# Text Field {#text-field} ## Overview The Dali::Toolkit::TextField is a control which provides a single-line editable text field. ### Basic usage Before any text has been entered, the TextField can display some placeholder text. An alternative placeholder can be displayed when the TextField has keyboard focus. For example a TextField used to enter a username could initially show "Unknown Name", and then show "Enter Name." when the cursor is shown. ~~~{.cpp} // C++ TextField field = TextField::New(); field.SetProperty( TextField::Property::PLACEHOLDER_TEXT, "Unnamed Name" ); field.SetProperty( TextField::Property::PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_FOCUSED, "Enter Name." ); Stage::GetCurrent().Add( field ); ~~~ ~~~{.js} // JavaScript var field = new dali.TextField(); field.placeholderText = "Unnamed Name"; field.placeholderTextFocused = "Enter Name."; dali.stage.add( field ); ~~~ When the TextField is tapped, it will automatically gain the keyboard focus. Key events will then result in text being inserted, and the placeholder text will be removed. After text has been entered, it can be retrieved from the TEXT property. ~~~{.cpp} // C++ Property::Value fieldText = field.GetProperty( TextField::Property::TEXT ); std::cout << "Received text: " << fieldText.Get< std::string >() << std::endl; ~~~ ~~~{.js} // JavaScript console.log( field.text ); ~~~ ### Font Selection By default TextField will automatically select a suitable font from the platform. However, a different font could be selected. See the [Font Selection](@ref font-selection) section for more details. ### Text Alignment TextField displays a single-line of text, which will scroll if there is not enough room for the text displayed. If there is enough room, then the text can be aligned horizontally to the beginning, end, or center of the available area: ~~~{.cpp} // C++ field.SetProperty( TextField::Property::HORIZONTAL_ALIGNMENT, "BEGIN" ); // "CENTER" or "END" ~~~ ~~~{.js} // JavaScript field.HorizontalAlignment = "BEGIN"; // "CENTER" or "END" ~~~ ### Copy and Paste (Selection) Text can be selected by a long press or double tapping it. Depending on certain conditions a popup could be shown giving options including [CUT][COPY][PASTE], [SELECT ALL] or [CLIPBOARD]. Below these conditions will be explained. [CUT] or [COPY] send the selected text to the clipboard ready to be pasted directly or via the clipboard UI. Pressing [PASTE] will paste the top item from the clipboard (what has just been copied, possibly from another application). If the system supports a clipboard UI this can be displayed by pressing the [CLIPBOARD] button. Empty text means the user has not inputted any text, a TextField containing special characters or purely whitespace is not empty. Below shows how the popup will look depending on the state of the TextField | | | |--|--| | Condition: Long press/double tap when empty text but clipboard has content | Condition: Long press/double tap when TextField contains text | |[PASTE][CLIPBOARD] buttons shown| [CUT][COPY], [SELECT ALL] unless all text selected and [PASTE][CLIPBOARD] if content to paste. | |   |   | | Condition: Long press/double tap popup when TextField contains just whitespace | Condition: Empty text & clipboard empty | | Whitespace treated as regular text, [CUT][COPY] shown and [PASTE][CLIPBOARD] if content to paste. As all text is selected there is no need for [SELECT ALL] | No popup shown after longpress/double tap| |   |  | | Condition: Longpress/(double tap) on whitespace which is following text | Condition: Tapping text or panning grab handle | | [PASTE][CLIPBOARD] shown if something to paste. [SELECT ALL] as more text to select | If content in clipboard [PASTE][CLIPBOARD] popup will be shown. | |   |   | ### TextField Decorations #### Color To change the color of the text, the recommended way is to use the TEXT_COLOR property. An alternative color can be used for placeholder text by setting PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_COLOR. Note that unlike the Actor::COLOR property, these properties will not affect child Actors added to the TextField. ~~~{.cpp} // C++ field.SetProperty( TextField::Property::TEXT_COLOR, Color::CYAN ); field.SetProperty( TextField::Property::PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_COLOR, Color::BLACK ); ~~~ ~~~{.js} // JavaScript field.textColor = dali.COLOR_CYAN; field.placeholderTextColor = dali.COLOR_BLACK; ~~~ ### Text Field Properties Name (JavaScript) | Name (C++) | Type | Writable | Animatable -----------------------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------|--------------|----------- renderingBackend | RENDERING_BACKEND | INTEGER | O | X text | TEXT | STRING | O | X placeholderText | PLACEHOLDER_TEXT | STRING | O | X placeholderTextFocused | PLACEHOLDER_TEXT_FOCUSED | STRING | O | X fontFamily | FONT_FAMILY | STRING | O | X fontStyle | FONT_STYLE | STRING | O | X pointSize | POINT_SIZE | FLOAT | O | X maxLength | MAX_LENGTH | INTEGER | O | X exceedPolicy | EXCEED_POLICY | INTEGER | O | X horizontalAlignment | HORIZONTAL_ALIGNMENT | STRING | O | X verticalAlignment | VERTICAL_ALIGNMENT | STRING | O | X textColor | TEXT_COLOR | VECTOR4 | O | X shadowOffset | SHADOW_OFFSET | VECTOR2 | O | X shadowColor | SHADOW_COLOR | VECTOR4 | O | X primaryCursorColor | PRIMARY_CURSOR_COLOR | VECTOR4 | O | X secondaryCursorColor | SECONDARY_CURSOR_COLOR | VECTOR4 | O | X enableCursorBlink | ENABLE_CURSOR_BLINK | BOOLEAN | O | X cursorBlinkInterval | CURSOR_BLINK_INTERVAL | FLOAT | O | X cursorBlinkDuration | CURSOR_BLINK_DURATION | FLOAT | O | X grabHandleImage | GRAB_HANDLE_IMAGE | STRING | O | X grabHandlePressedImage | GRAB_HANDLE_PRESSED_IMAGE | STRING | O | X scrollThreshold | SCROLL_THRESHOLD | FLOAT | O | X scrollSpreed | SCROLL_SPEED | FLOAT | O | X selectionHandleImageLeft | SELECTION_HANDLE_IMAGE_LEFT | STRING | O | X selectionHandleImageRight | SELECTION_HANDLE_IMAGE_RIGHT | STRING | O | X selectionHandlePressedImageLeft | SELECTION_HANDLE_PRESSED_IMAGE_LEFT | STRING | O | X selectionHandlePressedImageRight | SELECTION_HANDLE_PRESSED_IMAGE_RIGHT | STRING | O | X selectionHighlightColor | SELECTION_HIGHLIGHT_COLOR | VECTOR4 | O | X decorationBoundingBox | DECORATION_BOUNDING_BOX | RECTANGLE | O | X inputMethodSettings | INPUT_METHOD_SETTINGS | MAP | O | X @class TextField */