — A value that is one greater than the index of the last character to be examined. Valid values for `endIndex` are `0` through `charCount`. The character indexed by the `endIndex` parameter is not included in the extracted string. If this parameter is omitted, `charCount` is used. If this value is less than or equal to the value of `beginIndex`, `beginIndex + 1` is used.

	`includeLineEndings:Boolean` (default = `false`) — An optional Boolean value that specifies whether newline characters are inserted (`true`) or are not inserted (`false`) into the returned string. The default value is `false`.

Returns

String — A string containing the characters in the specified range, or an empty string if no characters are found in the specified range.

getTextRunInfo

()

method

public function getTextRunInfo(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int):Array

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9

Returns an array of objects that contains information about a run of text. Each object corresponds to one character in the range of characters specified by the two method parameters.

Note: Using the getTextRunInfo() method for a large range of text can return a large object. Adobe recommends limiting the text range defined by the beginIndex and endIndex parameters.

Parameters

	`beginIndex:int` — The index value of the first character in a range of characters in a TextSnapshot object.

	`endIndex:int` — The index value of the last character in a range of characters in a TextSnapshot object.

Returns

Array — An array of objects in which each object contains information about a specific character in the range of characters specified by the beginIndex and endIndex parameters. Each object contains the following eleven properties:

indexInRun—A zero-based integer index of the character (relative to the entire string rather than the selected run of text).
selected—A Boolean value that indicates whether the character is selected true; false otherwise.
font—The name of the character's font.
color—The combined alpha and color value of the character. The first two hexadecimal digits represent the alpha value, and the remaining digits represent the color value.
height—The height of the character, in pixels.
matrix_a, matrix_b, matrix_c, matrix_d, matrix_tx, and matrix_ty— The values of a matrix that define the geometric transformation on the character. Normal, upright text always has a matrix of the form [1 0 0 1 x y], where x and y are the position of the character within the parent movie clip, regardless of the height of the text. The matrix is in the parent movie clip coordinate system, and does not include any transformations that may be on that movie clip itself (or its parent).
corner0x, corner0y, corner1x, corner1y, corner2x, corner2y, corner3x, and corner3y—The corners of the bounding box of the character, based on the coordinate system of the parent movie clip. These values are only available if the font used by the character is embedded in the SWF file.

See also

Matrix class

hitTestTextNearPos

()

method

public function hitTestTextNearPos(x:Number, y:Number, maxDistance:Number = 0):Number

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9.

Lets you determine which character within a TextSnapshot object is on or near the specified x, y coordinates of the movie clip containing the text in the TextSnapshot object.

If you omit or pass a value of 0 for maxDistance, the location specified by the x, y coordinates must lie inside the bounding box of the TextSnapshot object.

This method works correctly only with fonts that include character metric information; however, by default, the Flash authoring tool does not include this information for static text fields. Therefore, the method might return -1 instead of an index value. To ensure that an index value is returned, you can force the Flash authoring tool to include the character metric information for a font. To do this, add a dynamic text field that uses that font, select Character Options for that dynamic text field, and then specify that font outlines should be embedded for at least one character. (It doesn't matter which characters you specify, nor whether they are the characters used in the static text fields.)

Parameters

	`x:Number` — A number that represents the `x` coordinate of the movie clip containing the text.

	`y:Number` — A number that represents the `y` coordinate of the movie clip containing the text.

	`maxDistance:Number` (default = `0`) — An optional number that represents the maximum distance from `x`, `y` that can be searched for text. The distance is measured from the center point of each character. The default value is `0`.

Returns

Number — A number representing the index value of the character that is nearest to the specified x, y coordinate. Returns -1 if no character is found, or if the font doesn't contain character metric information.

setSelectColor

()

method

public function setSelectColor(hexColor:uint = 0xFFFF00):void

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9.

Specifies the color to use when highlighting characters that have been selected with the setSelected() method. The color is always opaque; you can't specify a transparency value.

This method works correctly only with fonts that include character metric information; however, by default, the Flash authoring tool does not include this information for static text fields. Therefore, the method might return -1 instead of an index value. To ensure that an index value is returned, you can force the Flash authoring tool to include the character metric information for a font. To do this, add a dynamic text field that uses that font, select Character Options for that dynamic text field, and then specify that font outlines should be embedded for at least one character. (It doesn't matter which characters you specify, nor if they are the characters used in the static text fields.)

Parameters

hexColor:uint (default = 0xFFFF00) — The color used for the border placed around characters that have been selected by the corresponding setSelected() command, expressed in hexadecimal format (0xRRGGBB).

See also

flash.text.TextSnapshot.setSelected()

setSelected

()

method

public function setSelected(beginIndex:int, endIndex:int, select:Boolean):void

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Runtime Versions:

AIR 1.0 Flash Player 9.

Specifies a range of characters in a TextSnapshot object to be selected or deselected. Characters that are selected are drawn with a colored rectangle behind them, matching the bounding box of the character. The color of the bounding box is defined by setSelectColor().

To select or deselect all characters, pass a value of 0 for beginIndex and charCount (or any very large number) for endIndex. To specify a single character, pass a value of start + 1 for endIndex.

Because characters are individually marked as selected, you can call this method multiple times to select multiple characters; that is, using this method does not deselect other characters that have been set by this method.

The colored rectangle that indicates a selection is displayed only for fonts that include character metric information; by default, Flash does not include this information for static text fields. In some cases, this behavior means that text that is selected won't appear to be selected onscreen. To ensure that all selected text appears to be selected, you can force the Flash authoring tool to include the character metric information for a font. To do this, add a dynamic text field that uses that font, select Character Options for that dynamic text field, and then specify that font outlines should be embedded for at least one character. It doesn't matter which characters you specify, nor even if they are the characters used in the static text fields in question.

Parameters

	`beginIndex:int` — Indicates the position of the first character to select. Valid values for `beginIndex` are `0` through `charCount - 1`. If `beginIndex` is a negative value, `0` is used.

	`endIndex:int` — An integer that is 1+ the index of the last character to be examined. Valid values for `end` are `0` through `charCount`. The character indexed by the `end` parameter is not included in the extracted string. If you omit this parameter, `TextSnapshot.charCount` is used. If the value of `beginIndex` is less than or equal to the value of `endIndex`, `beginIndex + 1` is used.

	`select:Boolean` — A Boolean value that specifies whether the text should be selected (`true`) or deselected (`false`).