[AS3] can't set width on label

[DrElvisToad]

I'm trying to explicitly set the width of a label so that it stretches across the entire stage and has a dark background. No matter what I do, I just can't get the width to set. It always remains the same as the width of the text.

Here's the code:

package  {

    import flash.events.*;
    import flash.display.Sprite;
     import fl.controls.Label;
    import flash.text.TextField;
    import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize;
    import flash.display.Stage;
    import flash.text.TextFormat;
    
    
    public class Overlay extends Label {
        
        public function Overlay(){
            super();
            addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, onAdded);
            autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
            var format:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
                    format.font = "Arial";
                    format.color = 0xFFFFFF;
                    format.size = 12;
                    format.underline = false;
            setStyle("textFormat", format);
        }
        
//using ADDED_TO_STAGE so I can get a valid reference for the stage's width
        private function onAdded(evt:Event){
            width = stage.stageWidth;
            height = textField.textHeight+10;
            
            trace(width + " "+   stage.stageWidth ); // traces "550 550" but the label still appears only as wide as its text 
            
            
        }
    }
}

even if I try setting the width to a hard-coded number like 5000 it still remains only as wide as the text. anyone encountered this? is there a fix? thanks!

[rawmantick]

fl.controls.Label class does not extend TextField. It extends UIComponent. So width and height properties actually dont mean what you think they do.

Instead you can access textField property of the Label, and try to set its width and height properties to what you need.

And by the way, to measure the height - it's enough to add only 4 pixels (constant for any text):

label.textField.height = label.textField.textHeight + 4;

Hope it helps

[DrElvisToad]

Hi, thanks for your help but it still isn't working.

I tried it with a class extending TextField also and it didn't work.

here's the new code:

package  {

    import flash.events.*;
    import flash.display.Sprite;
     import fl.controls.Label;
    import flash.text.TextField;
    import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize;
    import flash.display.Stage;
    import flash.text.TextFormat;
    
    
    public class Overlay extends Label {
        
        
        
        public function Overlay(){
            super();
            addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, onAdded);
            autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
            var format:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
            format.font = "Arial";
            format.color = 0xFFFFFF;
            format.size = 12;
            format.underline = false;
            textField.defaultTextFormat = format;
            textField.backgroundColor = 0x000000;
        }
        
        private function onAdded(evt:Event){
            textField.width = stage.stageWidth;
            textField.height += 4;
            
            trace(textField.width + " "+   stage.stageWidth ); // traces "280 550" but the label still appears only as wide as its text 
            
            
        }
    }
}

I'm just accessing the label component's textField, right? the textField width traces 280 even though I've set it to 550 with stage.stageWidth

Thanks

[DrElvisToad]

nevermind, I got it to work:

package  {

    import flash.text.TextFormatAlign;
    import flash.events.Event;
    import flash.text.TextField;
    import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize;
    import flash.display.Stage;
    import flash.text.TextFormat;
    
    
    public class Overlay extends TextField {

        public function Overlay(){
            super();
            addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, onAdded);
            var format:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
            format.font = "Arial";
            format.color = 0xFFFFFF;
            format.size = 12;
            format.underline = false;
            format.align = TextFormatAlign.CENTER;
            defaultTextFormat = format; 
            textColor = 0xFFffff;
            background = true;
            backgroundColor = 0x000000;
        }
        
        private function onAdded(evt:Event){
            width = stage.stageWidth;
            height = textHeight + 4;
        }
    }
}

I just ended up using TextField entirely.
Thanks!