TextArea Properties
Control text area appearance and behavior
Text areas are UI components for entering multiple lines of text. Properties control the appearance and behavior of an text area. Use dot notation to refer to a specific object and property.
fig = uifigure; tarea = uitextarea(fig); tarea.Value = 'This sample is an outlier';
Text
Value
— Value
{''}
(default) | character vector | string scalar | cell array of character vectors | string array | 1-D categorical array
Value, specified as a character vector, string scalar, cell array of character
vectors, string array, or 1-D categorical array. To display multiple lines of text,
specify Value
as an array. Each element in the array represents a
separate line of
text.
txt = ["Line 1"; "Line 2"; "Line 3"; "Line 4"]; textarea = uitextarea("Value",txt);
If you specify this property as a categorical array, MATLAB® uses the values in the array, not the full set of categories.
If the text does not fit into the width of the text area, MATLAB wraps the text.
If there are too many rows to display in the text area, MATLAB adds a scroll bar.
Example: ["Joseph Welford"; "Mary Reilly"; "Roberta
Silberlicht"]
Placeholder
— Placeholder text in text area
''
(default) | character vector | string scalar
Placeholder text in the text area, specified as a character vector or
string scalar. The placeholder provides a short hint to describe the
expected input. The text shows only when the Value
property is {''}
.
Example: 'Enter text'
HorizontalAlignment
— Horizontal alignment of text within text area
'left'
(default) | 'right'
| 'center'
Alignment of text within the text area, specified as
'left'
, 'right'
, or
'center'
. The alignment affects the display as the
app user edits the text area and how MATLAB displays the text in the app.
WordWrap
— Word wrapping to fit component width
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
Word wrapping to fit component width, specified as 'on'
or 'off'
, or as numeric or logical 1
(true
) or 0
(false
). A value of 'on'
is
equivalent to true
, and 'off'
is
equivalent to false
. Thus, you can use the value of this
property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value
of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState
.
Use this property to prevent text from getting clipped horizontally when the width of the component is smaller than the text you want to display.
'on'
— Breaks text into new lines so that each line fits within the width of the component, and avoids breaking words when possible.'off'
— Text does not wrap.
Font and Color
FontName
— Font name
system supported font name
Font name, specified as a system supported font name. The default font depends on the specific operating system and locale.
If the specified font is not available, then MATLAB uses the best match among the fonts available on the system where the app is running.
Example: 'Arial'
FontSize
— Font size
positive number
Font size, specified as a positive number. The units of measurement are pixels. The default font size depends on the specific operating system and locale.
Example: 14
FontWeight
— Font weight
'normal'
(default) | 'bold'
Font weight, specified as one of these values:
'normal'
— Default weight as defined by the particular font'bold'
— Thicker character outlines than'normal'
Not all fonts have a bold font weight. For fonts that do not, specifying
'bold'
results in the normal font weight.
FontAngle
— Font angle
'normal'
(default) | 'italic'
Font angle, specified as 'normal'
or 'italic'
.
Not all fonts have an italic font angle. For fonts that do not, specifying
'italic'
results in the normal font angle.
FontColor
— Font color
[0 0 0]
(default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r'
| 'g'
| 'b'
| ...
Font color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, or one of the options listed in the table.
RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.
An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range
[0,1]
; for example,[0.4 0.6 0.7]
.A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (
#
) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from0
toF
. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes"#FF8800"
,"#ff8800"
,"#F80"
, and"#f80"
are equivalent.
Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.
Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] | "#FF0000" | |
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] | "#00FF00" | |
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] | "#0000FF" | |
"cyan"
| "c" | [0 1 1] | "#00FFFF" | |
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] | "#FF00FF" | |
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] | "#FFFF00" | |
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] | "#000000" | |
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] | "#FFFFFF" |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
BackgroundColor
— Background color
[1 1 1]
(default) | RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | 'r'
| 'g'
| 'b'
| ...
Background color, specified as an RGB triplet, a hexadecimal color code, or one of the color options listed in the table.
RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes are useful for specifying custom colors.
An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range
[0,1]
; for example,[0.4 0.6 0.7]
.A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (
#
) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from0
toF
. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes"#FF8800"
,"#ff8800"
,"#F80"
, and"#f80"
are equivalent.
Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.
Color Name | Short Name | RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
"red" | "r" | [1 0 0] | "#FF0000" | |
"green" | "g" | [0 1 0] | "#00FF00" | |
"blue" | "b" | [0 0 1] | "#0000FF" | |
"cyan"
| "c" | [0 1 1] | "#00FFFF" | |
"magenta" | "m" | [1 0 1] | "#FF00FF" | |
"yellow" | "y" | [1 1 0] | "#FFFF00" | |
"black" | "k" | [0 0 0] | "#000000" | |
"white" | "w" | [1 1 1] | "#FFFFFF" |
Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB uses in many types of plots.
