8.2. Changing Text at Runtime
Problem
You want to customize text field at runtime in order to display text retrieved from a text file, a database, user input, and so on.
Solution
Set the value of the text field’s text
property.
Discussion
Every dynamic and input text field has a text
property that controls what is displayed to the user at runtime. You can use ActionScript to set the text
property for a text field, and the value you assign to the property is displayed:
// Display the assigned string value in the text field. tMessage.text = "Don't think about pink crocodiles.";
You can also use variables and more complex expressions on the right side of the equals sign (known as an assignment statement):
// Assign a value to a variable, sUsername.
var sUsername:String = "Fred";
// Use the sUsername
variable, and concatenate its value with a quoted string
// to create a dynamic value to assign to the text field. In this case, the
// text field displays: "Fred, don't think about pink crocodiles.";
tMessage.text = sUsername + ", don't think about pink crocodiles.";
If using a multiline text field, you can add line breaks using a newline character. You can use either the special characters \n
or \r
within the quoted string, or you can use the ActionScript constant, newline
. Both are equivalent, but you must use the \n
or \r
character within quotes, and you must use the newline
constant outside of quotes.
// The following two lines are equivalent, but the first is more convenient. tMessage.text ...
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