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4D v14.3

ST SET TEXT


ST SET TEXT ( {* ;} object ; newText {; startSel {; endSel}} )

Parameter	Type	Description
*	Operator	If specified, object is an object name (string) If omitted, object is a variable or a field
object	Form object	Object name (if * is specified) or Text field or variable (if * is omitted)
newText	Text	Text to insert
startSel	Longint	Start of selection
endSel	Longint	End of selection

Description

The ST SET TEXT command inserts the text passed in the newText parameter into the styled text field or variable designated by the object parameter. This command only applies to the plain text of the object parameter, without modifying any style tags that it contains. It can be used to modify, by programming, styled text displayed on screen.

If you pass the optional * parameter, this indicates that the object parameter is an object name (string). During execution, when the object has the focus, the command only applies to the object being edited and not to its data source (field or variable). The changes are only transferred to the source (and to any other objects using this same source) when the object being edited is validated either by losing the focus or with the Enter key. When the object does not have the focus, the command applies directly to the data source and the changes are immediately transferred to any other objects using the same source.
If you omit the * parameter, this indicates that the object parameter is a field or variable and you pass a field or variable reference instead of a string. The command applies directly to the field or variable and changes are immediately transferred to all the objects using this source, including the object with the focus.

In newText, pass the text to be inserted. The ST SET TEXT command is intended for working with rich text (multistyle) containing <span> type tags. In all other cases (more particularly, when working with plain text that contains the <, > or & characters), you must use the ST SET PLAIN TEXT command. If you pass plain text containing the <, > or & characters to the ST SET TEXT command, it does nothing. This is necessary behavior because if you insert a string such as "a<b" directly into rich text, it will distort the internal analysis of the <span> tags. In this case, "<" characters must be encoded beforehand as "<", which can be done using the ST SET PLAIN TEXT command (see also the example of this command).

The optional startSel and endSel parameters let you designate a selection of text in object. The startSel and endSel values give a selection of plain text, without taking any style tags found in the text into account. The action of the command varies according to the optional startSel and endSel parameters:

If you omit startSel and endSel, ST SET TEXT replaces all the text of the object by newText,
If you only pass startSel or if the values of startSel and endSel are equal, ST SET TEXT inserts the newText text into object beginning at startSel,
If you pass both startSel and endSel, ST SET TEXT replaces the plain text set by these limits with the newText text.
You can pass 0 in endSel to designate automatically the last character of the text (pass 1 in startSel to designate the first character of the text).

4D provides predefined constants so that you can designate the selection limits automatically in the startSel and endSel parameters. These constants are found in the "Multistyle Text" theme:

Constant	Type	Value	Comment
ST End highlight	Longint	-1001	Designates last character of current text selection in object (*)
ST End text	Longint	0	Designates last character of text contained in object
ST Start highlight	Longint	-1000	Designates first character of current text selection in object (*)
ST Start text	Longint	1	Designates first character of text contained in object

(*) You must pass an object name in object to be able to use this constant. If you pass a reference to a field or variable, the command is applied to all the text of the object.

Note: If startSel is greater than endSel (except if endSel value is 0, see above), the text is not modified and the OK variable is set to 0.

System variables and sets

After this command is executed, the OK variable is set to 1 if no error occurred; otherwise, it is set to 0. This is the case more particularly when style tags are not evaluated properly (incorrect or missing tags).

In the case of an error, the variable is not changed. When an error occurs on a variable when text is being evaluated, 4D transforms the text into plain text; as a result, the <, > and & characters are converted into HTML entities.

Example 1

You want to replace the styled text selected by the user with the contents of a variable.

Here is the selected text:

The following contents are stored in the field:

After executing this code:

 vtempo:="Demonstration"

 GET HIGHLIGHT([Products]Notes;vStart;vEnd)

 ST SET TEXT([Products]Notes;vtemp;vStart;vEnd)

The field and its contents are as follows:

Example 2

Refer to the example of the ST SET PLAIN TEXT command.