autoSize (TextField.autoSize property)

Controls automatic sizing and alignment of text fields. Acceptable values for autoSize are "none" (the default), "left", "right", and "center". When you set the autoSize property, true is a synonym for "left" and false is a synonym for "none".

The values of autoSize and TextField.wordWrap determine whether a text field expands or contracts to the left side, right side, or bottom side. The default value for each of these properties is false.

If autoSize is set to "none" (the default) or false, then no resizing will occur.

If autoSize is set to "left" or true, then the text is treated as left-justified text, meaning the left side of the text field will remain fixed and any resizing of a single line text field will be on the right side. If the text includes a line break (for example, "\n" or "\r"), then the bottom side will also be resized to fit the next line of text. If wordWrap is also set to true, then only the bottom side of the text field will be resized and the right side will remain fixed.

If autoSize is set to "right", then the text is treated as right-justified text, meaning the right side of the text field will remain fixed and any resizing of a single line text field will be on the left side. If the text includes a line break (for example, "\n" or "\r"), then the bottom side will also be resized to fit the next line of text. If wordWrap is also set to true, then only the bottom side of the text field will be resized and the left side will remain fixed.

If autoSize is set to "center", then the text is treated as center-justified text, meaning any resizing of a single line text field will be equally distributed to both the right and left sides. If the text includes a line break (for example, "\n" or "\r"), then the bottom side will also be resized to fit the next line of text. If wordWrap is also set to true, then only the bottom side of the text field will be resized and the left and right sides will remain fixed.

Example

You can use the following code and enter different values for autoSize to see how the field resizes when these values change. A mouse click while the SWF file is playing will replace each text field's "short text" string with longer text using several different settings for autoSize.

this.createTextField("left_txt", 997, 10, 10, 70, 30);
this.createTextField("center_txt", 998, 10, 50, 70, 30);
this.createTextField("right_txt", 999, 10, 100, 70, 30);
this.createTextField("true_txt", 1000, 10, 150, 70, 30);
this.createTextField("false_txt", 1001, 10, 200, 70, 30);

left_txt.text = "short text";
left_txt.border = true;

center_txt.text = "short text";
center_txt.border = true;

right_txt.text = "short text";
right_txt.border = true;

true_txt.text = "short text";
true_txt.border = true;

false_txt.text = "short text";
false_txt.border = true;

// create a mouse listener object to detect mouse clicks
var myMouseListener:Object = new Object();
// define a function that executes when a user clicks the mouse
myMouseListener.onMouseDown = function() {
    left_txt.autoSize = "left";
    left_txt.text = "This is much longer text";
    center_txt.autoSize = "center";
    center_txt.text = "This is much longer text";
    right_txt.autoSize = "right";
    right_txt.text = "This is much longer text";
    true_txt.autoSize = true;
    true_txt.text = "This is much longer text"; 
    false_txt.autoSize = false;
    false_txt.text = "This is much longer text";
};
// register the listener object with the Mouse object
Mouse.addListener(myMouseListener);