TextArea Widget

The TextArea widget allows you to enter multiple lines of text. It inherits all the properties of the TextBox widget.

Following are the key use cases of Text Area widget:

• Feedback: User feedback can comprise multiple lines of text. Text Area widget is apt in all the scenarios where the feedback of user is taken.
• Comments Section: Text Area widget is apt for the applications that support users’ comments. For instance, consider the following screen from the Resorts application. Here, users can provide comments on their requirements.
• Address Field: Address generally comprises multiple lines. Text Area widget is used for the address field in the user profile.
• Text messages: Text Area widget is used in all the social networking applications for sending messages.

Widgets are normally added to your application using Quantum Visualizer, but can also be added from code. For general information on using widgets in Quantum Visualizer, see Designing an Application in the Visualizer User Guide.

For general information on the TextArea2 widget see the TextArea2 topic in the Quantum Visualizer User Guide.

This widget supports drag and drop of text for iOS 11 on iPad.

The TextArea widget capabilities can be broadly categorized into the following:

• Layout
• Data Management
• Animations
• 3D Touch
• User Input Handling
• UI Appearance
• Enabling RTL
• Miscellaneous
• Configurations Common To All Widgets

Layout

Events	Description
doLayout	Invoked for every widget when the widget position and dimensions are computed.

  

Properties	Description
bottom	Determines the bottom edge of the widget and is measured from the bottom bounds of the parent container.
centerX	Determines the center of a widget measured from the left bounds of the parent container.
centerY	Determines the center of a widget measured from the top bounds of the parent container.
contentAlignment	Specifies the alignment of the text for a widget with respect to its boundaries.
height	Determines the height of the widget and measured along the y-axis.
left	Determines the lower left corner edge of the widget and is measured from the left bounds of the parent container.
maxHeight	Specifies the maximum height of the widget and is applicable only when the height property is not specified.
maxWidth	Specifies the maximum width of the widget and is applicable only when the width property is not specified.
minHeight	Specifies the minimum height of the widget and is applicable only when the height property is not specified.
minWidth	Specifies the minimum width of the widget and is applicable only when the width property is not specified.
padding	Defines the space between the content of the widget and the widget boundaries.
paddingInPixel	Indicates if the padding is to be applied in pixels or in percentage.
right	Determines the lower right corner of the widget and is measured from the right bounds of the parent container.
top	Determines the top edge of the widget and measured from the top bounds of the parent container.
width	Determines the width of the widget and is measured along the x-axis.
zIndex	Specifies the stack order of a widget.

 

Data Management

Methods	Description
clone	When this method is used on a container widget, then all the widgets inside the container are cloned.

 

Events	Description
onBeginEditing	This is an event callback that is invoked by the platform when the user clicks within the TextArea and is about to start editing.
onDone	This event is triggered when user is done with entering text in textarea and click or touch the Go or Enter option.
onEndEditing	This is an event callback that is invoked by the platform.
onTextChange	This is an event callback triggered when text in the TextArea changes.

 

Properties	Description
autoCapitalize	Specifies the character capitalization behavior.
autoCorrect	Determines whether auto-correction is enabled or disabled during typing.
autoSuggestions	Used to enable or disable suggestions such as spell checker, predictive text and corrections in the application.
closeButtonText	Specifies the text to replace the "Done" button that appears in the Keypad (opens when you select a textbox).
isSensitiveText	Used to secure the text entered in a TextArea widget.
keyboardActionLabel	Specifies if the text to be displayed in action key of the keyboard.
maxTextLength	Specifies the maximum number of characters that the text field can accept.
placeholder	Specifies a short hint that describes the expected value of an input field (example, a sample value or a short description of the expected format).
restrictCharactersSet	Restricts users from entering a set of input characters from the soft keyboard in the TextArea widget.
secureTextEntry	Specifies whether the text entered by the user will be secured using a mask character, such as asterisk or dot.
setImportantForAutoFill	Specifies whether the TextArea widget should get preference to show suggestions while entering data.
text	Specifies a general or descriptive text for the TextArea widget.
textInputMode	Specifies the type of input characters that a user can enter into the TextArea widget.
toolTip	Specifies the hint text when the cursor hovers over a widget, without clicking it.
wrapText	Allows you to specify whether text in the TextArea Widget should be wrapped or not.

 

Animations

Methods	Description
animate	Applies an animation to the widget.