RGB Triplet | Hexadecimal Color Code | Appearance |
---|---|---|
[0 0.4470 0.7410] | "#0072BD" | |
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980] | "#D95319" | |
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250] | "#EDB120" | |
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560] | "#7E2F8E" | |
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880] | "#77AC30" | |
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330] | "#4DBEEE" | |
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840] | "#A2142F" |
Interactivity
Visible
— State of visibility
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
State of visibility, specified as 'on'
or 'off'
,
or as numeric or logical 1
(true
) or
0
(false
). A value of 'on'
is equivalent to true
, and 'off'
is equivalent to
false
. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical
value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState
.
'on'
— Display the object.'off'
— Hide the object without deleting it. You still can access the properties of an invisible UI component.
To make your app start faster, set the Visible
property to
'off'
for all UI components that do not need to appear at
startup.
Editable
— Editability of text area
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
Editability of the text area, specified as 'on'
or
'off'
, or as numeric or logical 1
(true
) or 0
(false
). A value of 'on'
is
equivalent to true
, and 'off'
is
equivalent to false
. Thus, you can use the value of this
property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value
of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState
.
Use this property in combination with the Enable
property value to determine if and how the component responds to app user
input:
To make the text area editable and the associated callback triggerable, set both the
Enable
property and theEditable
property values to'on'
.To make the text area uneditable, but the text easy to read, set the
Enable
property value to'on'
and theEditable
property value to'off'
.To make the text area uneditable and the text dimmed, set both properties to
'off'
.
Enable
— Operational state of text area
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
Operational state of the text area, specified as 'on'
or 'off'
, or as numeric or logical 1
(true
) or 0
(false
). A value of 'on'
is
equivalent to true
, and 'off'
is
equivalent to false
. Thus, you can use the value of this
property as a logical value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value
of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState
.
Use this property in combination with the Editable
property value to determine if and how the component responds to app user
input:
To make the text area editable and the associated callback triggerable, set both the
Enable
property and theEditable
property values to'on'
.To make the text area uneditable, but the text easy to read, set the
Enable
property value to'on'
and theEditable
property value to'off'
.To make the text area uneditable and the text dimmed, set both properties to
'off'
.
Tooltip
— Tooltip
''
(default) | character vector | cell array of character vectors | string array | 1-D categorical array
Tooltip, specified as a character vector, cell array of character vectors, string array, or 1-D categorical array. Use this property to display a message when the user hovers the pointer over the component at run time. The tooltip displays even when the component is disabled. To display multiple lines of text, specify a cell array of character vectors or a string array. Each element in the array becomes a separate line of text. If you specify this property as a categorical array, MATLAB uses the values in the array, not the full set of categories.
ContextMenu
— Context menu
empty GraphicsPlaceholder
array (default) | ContextMenu
object
Context menu, specified as a ContextMenu
object created using the uicontextmenu
function. Use this property to display a context menu when
you right-click on a component.
Position
Position
— Location and size of text area
[100 100 150 60]
(default) | [left bottom width height]
Location and size of the text area relative to the parent, specified
as the vector [left bottom width height]
. This
table describes each element in the vector.
Element | Description |
---|---|
left | Distance from the inner left edge of the parent container to the outer left edge of the text area |
bottom | Distance from the inner bottom edge of the parent container to the outer bottom edge of the text area |
width | Distance between the right and left outer edges of the text area |
height | Distance between the top and bottom outer edges of the text area |
All measurements are in pixel units.
The Position
values are relative to the
drawable area of the parent container. The drawable area is the area
inside the borders of the container and does not include the area occupied by decorations such
as a menu bar or title.
Example: [100 100 100 90]
InnerPosition
— Inner location and size of text area
[100 100 150 60]
(default) | [left bottom width height]
Inner location and size of the text area, specified as [left
bottom width height]
. Position values are relative to the
parent container. All measurements are in pixel units. This property value
is identical to the Position
property.
OuterPosition
— Outer location and size of text area
[100 100 150 60]
(default) | [left bottom width height]
This property is read-only.
Outer location and size of the text area returned as [left bottom
width height]
. Position values are relative to the parent
container. All measurements are in pixel units. This property value is
identical to the Position
property.
Layout
— Layout options
empty LayoutOptions
array (default) | GridLayoutOptions
object
Layout options, specified as a
GridLayoutOptions
object. This property specifies
options for components that are children of grid layout containers. If the
component is not a child of a grid layout container (for example, it is a
child of a figure or panel), then this property is empty and has no effect.
However, if the component is a child of a grid layout container, you can
place the component in the desired row and column of the grid by setting the
Row
and Column
properties on
the GridLayoutOptions
object.
