11 edittext

{ export | reexport } { model } edittext { <Identifier> }
{
  <standard attributes>
  <plain attributes>
  <geometry attributes>
  <hierarchy attributes>
  <layout attributes>
  <text attributes>
  <scrollbar attributes>
  <object-specific attributes>
}

Within the object edittext the text cursor can be moved by the cursor control keys on the keyboard.

The Backspace key erases the character to the left of the text cursor. The Delete key erases the character to the right of the text cursor. All alphabetic and numeral keys are processed as input character.

Events

activate

charinput

cut

deselect

deselect_enter

extevent

focus

help

key

modified

paste

select

Children

document

record

transformer

Parent

groupbox

layoutbox

module

notepage

splitbox

toolbar

window

Menu

Pop-up menu

11.1 Attributes

11.2 Specific Attributes

Standard Attributes

The attribute .active defines whether the edittext is to have the current focus.

Text Attributes

The text displayed in the edittext array is defined with .content.

The attribute .real_modified indicates, whether the content actually has changed since the edittext has received the focus.

Scrollbar Attributes

The edittext can be supplied with the scrollbar attributes only if .multiline = true:

• .hsb_visible
• .vsb_visible

The attributes .hsb_visible and .vsb_visible define whether an edittext is to have scrollbars or not.

Layout Attributes

.borderstyle

11.2.1 Notes for attribute .hinttext

This attribute is supported only by Windows and Qt.

For the edittext object on Windows, .hinttext is supported only if the attributes .multiline and .options[opt_rtf] have the value false.

11.3 Editable Text with Formatting (RTF edittext)

On Microsoft Windows, the edittext has an additional mode to support formatted text in Rich Text Format (RTF). This mode is activated by setting .options[opt_rtf] = true.

RTF is a text format specified by Microsoft that contains formatting instructions. RTF files can be edited, for example, with the Windows program WordPad, Microsoft Office Word and the Writer of OpenOffice or LibreOffice.

11.3.1 Particularities of Certain Attributes

The function of the attributes in the RTF edittext corresponds largely to their function in an edittext without formatting. However, for some attributes, there are particularities to be considered that are related to the fact that the content string – that is, the value of the .content attribute – and the displayed text differ.

The content string contains formatting instructions such as \i, \ul, and \par, which are not displayed as text, but in the mentioned examples cause the text in the display to be italic, underlined, or in a new paragraph. The RTF edittext may also restructure the content string, for example, by adding information to the RTF header.

This means that there are particularities for attributes where the text length or position in the text matters:

• Compliant with Windows, .startsel and .endsel refer to the position of the cursor or the selection in the displayed text. It is not possible to infer the position in the content string because of the formatting instructions contained therein. For this reason, .startsel and .endsel cannot be used directly to edit the contents (.content) of the edittext.
• .format, .formatfunc and .maxchars are permitted, but not useful for multi-line texts.

11.3.2 Attribute .textwidth

The maximum width for the text in the RTF edittext can be defined independently from the width of the edittext. Setting the text width for example may be useful to make the alignment of texts (left-aligned, right-aligned or centered) visible.

With the .textwidth attribute the maximum text width can be set and queried. If .textwidth is set to a value <= 0, the text width is calculated automatically and depends on the visibility of the horizontal scrollbar. The details are described at the attribute .textwidth in the “Attribute Reference”.

11.3.3 Editing and Formatting Content

The content of an RTF edittext can be modified with the method :replacetext(). The method :gettext() can be used to retrieve text and :findtext() can be used to search for text in the content. :replacetext() can insert plain, unformatted text or text in RTF format, :gettext() can return the retrieved text in both formats. To format text or query its formatting, the methods :setformat() and :getformat() are available.

These methods are explained in the “Method Reference”.

Depending on the font, it may happen that formatting instructions or formatting attributes set with :setformat() are ignored by the Windows object that the IDM uses for the RTF edittext. On Windows 7, this happens, for example, with text_bold if no font is set explicitly and therefore the System font is used implicitly.

11.4 Example

Single-line Edittext

window MAIN

{

  child edittext Input

  {

    .xleft    10;

    .ytop     10;

    .width    100;

    .content  "This is the edittext";

  }

}

Multi-line Edittext:

window Input

{

  child edittext PE_Editor

  {

    .xleft      20;

    .ytop       20;

    .visible    true;

    .width      80;

    .height     15;

    .maxchars   2000;

    .multiline  true;

    .content    "You can enter a lot of rows in this field.";

  }

}