 

Properties	Description
transform	Contains an animation transformation that can be used to animate the widget.
widgetSwipeMove	Used to enable and configure the left or right swipe actions for a widget.

 

3D Touch

Methods	Description
registerForPeekandPop	Registers a widget to enable 3D Touch peek and pop gestures.
setOnPeek	Sets and overrides the existing onPeekCallback for the widget.
setOnPop	Overrides the existing onPopCallback for the widget.
unregisterForPeekandPop	Unregisters a widget from 3D Touch peek and pop gestures.

User Input Handling

Methods	Description
addGestureRecognizer	Allows you to set a gesture recognizer for a specified gesture for a specified widget.
removeGestureRecognizer	Allows you to remove the specified gesture recognizer for the specified widget.
setGestureRecognizer	Allows you to set a gesture recognizer for a specified gesture for a specified widget.

 

Events	Description
onBackKeyPress	This event callback is invoked when the back button of an Android mobile device is clicked.
onKeyBoardDidHide	This event callback is invoked when the soft keyboard of an Android device has been closed.
onKeyboardDidShow	This event callback is invoked after the soft keyboard of an Android device appears.
onKeyboardWillHide	This event callback is invoked when the soft keyboard of an Android device is about to close.
onKeyboardWillShow	This event callback is invoked when the soft keyboard of an Android device is about to appear.
onKeyDown	This event callback that is invoked by the platform when the user presses a key (on the keyboard).
onKeyUp	This event callback that is invoked by the platform when the user releases a key (on the keyboard).
onScrollWidgetPosition	This event callback is invoked by the platform when the widget location position gets changed on scrolling.

 

Properties	Description
isSelectable	Enables you to select the content inside the TextArea
smartDashes	Allows you to insert hyphens without space in the text.
smartInsertDelete	Enables you to add a space when you copy and paste a text.
smartQuotes	Enables you to add curly quotes in the text.
textCopyable	Enable or disable the cut, copy and, paste of the text.

UI Appearance

Properties	Description
backgroundColor	Specifies the background color of the widget in hex format.
backgroundColorMultiStepGradient	Specifies the multi-step gradient color for the background of the widget.
backgroundColorTwoStepGradient	Specifies the two-step gradient color for the background of the widget.
backgroundImage	Sets the image for the background of the widget.
borderColor	Specifies the border color of the widget.
borderColorGradient	Specifies the multi-step gradient color for the border of the widget.
borderStyle	Specifies the border style for the widget.
borderWidth	Specifies the width of the border for the widget in pixels.
cornerRadius	Specifies the radius of the border for the widget.
disabledStateSkinProperties	Specifies the skin properties that define the look and feel of the widget, when the widget is disabled or blocked.
focusStateSkinProperties	Specifies the skin properties that define the look and feel of the widget, when the widget is in focus.
fontColor	Specifies the font color of the widget.
fontFamily	Specifies the font family for the font of the widget.
fontSize	Specifies the font size for the widget in percentage (%) units.
fontStyle	Specifies the font style for the widget.
fontWeight	Specifies the weight for the font of the widget.
hoverStateSkinProperties	Specifies the skin properties that define the look and feel of the widget, when the cursor hovers on the widget.
pressedStateSkinProperties	Specifies the skin properties that define the look and feel of the widget, when the widget is pressed or clicked.
shadowColor	Specifies the color for the shadow of the widget.
shadowOffset	This property specifies the current coordinates of the shadow region in the widget.
shadowRadius	Specifies the radius for the blur value of the shadow.
textShadowColor	Specifies the color for the text shadow of the widget.
textShadowOffset	This property specifies the current coordinates of the text shadow region in the widget.
textShadowRadius	Specifies the radius for the blur value of the text shadow.
focusSkin	Specifies the look and feel of the widget when in focus.
hoverSkin	Specifies the look and feel of a widget when the cursor hovers on the widget.
keyboardAppearance	Allows you to set the on screen keyboard to a dark or light color scheme.
keyBoardStyle	When you interact with a TextBox widget, a keyboard is displayed.
nativeThumbLook	Provides the native thumb look of the Switch.
opacity	Specifies the opacity of the widget.
placeholderSkin	Specifies the skin to be applied to the placeholder text in the TextArea widget.
skin	Specifies a background skin for Switch widget.
shadowDepth	Defines the depth of the shadow effect applied to the TextArea Widget.
shadowType	Sets a type of the shadow effect to apply to the TextArea Widget.
showCloseButton	Specifies if the "Done" button that appears in the keypad (opens when you select text box) must be visible or not.
showProgressIndicator	Specifies if there must be an indication to the user that the widget content is being loaded.

