| Package | flash.text | 
| Class | public class TextFormat | 
| Inheritance | TextFormat  Object | 
| Subclasses | UITextFormat | 
 You must use the constructor new TextFormat() to create a TextFormat object
 before setting its properties. The TextFormat properties are null by default 
 because if you don't provide values for the properties, Flash Player uses its own default formatting.
 The default formatting that Flash Player uses for each property (if property's value is null)
 is as follows:
| align = "left" | 
| blockIndent = 0 | 
| bold = false | 
| bullet = false | 
| color = 0x000000 | 
| font = "Times New Roman" (default font is Times on Mac OS X) | 
| indent = 0 | 
| italic = false | 
| kerning = false | 
| leading = 0 | 
| leftMargin = 0 | 
| letterSpacing = 0 | 
| rightMargin = 0 | 
| size = 12 | 
| tabStops = [] (empty array) | 
| target = "" (empty string) | 
| underline = false | 
| url = "" (empty string) | 
The default formatting for each property is also described in each property description.
See also
| Property | Defined By | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| align : String 
  Indicates the alignment of the paragraph. | TextFormat | ||
| blockIndent : Object 
  Indicates the block indentation in pixels. | TextFormat | ||
| bold : Object 
  Specifies whether the text is boldface. | TextFormat | ||
| bullet : Object 
  Indicates that the text is part of a bulleted list. | TextFormat | ||
| color : Object 
  Indicates the color of the text. | TextFormat | ||
|  | constructor : Object 
  A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance. | Object | |
| font : String 
  The name of the font for text in this text format, as a string. | TextFormat | ||
| indent : Object 
  Indicates the indentation from the left
  margin to the first character in the paragraph. | TextFormat | ||
| italic : Object 
  Indicates whether text in this text format is italicized. | TextFormat | ||
| kerning : Object 
  A Boolean value that indicates whether kerning is enabled (true) 
  or disabled (false). | TextFormat | ||
| leading : Object 
  An integer representing the amount of vertical space (called leading)
  between lines. | TextFormat | ||
| leftMargin : Object 
  The left margin of the paragraph, in pixels. | TextFormat | ||
| letterSpacing : Object 
     A number representing the amount of space that is uniformly distributed between all characters. | TextFormat | ||
|  | prototype : Object [static] 
  A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object. | Object | |
| rightMargin : Object 
  The right margin of the paragraph, in pixels. | TextFormat | ||
| size : Object 
  The point size of text in this text format. | TextFormat | ||
| tabStops : Array 
  Specifies custom tab stops as an array of non-negative integers. | TextFormat | ||
| target : String 
  Indicates the target window where the hyperlink is displayed. | TextFormat | ||
| underline : Object 
  Indicates whether the text that uses this text format is underlined (true)
  or not (false). | TextFormat | ||
| url : String 
  Indicates the target URL for the text in this text format. | TextFormat | ||
| Method | Defined By | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 
TextFormat(font:String = null, size:Object = null, color:Object = null, bold:Object = null, italic:Object = null, underline:Object = null, url:String = null, target:String = null, align:String = null, leftMargin:Object = null, rightMargin:Object = null, indent:Object = null, leading:Object = null) 
   Creates a TextFormat object with the specified properties. | TextFormat | ||
|  | 
  Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined. | Object | |
|  | 
  Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified 
  as the parameter. | Object | |
|  | 
  Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable. | Object | |
|  | 
     Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations. | Object | |
|  | 
  Returns the string representation of the specified object. | Object | |
|  | 
  Returns the primitive value of the specified object. | Object | |
| align | property | 
align:String  [read-write] Indicates the alignment of the paragraph. Valid values are TextFormatAlign constants.
 The default value is TextFormatAlign.LEFT.
    public function get align():String
    public function set align(value:String):void
| ArgumentError — Thealignspecified is not a member of flash.text.TextFormatAlign. | 
See also
| blockIndent | property | 
blockIndent:Object  [read-write] 
  Indicates the block indentation in pixels. Block indentation is applied to
  an entire block of text; that is, to all lines of the text. In contrast, normal indentation 
  (TextFormat.indent) affects only the first line of each paragraph. 
  If this property is null, the TextFormat object does not specify block indentation
  (block indentation is 0).
    