For example, this code places a text area in the third row and second column of its parent grid.
g = uigridlayout([4 3]); tarea = uitextarea(g); tarea.Layout.Row = 3; tarea.Layout.Column = 2;
To make the text area span multiple rows or columns, specify the
Row
or Column
property as a
two-element vector. For example, this text area spans columns
2
through
3
:
tarea.Layout.Column = [2 3];
Callbacks
ValueChangedFcn
— Value changed callback
''
(default) | function handle | cell array | character vector
Value changed callback, specified as one of these values:
A function handle.
A cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.
A character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.
The callback executes when the user changes the text and either presses
Tab or clicks outside the text area. It does not execute if the
Value
property changes programmatically.
This callback function can access specific information about the user’s interaction
with the text area. MATLAB passes this information in a ValueChangedData
object as the second argument to your callback function.
In App Designer, the argument is called event
. You can query the
object properties using dot notation. For example,
event.PreviousValue
returns the previous value of the text area.
The ValueChangedData
object is not available to
callback functions specified as character vectors.
The following table lists the properties of the ValueChangedData
object.
Property | Value |
---|---|
Value | Value of text area after app user’s most recent interaction with it |
PreviousValue | Value of text area before app user’s most recent interaction with it |
Source | Component that executes the callback |
EventName | 'ValueChanged' |
For more information about writing callbacks, see Callbacks in App Designer.
ValueChangingFcn
— Value changing callback
''
(default) | function handle | cell array | character vector
Value changing callback, specified as one of these values:
A function handle.
A cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.
A character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.
This callback executes as follows:
As the user types in the text area, the callback executes repeatedly.
When the user presses Tab or clicks outside the text area, the callback executes.
If the text area value changes programmatically, then the callback does not execute.
This callback function can access specific information about the user’s interaction with the text area. MATLAB passes this information in a ValueChangingData
object as the second argument to your callback function. In App Designer, the argument is called event
. You can query the object properties using dot notation. For example, event.Value
is the value in the text area that triggered the execution of the callback. The ValueChangingData
object is not available to callback functions specified as character vectors.
Here are the properties of the ValueChangingData
object:
Property | Description |
---|---|
Value | Value that triggered the execution of the callback |
Source | Component that executes the callback |
EventName | 'ValueChanging' |
The Value
property of the TextArea
object is not updated until the user either presses Tab or clicks outside the text area. However, you can get the text while the user is still typing by querying the Value
property of the ValueChangingData
object.
Note
Avoid updating the Value
property of the
TextArea
object from within its own
ValueChangingFcn
callback, as this might result in unexpected
behavior. To update the text area value in response to user input, use a
ValueChangedFcn
callback instead.
For more information about writing callbacks, see Callbacks in App Designer.
CreateFcn
— Creation function
''
(default) | function handle | cell array | character vector
Object creation function, specified as one of these values:
Function handle.
Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.
Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.
For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Callbacks in App Designer.
This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB creates the object. MATLAB initializes all property values before executing the CreateFcn
callback. If you do not specify the CreateFcn
property, then MATLAB executes a default creation function.
Setting the CreateFcn
property on an existing component has no effect.
If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the object that is being created using the first argument of the callback function. Otherwise, use the gcbo
function to access the object.
DeleteFcn
— Deletion function
''
(default) | function handle | cell array | character vector
Object deletion function, specified as one of these values:
Function handle.
Cell array in which the first element is a function handle. Subsequent elements in the cell array are the arguments to pass to the callback function.
Character vector containing a valid MATLAB expression (not recommended). MATLAB evaluates this expression in the base workspace.
For more information about specifying a callback as a function handle, cell array, or character vector, see Callbacks in App Designer.
This property specifies a callback function to execute when MATLAB deletes the object. MATLAB executes the DeleteFcn
callback before destroying the
properties of the object. If you do not specify the DeleteFcn
property, then MATLAB executes a default deletion function.
If you specify this property as a function handle or cell array, you can access the
object that is being deleted using the first argument of the callback function.
Otherwise, use the gcbo
function to access the
object.
Callback Execution Control
Interruptible
— Callback interruption
'on'
(default) | on/off logical value
Callback interruption, specified as 'on'
or 'off'
, or as
numeric or logical 1
(true
) or
0
(false
). A value of 'on'
is equivalent to true
, and 'off'
is equivalent to
false
. Thus, you can use the value of this property as a logical
value. The value is stored as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState
.
This property determines if a running callback can be interrupted. There are two callback states to consider:
The running callback is the currently executing callback.
The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.
MATLAB determines callback interruption behavior whenever it executes a command that
processes the callback queue. These commands include drawnow
, figure
, uifigure
, getframe
, waitfor
, and pause
.
If the running callback does not contain one of these commands, then no interruption occurs. MATLAB first finishes executing the running callback, and later executes the interrupting callback.