 

Enabling RTL

Properties	Description
retainContentAlignment	Helps to retain the content alignment of the widget while applying RTL.
retainFlexPositionProperties	Helps to retain the left, right and padding properties while applying RTL.
retainFlowHorizontalAlignment	Enables you to change the horizontal flow of the widget from left to right.

Miscellaneous

Properties	Description
cursorType	Specifies the type of the mouse pointer used.
enableHapticFeedback	Allows you to enable or disable haptic feedback on the TextArea widget.
inputAccessoryViewType	The extra buttons (or controls) allow specific operations needed by your application, such as moving to the next or previous text field, making the keyboard disappear and so on. The area above the keyboard is known as Input Accessory View
selectedIndex	Accessible only from code and it specifies the option of the Switch that must be shown as selected when rendered.

 

Methods	Description
getBadge	Enables you to read the badge value (if any) attached to the specified widget.
setBadge	Enables you to set the badge value to the given widget at the upper, right corner of the widget.

Configurations Common To All Widgets

Properties	Description
accessibilityConfig	Enables you to control accessibility behavior and alternative text for the widget.
enable	Allows you to make a widget visible but not actionable.
enableCache	Enables you to improve the performance of Positional Dimension Animations.
id	A unique identifier of TextArea consisting of alpha numeric characters.
info	A custom JSObject with the key value pairs that a developer can use to store the context with the widget.
isVisible	Controls the visibility of a widget on the form.
parent	Helps you access the parent of the widget.

 

Methods	Description
convertPointFromWidget	Allows you to convert the coordinate system from a widget to a point (receiver's coordinate system).
convertPointToWidget	Allows you to convert the coordinate system from a point (receiver's coordinate system) to a widget.
removeFromParent	Allows you to remove a child widget from a parent widget.
setEnabled	Specifies the widget that must be enabled or disabled.
setFocus	Specifies the widget on which there must be focus.
setVisibility	Use this method to set the visibility of the widget.

TextArea2 Widget Basics

TextArea is used to provide an editable field for the user to enter text which spans over multiple lines .

NOTE: The TextArea widget inherits all the properties of the TextBox widget.

Creating a TextArea Using a Constructor: kony.ui.TextArea2

var setTextArea1 = new kony.ui.TextArea2 (basicConf, layoutConf, pspConf);

• basicConf is an object with basic properties.
• layoutConf is an object with layout properties.
• pspConf is an object with platform specific properties.

NOTE: The configuration properties should be passed only in the respective configuration objects otherwise they are ignored

Example

//Defining properties for TextArea.
var tAreaBasic = {
    id: "txtArea",
    skin: "txtSkin",
    focusSkin: "txtFSkin",
    text: "Text",
    maxTextLength: 20,
    isVisible: true,
    secureTextEntry: true,
    placeholder: "enter text"
};

var tAreaLayout = {
    padding: [5, 5, 5, 5],
    margin: [5, 5, 5, 5],
    containerWeight: 100,
    hExpand: true,
    widgetAlignment: constants.WIDGET_ALIGN_TOP_LEFT
};

var tAreaPSP = {
    keyboardActionLabel: constants.TEXTAREA_KEYBOARD_LABEL_SEND,
    pasteboardType: constants.TEXTAREA_PASTE_BOARD_TYPE_SYSTEM_LEVEL,
    showProgressIndicator: true
};
//Creating the TextArea.
var txtArea = new kony.ui.TextArea2(tAreaBasic, tAreaLayout, tAreaPSP);

//Reading the widgetAlignment of the TextArea.	
alert("TextArea widgetAlignment ::" + txtArea.widgetAlignment);

Customizing Appearance

You can customize the appearance of the TextArea widget using the following properties:

• widgetAlignment: Specifies the alignment of the widget.
• margin: Defines the space around the widget.
• padding: Defines the space between the content of the widget and the widget boundaries.
• skin: Specifies the skin.
• focusSkin: Specifies the focus skin.

Important Considerations

The following are the important considerations for the TextArea widget:

• Editing on devices with small form factor takes place in a new screen.
• Editing on devices with medium or large form factor takes place in the same screen.