    public function get blockIndent():Object
    public function set blockIndent(value:Object):void
| bold | property | 
bold:Object  [read-write] 
  Specifies whether the text is boldface. The default value is null,
  which means no boldface is used.
  If the value is true, then
  the text is boldface.
    
    public function get bold():Object
    public function set bold(value:Object):void
| bullet | property | 
bullet:Object  [read-write] 
  Indicates that the text is part of a bulleted list. In a bulleted
  list, each paragraph of text is indented. To the left of the first line of each paragraph, a bullet
  symbol is displayed. The default value is null, which means no bulleted list   
  is used.
    
    public function get bullet():Object
    public function set bullet(value:Object):void
| color | property | 
color:Object  [read-write] 
  Indicates the color of the text. A number containing three 8-bit RGB components; for example,
  0xFF0000 is red, and 0x00FF00 is green. The default value is null,
  which means that Flash Player uses the color black (0x000000).
    
    public function get color():Object
    public function set color(value:Object):void
| font | property | 
font:String  [read-write] 
  The name of the font for text in this text format, as a string. The default value is
  null, which means that Flash Player uses Times New Roman font for the text.
    
    public function get font():String
    public function set font(value:String):void
| indent | property | 
indent:Object  [read-write] 
  Indicates the indentation from the left
  margin to the first character in the paragraph. The default value is null, which
  indicates that no indentation is used.
    
    public function get indent():Object
    public function set indent(value:Object):void
See also
| italic | property | 
italic:Object  [read-write] 
  Indicates whether text in this text format is italicized. The default
  value is null, which means no italics are used.
    
    public function get italic():Object
    public function set italic(value:Object):void
| kerning | property | 
kerning:Object  [read-write] 
  A Boolean value that indicates whether kerning is enabled (true) 
  or disabled (false). Kerning adjusts the pixels between certain character pairs to improve readability, and 
  should be used only when necessary, such as with headings in large fonts. Kerning is 
  supported for embedded fonts only.
    
Certain fonts such as Verdana and monospaced fonts, such as Courier New, do not support kerning.
The default value is null, which means that kerning is not enabled.
    public function get kerning():Object
    public function set kerning(value:Object):void
| leading | property | 
leading:Object  [read-write] 
  An integer representing the amount of vertical space (called leading)
  between lines. The default value is null, which indicates that the
  amount of leading used is 0.
    
    public function get leading():Object
    public function set leading(value:Object):void
| leftMargin | property | 
leftMargin:Object  [read-write] 
  The left margin of the paragraph, in pixels. The default value is null, which
  indicates that the left margin is 0 pixels.
    
    public function get leftMargin():Object
    public function set leftMargin(value:Object):void
| letterSpacing | property | 
letterSpacing:Object  [read-write] 
     A number representing the amount of space that is uniformly distributed between all characters.
  The value specifies the number of pixels that are added to the advance after each character.
  The default value is null, which means that 0 pixels of letter spacing is used.
     You can use decimal values such as 1.75.
    
    public function get letterSpacing():Object
    public function set letterSpacing(value:Object):void
| rightMargin | property | 
rightMargin:Object  [read-write] 
  The right margin of the paragraph, in pixels. The default value is null,
  which indicates that the right margin is 0 pixels.
    
    public function get rightMargin():Object
    public function set rightMargin(value:Object):void
| size | property | 
size:Object  [read-write] 
  The point size of text in this text format. The default value is null, which
  means that a point size of 12 is used.
    
    public function get size():Object
    public function set size(value:Object):void
| tabStops | property | 
tabStops:Array  [read-write] 
  Specifies custom tab stops as an array of non-negative integers. Each tab stop is
  specified in pixels. If custom tab stops are not specified (null), the default tab
  stop is 4 (average character width).
    
    public function get tabStops():Array
    public function set tabStops(value:Array):void
| target | property | 
target:String  [read-write] 
  Indicates the target window where the hyperlink is displayed. If the target window is an
  empty string, the text is displayed in the default target window _self. You can choose
  a custom name or one of the following four names: _self specifies the current frame in
  the current window, _blank specifies a new window, _parent specifies the
  parent of the current frame, and _top specifies the top-level frame in the current
  window. If the TextFormat.url property is an empty string or null, 
  you can get or set this property, but the property will have no effect.
    
    public function get target():String
    public function set target(value:String):void
See also
| underline | property | 
underline:Object  [read-write] 
  Indicates whether the text that uses this text format is underlined (true)
  or not (false). This underlining is similar to that produced by the
  <U> tag, but the latter is not true underlining, because it does not skip
  descenders correctly. The default value is null, which indicates that underlining
  is not used.
    
    public function get underline():Object
    public function set underline(value:Object):void
| url | property | 
url:String  [read-write] 
  Indicates the target URL for the text in this text format. If the url
  property is an empty string, the text does not have a hyperlink. The default value is null,
  which indicates that the text does not have a hyperlink.
  