If the running callback does contain one of these commands, then the
Interruptible
property of the object that owns the running
callback determines if the interruption occurs:
If the value of
Interruptible
is'off'
, then no interruption occurs. Instead, theBusyAction
property of the object that owns the interrupting callback determines if the interrupting callback is discarded or added to the callback queue.If the value of
Interruptible
is'on'
, then the interruption occurs. The next time MATLAB processes the callback queue, it stops the execution of the running callback and executes the interrupting callback. After the interrupting callback completes, MATLAB then resumes executing the running callback.
Note
Callback interruption and execution behave differently in these situations:
If the interrupting callback is a
DeleteFcn
,CloseRequestFcn
, orSizeChangedFcn
callback, then the interruption occurs regardless of theInterruptible
property value.If the running callback is currently executing the
waitfor
function, then the interruption occurs regardless of theInterruptible
property value.If the interrupting callback is owned by a
Timer
object, then the callback executes according to schedule regardless of theInterruptible
property value.
BusyAction
— Callback queuing
'queue'
(default) | 'cancel'
Callback queuing, specified as 'queue'
or 'cancel'
. The BusyAction
property determines how MATLAB handles the execution of interrupting callbacks. There are two callback states to consider:
The running callback is the currently executing callback.
The interrupting callback is a callback that tries to interrupt the running callback.
The BusyAction
property determines callback queuing behavior only
when both of these conditions are met:
Under these conditions, the BusyAction
property of the
object that owns the interrupting callback determines how MATLAB handles the interrupting callback. These are possible values of the
BusyAction
property:
'queue'
— Puts the interrupting callback in a queue to be processed after the running callback finishes execution.'cancel'
— Does not execute the interrupting callback.
BeingDeleted
— Deletion status
on/off logical value
This property is read-only.
Deletion status, returned as an on/off logical value of type matlab.lang.OnOffSwitchState
.
MATLAB sets the BeingDeleted
property to
'on'
when the DeleteFcn
callback begins
execution. The BeingDeleted
property remains set to
'on'
until the component object no longer exists.
Check the value of the BeingDeleted
property to verify that the object is not about to be deleted before querying or modifying it.
Parent/Child
Parent
— Parent container
Figure
object (default) | Panel
object | Tab
object | ButtonGroup
object | GridLayout
object
Parent container, specified as a Figure
object
created using the uifigure
function, or one of its child
containers: Tab
, Panel
, ButtonGroup
, or GridLayout
. If no container is specified, MATLAB calls the uifigure
function to create a new Figure
object that serves as the parent container.
HandleVisibility
— Visibility of object handle
'on'
(default) | 'callback'
| 'off'
Visibility of the object handle, specified as 'on'
, 'callback'
,
or 'off'
.
This property controls the visibility of the object in its parent's
list of children. When an object is not visible in its parent's list
of children, it is not returned by functions that obtain objects by
searching the object hierarchy or querying properties. These functions
include get
, findobj
, clf
,
and close
. Objects are valid
even if they are not visible. If you can access an object, you can
set and get its properties, and pass it to any function that operates
on objects.
HandleVisibility Value | Description |
---|---|
'on' | The object is always visible. |
'callback' | The object is visible from within callbacks or functions invoked by callbacks, but not from within functions invoked from the command line. This option blocks access to the object at the command-line, but allows callback functions to access it. |
'off' | The object is invisible at all times. This option is useful
for preventing unintended changes to the UI by another function. Set
the HandleVisibility to 'off' to
temporarily hide the object during the execution of that function.
|
Identifiers
Type
— Type of graphics object
'uitextarea'
This property is read-only.
Type of graphics object, returned as
'uitextarea'
.
Tag
— Object identifier
''
(default) | character vector | string scalar
Object identifier, specified as a character vector or string scalar. You can specify a unique Tag
value to serve as an identifier for an object. When you need access to the object elsewhere in your code, you can use the findobj
function to search for the object based on the Tag
value.
UserData
— User data
[]
(default) | array
User data, specified as any MATLAB array. For example, you can specify a scalar, vector, matrix, cell array, character array, table, or structure. Use this property to store arbitrary data on an object.
If you are working in App Designer, create public or private properties in the app to share data instead of using the UserData
property. For more information, see Share Data Within App Designer Apps.
Version History
Introduced in R2016aR2021b: Program response while a user is typing
Create a ValueChangingFcn
callback to program your app to
respond when a user is typing in a text area. The callback function executes
repeatedly while the user types.
R2021a: Specify placeholder text
Provide a short hint that describes the expected text area input by using the
Placeholder
property.
R2020b: Toggle text wrapping
Use the WordWrap
property to toggle text wrapping. When the
WordWrap
property is 'on'
(the
default), the UI component breaks the text into new lines so that each line fits
horizontally within the component. When the property is set to
'off'
, the text does not wrap.
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