The following example shows how you can set tab stops on the Flex TextArea control by setting the tabStops property on a TextFormat object and setting the defaultTextFormat property or setTextFormat() method, or by setting the TextArea control’s htmlText property to an HTML string with a <TextFormat> tag.
Full code after the jump.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application name="TextArea_tabStops_test"
xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
layout="vertical"
verticalAlign="middle"
backgroundColor="white">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
private function init1():void {
var tf:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
tf.tabStops = [100, 200, 300, 400];
textArea1.mx_internal::getTextField().setTextFormat(tf);
}
private function init3():void {
textArea3.htmlText = "<TEXTFORMAT TABSTOPS='100,200,300,400'><P>The quick<TAB/>brown fox<TAB/>jumps over<TAB/>the lazy<TAB/>dog.</P><P>The<TAB/>quick brown<TAB/>fox jumps<TAB/>over the<TAB/>lazy dog.</P></TEXTFORMAT>";
}
private function init4():void {
var tf:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
tf.tabStops = [100, 200, 300, 400];
textArea4.mx_internal::getTextField().defaultTextFormat = tf;
textArea4.text = "The quick\\tbrown fox\\tjumps over\\tthe lazy\\tdog.\\nThe\\tquick brown\\tfox jumps\\tover the\\tlazy dog.";
textArea4.validateNow();
trace(textArea4.htmlText);
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:TextArea id="textArea1"
condenseWhite="true"
width="500"
creationComplete="init1();">
<mx:htmlText>
<![CDATA[
<p>The quick<tab/>brown fox<tab/>jumps over<tab/>the lazy<tab/>dog.</p><p>The<tab/>quick brown<tab/>fox jumps<tab/>over the<tab/>lazy dog.</p>
]]>
</mx:htmlText>
</mx:TextArea>
<mx:TextArea id="textArea2"
condenseWhite="true"
width="500">
<mx:htmlText>
<![CDATA[
<TEXTFORMAT TABSTOPS="100,200,300,400"><P>The quick<TAB/>brown fox<TAB/>jumps over<TAB/>the lazy<TAB/>dog.</P><P>The<TAB/>quick brown<TAB/>fox jumps<TAB/>over the<TAB/>lazy dog.</P></TEXTFORMAT>
]]>
</mx:htmlText>
</mx:TextArea>
<mx:TextArea id="textArea3"
condenseWhite="true"
width="500"
initialize="init3();" />
<mx:TextArea id="textArea4"
width="500"
initialize="init4();" />
</mx:Application>