Note: The text with the assigned text format must be set with the htmlText
  property for the hyperlink to work.
    public function get url():String
    public function set url(value:String):void
See also
| TextFormat | () | Constructor | 
public function TextFormat(font:String = null, size:Object = null, color:Object = null, bold:Object = null, italic:Object = null, underline:Object = null, url:String = null, target:String = null, align:String = null, leftMargin:Object = null, rightMargin:Object = null, indent:Object = null, leading:Object = null)
Creates a TextFormat object with the specified properties. You can then change the properties of the TextFormat object to change the formatting of text fields.
Any parameter may be set to null to indicate that it is not defined. All of the
  parameters are optional; any omitted parameters are treated as null.
| font:String(default =null)— The name of a font for text as a string. | |
| size:Object(default =null)— An integer that indicates the point size. | |
| color:Object(default =null)— The color of text using this text format. A number containing three 8-bit RGB
  components; for example, 0xFF0000 is red, and 0x00FF00 is green. | |
| bold:Object(default =null)— A Boolean value that indicates whether the text is boldface. | |
| italic:Object(default =null)— A Boolean value that indicates whether the text is italicized. | |
| underline:Object(default =null)— A Boolean value that indicates whether the text is underlined. | |
| url:String(default =null)— The URL to which the text in this text format hyperlinks. Ifurlis
  an empty string, the text does not have a hyperlink. | |
| target:String(default =null)— The target window where the hyperlink is displayed. If the target window is an empty
  string, the text is displayed in the default target window_self. If theurlparameter is set to an empty string or to the valuenull, you can get or
  set this property, but the property will have no effect. | |
| align:String(default =null)— The alignment of the paragraph, as a TextFormatAlign value. | |
| leftMargin:Object(default =null)— Indicates the left margin of the paragraph, in pixels. | |
| rightMargin:Object(default =null)— Indicates the right margin of the paragraph, in pixels. | |
| indent:Object(default =null)— An integer that indicates the indentation from the left margin to the first character
  in the paragraph. | |
| leading:Object(default =null)— A number that indicates the amount of leading vertical space between lines. | 
The formatTextField text field lists all the TextField class property options 
 (with the exception of kerning) in a separate line. When a user clicks a  
 line in the formatTextField text field, the formatTextFieldClickHandler()
 method is triggered.
The formatTextFieldClickHandler() method calls the TextField.getLineIndexAtPoint()
 method to get the index of the line that was clicked, and then calls the TextField.getLineText()
 method to get the content of the line. The switch statement checks the content of the line and sets
 a property of the newformat TextFormat object accordingly. The setTextFormat() 
 method then sets the text format of the contentTextField text field to the new format. By clicking 
 different formatTextField lines, a user can apply a different formatting 
 to the contentTextField text field. (The tab setting is an array that defines 
 a separate tab stop for each tab in the line.) If the url or target line 
 is selected, the user must click the contentTextField text field to activate the link 
 and display the content of the target URL (Flex home page). The default value of the target 
 property is "_self", which means that the content is displayed in the current window if the user 
 selects the url line. For the target property to work, a URL must be 
  set already in the url property.
If a user clicks the contentTextField text field, the contentTextFieldClickHandler()
 method is triggered, which sets the field's format and the newFormat TextFormat
 object to the default (original) format of the text field. This clears all the formatting changes 
 that the user made.
package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.text.TextField;
    import flash.text.TextFormat;
    import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize;
    import flash.events.MouseEvent;
    import flash.text.TextFormatAlign;
    
    public class TextFormat_constructorExample extends Sprite {
        private var contentTextField:TextField = new TextField();
        private var formatTextField:TextField = new TextField();
        private var newFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
        
