TextArea

Since 2.2.1

TextArea is a multi-line text editor. Its value is a String[] — one element per line. It has built-in horizontal and vertical scrollers, a text validator for error highlighting, and full keyboard support (arrows, Home/End, PageUp/PageDown, Ctrl+←/→ word navigation, selection, copy/cut/paste, undo/redo).

The editor becomes editable when focused (clicked). Double-click to select a word.

INFO

Everything documented on UIElement (layout, styles, events, data bindings, etc.) applies here too.

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Usage

var area = new TextArea();
area.setValue(new String[] { "Line 1", "Line 2", "Line 3" });
area.setLinesResponder(lines -> {
    // called on each valid edit
    System.out.println("Lines: " + Arrays.toString(lines));
});
parent.addChild(area);

textArea({
    layout { width(200).height(80) }
}) {
    api {
        setValue(arrayOf("Line 1", "Line 2"))
        setLinesResponder { lines -> println(lines.joinToString("\n")) }
    }
}

let area = new TextArea();
area.setValue(["Line 1", "Line 2"]);
area.setLinesResponder(lines => { /* ... */ });
parent.addChild(area);

---

XML

<!-- Pre-populated text (lines split by \n in source) -->
<text-area>Line 1
Line 2
Line 3</text-area>

INFO

TextArea cannot have layout children added in XML — only text content.

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Internal Structure

CSS class	Description
.__text-area_content-view__	The main editing surface.
.__text-area_vertical-scroller__	The vertical scroll bar (right side).
.__text-area_horizontal-scroller__	The horizontal scroll bar (bottom).

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Text Area Style

INFO

focus-overlay

Texture drawn over the content view when it is hovered or focused.

Default: Sprites.RECT_RD_T_SOLID

area.textAreaStyle(style -> style.focusOverlay(myHighlight));

text-area {
    focus-overlay: rect(#FFFFFF22, 2);
}

INFO

font / font-size

Font and size used for all lines.

Defaults: vanilla default font / 9

text-area {
    font: "minecraft:uniform";
    font-size: 9;
}

INFO

text-color / error-color

Text color when valid / when the validator rejects the content.

Defaults: 0xFFFFFF / 0xFF0000

text-area {
    text-color: #EEEEEE;
    error-color: #FF4444;
}

INFO

cursor-color

Color of the blinking caret.

Default: 0xEEEEEE

text-area {
    cursor-color: #FFFFFF;
}

INFO

text-shadow

Whether to draw text with a drop shadow.

Default: true

text-area {
    text-shadow: false;
}

INFO

placeholder

Ghost text shown when all lines are empty.

Default: translatable key text_field.empty

area.textAreaStyle(style -> style
    .placeholder(Component.literal("Enter code…"))
);

INFO

line-spacing

Extra pixels added between lines.

Default: 1

text-area {
    line-spacing: 2;
}

INFO

scroller-view-mode

Which scroll axes are enabled. Values: HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL, BOTH.

Default: BOTH

area.textAreaStyle(style -> style.viewMode(ScrollerMode.VERTICAL));

text-area {
    scroller-view-mode: VERTICAL;
}

INFO

scroller-vertical-display / scroller-horizontal-display

Visibility policy for each scroll bar. Values: AUTO (show only when content overflows), ALWAYS, NEVER.

Default: AUTO

area.textAreaStyle(style -> style
    .verticalScrollDisplay(ScrollDisplay.ALWAYS)
    .horizontalScrollDisplay(ScrollDisplay.NEVER)
);

text-area {
    scroller-vertical-display: ALWAYS;
    scroller-horizontal-display: NEVER;
}

INFO

scroller-view-margin

Right margin of the horizontal scroller when the vertical scroller is visible.

Default: 5

text-area {
    scroller-view-margin: 5;
}

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Value Binding

TextArea extends BindableUIElement<String[]>, so it integrates with the data-binding system:

area.bind(DataBindingBuilder.create(
    () -> config.getLines(),
    lines -> config.setLines(lines)
).build());

See Data Bindings for full details.

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Fields

Name	Type	Access	Description
horizontalScroller	Scroller.Horizontal	public final	The horizontal scroll bar.
verticalScroller	Scroller.Vertical	public final	The vertical scroll bar.
contentView	UIElement	public final	The visible editing surface.
textAreaStyle	TextAreaStyle	private (getter)	Current style instance.
isError	boolean	private (getter)	true when current lines fail the validator.
cursorLine	int	private (getter)	Row of the cursor (0-indexed).
cursorCol	int	private (getter)	Column of the cursor (0-indexed).

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Methods

Method	Returns	Description
setValue(String[])	TextArea	Sets all lines and notifies listeners.
setValue(String[], boolean)	TextArea	Sets all lines; second param controls notification.
setLines(List<String>)	TextArea	Convenience for setValue(list.toArray(...)).
setLinesResponder(Consumer<String[]>)	TextArea	Registers a listener called on each valid edit.
setTextValidator(Predicate<String[]>)	TextArea	Custom validator; invalid content is shown in error-color.
setCharValidator(Predicate<Character>)	TextArea	Filters characters before they are inserted.
textAreaStyle(Consumer<TextAreaStyle>)	TextArea	Configures style fluently.
getValue()	String[]	Returns the last validated line array.
isEditable()	boolean	true when focused, active, visible and displayed.
hasSelection()	boolean	true if there is an active text selection.
setCursor(int, int)	void	Moves the cursor to a specific (line, col).