Setting the text justification on a TextBox object in Flex Gumbo

The following example shows how you can set the type of text justification on a Flex Gumbo TextBox object by setting the textJustify style to one of the static constants in the flashx.textLayout.formats.TextJustify class.

Full code after the jump.

The textJustify style was added in Flex Gumbo build 4285 (4.0.0.4285). Click here to download the latest version of the Flex Gumbo SDK.

To use the following code, you must have Flash Player 10 and a Flex Gumbo SDK installed in your Flex Builder 3. For more information on downloading and installing the Gumbo SDK into Flex Builder 3, see “Using the beta Gumbo SDK in Flex Builder 3″.

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/12/22/setting-the-text-justification-on-a-textbox-object-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="TextBox_textJustify_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="top"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <Form styleName="plain">
            <FormItem label="textJustify:">
                <ComboBox id="comboBox"
                        dataProvider="[distribute,interWord]" />
            </FormItem>
            <FormItem label="width:">
                <HSlider id="slider"
                        minimum="300"
                        maximum="550"
                        value="500"
                        snapInterval="1"
                        tickInterval="25"
                        liveDragging="true" />
            </FormItem>
        </Form>
    </ApplicationControlBar>

    <Graphic>
        <TextBox id="textBox"
                textAlign="justify"
                textJustify="{comboBox.selectedItem}"
                width="{slider.value}">
            <text><String source="data/lorem.txt" /></text>
        </TextBox>
    </Graphic>

</Application>

View source is enabled in the following example.

You can also set the textJustify style in an external .CSS file or <Style/> block, as seen in the following example:

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/12/22/setting-the-text-justification-on-a-textbox-object-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="TextBox_textJustify_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="top"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <Style>
        TextBox {
            textJustify: interWord;
        }
    </Style>

    <ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <Form styleName="plain">
            <FormItem label="width:">
                <HSlider id="slider"
                        minimum="300"
                        maximum="550"
                        value="500"
                        snapInterval="1"
                        tickInterval="25"
                        liveDragging="true" />
            </FormItem>
        </Form>
    </ApplicationControlBar>

    <Graphic>
        <TextBox id="textBox"
                textAlign="justify"
                width="{slider.value}">
            <text><String source="data/lorem.txt" /></text>
        </TextBox>
    </Graphic>

</Application>

Or, you can set the textJustify style using ActionScript, as seen in the following example:

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/12/22/setting-the-text-justification-on-a-textbox-object-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="TextBox_textJustify_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="top"
        backgroundColor="white">

    <Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.events.ListEvent;

            private function comboBox_change(evt:ListEvent):void {
                textBox.setStyle("textJustify", comboBox.selectedItem);
            }
        ]]>
    </Script>

    <ApplicationControlBar dock="true">
        <Form styleName="plain">
            <FormItem label="textJustify:">
                <ComboBox id="comboBox"
                        dataProvider="[distribute,interWord]"
                        change="comboBox_change(event);" />
            </FormItem>
            <FormItem label="width:">
                <HSlider id="slider"
                        minimum="300"
                        maximum="550"
                        value="500"
                        snapInterval="1"
                        tickInterval="25"
                        liveDragging="true" />
            </FormItem>
        </Form>
    </ApplicationControlBar>

    <Graphic>
        <TextBox id="textBox"
                width="{slider.value}">
            <text><String source="data/lorem.txt" /></text>
        </TextBox>
    </Graphic>

</Application>

Due to popular demand, here is the “same” example in a more ActionScript friendly format:

View MXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- http://blog.flexexamples.com/2008/12/22/setting-the-text-justification-on-a-textbox-object-in-flex-gumbo/ -->
<Application name="TextBox_textJustify_test"
        xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
        layout="vertical"
        verticalAlign="top"
        backgroundColor="white"
        initialize="init();">

    <Script>
        <![CDATA[
            import mx.containers.ApplicationControlBar;
            import mx.containers.Form;
            import mx.containers.FormItem;
            import mx.controls.ComboBox;
            import mx.controls.HSlider;
            import mx.events.SliderEvent;
            import mx.events.ListEvent;
            import mx.graphics.Graphic;
            import mx.graphics.TextBox;
            import flashx.textLayout.formats.TextAlign;
            import flashx.textLayout.formats.TextJustify;

            [Embed(source="data/lorem.txt", mimeType="application/octet-stream")]
            private const Lorem:Class;

            private var comboBox:ComboBox;
            private var slider:HSlider;
            private var textBox:TextBox;

            private function init():void {
                var arr:Array = [];
                arr.push(TextJustify.DISTRIBUTE);
                arr.push(TextJustify.INTER_WORD);

                comboBox = new ComboBox();
                comboBox.dataProvider = arr;
                comboBox.addEventListener(ListEvent.CHANGE, comboBox_change);

                slider = new HSlider();
                slider.minimum = 300;
                slider.maximum = 550;
                slider.value = 500;
                slider.snapInterval = 1;
                slider.tickInterval = 25;
                slider.liveDragging = true;
                slider.addEventListener(SliderEvent.CHANGE, slider_change);

                var formItem1:FormItem = new FormItem();
                formItem1.label = "textJustify:";
                formItem1.addChild(comboBox);

                var formItem2:FormItem = new FormItem();
                formItem2.label = "width:";
                formItem2.addChild(slider);

                var form:Form = new Form();
                form.styleName = "plain";
                form.addChild(formItem1);
                form.addChild(formItem2);

                var appControlBar:ApplicationControlBar = new ApplicationControlBar();
                appControlBar.dock = true;
                appControlBar.addChild(form);
                addChildAt(appControlBar, 0);

                textBox = new TextBox();
                textBox.setStyle("textAlign", TextAlign.JUSTIFY);
                textBox.text = new Lorem();
                textBox.width = 500;

                var graphic:Graphic = new Graphic();
                graphic.addElement(textBox);
                addChild(graphic);
            }

            private function comboBox_change(evt:ListEvent):void {
                textBox.setStyle("textJustify", comboBox.selectedItem);
            }

            private function slider_change(evt:SliderEvent):void {
                textBox.width = evt.value;
            }
        ]]>
    </Script>

</Application>

This entry is based on a beta version of the Flex Gumbo SDK and therefore is very likely to change as development of the Flex SDK continues. The API can (and will) change causing examples to possibly not compile in newer versions of the Flex Gumbo SDK.

Tagged as: Gumbo, textJustify