        public function TextFormat_constructorExample() {
            contentTextField.x = 10;
            contentTextField.y = 10;
            contentTextField.background = true;
            contentTextField.border = true;
            contentTextField.multiline = true;
            contentTextField.wordWrap = true;
            contentTextField.selectable = false;
            contentTextField.width = 250;
            contentTextField.height = 120; 
  
            contentTextField.htmlText = "<p>The TextFormat class represents character formatting "
                + "information. Use the TextFormat class to create specific text formatting "
                + "for text fields." + 
                " </p><br>" + "\tTab One" + "\tTab Two<br>";
              
            formatTextField.x = 10;
            formatTextField.y = 140;
            formatTextField.background = true;
            formatTextField.border = true;
            formatTextField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
            
            formatTextField.text = "align: right\n" + "blockIndent: 10 pixels\n" + "bold:\n" + "bullet:\n" + "color: red\n"
                                + "font: Arial\n" + "indent: 20 pixels\n" + "italic:\n" + "leading: 5 spaces\n" 
                                + "leftMargin: 20 pixels\n" + "letterSpacing: 4 pixels\n" + "rightMargin: 20 pixels\n" 
                                + "size: 16 point\n" + "target: new window\n" + "tabStops: 50 and 150 pixel\n" 
                                + "underline:\n" + "url: Adobe Flex page\n";
            formatTextField.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, formatTextFieldClickHandler);
            
            contentTextField.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, contentTextFieldClickHandler);
            
            this.addChild(contentTextField);
            this.addChild(formatTextField);
        }
        private function formatTextFieldClickHandler(e:MouseEvent):void {
                var value:String= "";
                var i:uint = 0;
                var index:int = formatTextField.getLineIndexAtPoint(e.localX, e.localY);
                var line:String = formatTextField.getLineText(index);;
                line = line.substr(0, (line.indexOf(":")));
                switch(line) {
                    case "align":
                        newFormat.align = TextFormatAlign.RIGHT;
                        break;
                    case "blockIndent":
                        newFormat.blockIndent = 10;
                        break;
                    case "bold":
                        newFormat.bold = true;
                        break;
                    case "bullet":
                        newFormat.bullet = true;
                        break;
                    case "color":
                        newFormat.color = 0xFF0000;        
                        break;
                    case "font":
                        newFormat.font = "Arial";
                        break;
                    case "indent":
                        newFormat.indent = 20;
                        break;
                    case "italic":
                        newFormat.italic = true;
                        break;
                    case "leading":
                        newFormat.leading = 5;
                        break;
                    case "leftMargin":
                        newFormat.leftMargin = 20;
                        break;
                    case "letterSpacing":
                        newFormat.letterSpacing = 4;
                        break;
                    case "rightMargin":
                        newFormat.rightMargin = 20;
                        break;
                    case "size":
                        newFormat.size = 16;
                        break;
                    case "tabStops":                
                        newFormat.tabStops = [50, 150];
                        break;
                    case "target":
                        newFormat.url = "http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/";    
                        newFormat.target = "_blank";
                        break;    
                    case "underline":
                        newFormat.underline = true;
                        break;
                    case "url":
                        newFormat.url = "http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/";    
                        break;
                }    
                contentTextField.setTextFormat(newFormat);
        }
        private function contentTextFieldClickHandler(e:MouseEvent):void {
            contentTextField.setTextFormat(contentTextField.defaultTextFormat);
            newFormat = contentTextField.defaultTextFormat;
        }
    }
}
label of type TextField is created.configureLabel()configureLabel() function first creates a new TextField object and assigns it to 
  label then sets its parameters to
  configureLable() creates the local variable, format, and assigns it to 
  a new TextFormat instance with its parameters set to
  defaultTextFormat property is set to format, and the
  label instance is added to the display list, which initially displays a text field with
  no text (as tiny box with a white background) on the stage.setLabel().
 package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.text.TextField;
    import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize;
    import flash.text.TextFormat;
    public class TextFormatExample extends Sprite {
        private var label:TextField;
        public function TextFormatExample() {
            configureLabel();
            setLabel("Hello World and welcome to the show");
        }
        public function setLabel(str:String):void {
            label.text = str;
        }
        private function configureLabel():void {
            label = new TextField();
            label.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
            label.background = true;
            label.border = true;
            var format:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
            format.font = "Verdana";
            format.color = 0xFF0000;
            format.size = 10;
            format.underline = true;
            label.defaultTextFormat = format;
            addChild(label);
        }
    }
}