UIText

A UIControl which displays a basic text label. Inherits from UIControl.

Properties

Property Name	Return Type	Description	Tags
`text`	`string`	The actual text string to show.	Read-Write
`fontSize`	`integer`	The font size of the UIText control.	Read-Write
`outlineSize`	`integer`	The thickness of the outline around text in this control. A value of 0 means no outline.	Read-Write
`justification`	`TextJustify`	Determines the alignment of `text`. Possible values are: TextJustify.LEFT, TextJustify.RIGHT, and TextJustify.CENTER.	Read-Write
`shouldWrapText`	`boolean`	Whether or not text should be wrapped within the bounds of this control.	Read-Write
`shouldClipText`	`boolean`	Whether or not text should be clipped when exceeding the bounds of this control.	Read-Write
`shouldScaleToFit`	`boolean`	Whether or not text should scale down to fit within the bounds of this control.	Read-Write
`isHittable`	`boolean`	When set to `true`, this control can receive input from the cursor and blocks input to controls behind it. When set to `false`, the cursor ignores this control and can interact with controls behind it.	Read-Write

Functions

Function Name	Return Type	Description	Tags
`GetColor()`	`Color`	Returns the color of the Text.	None
`SetColor(Color)`	`None`	Sets the color of the Text.	None
`GetOutlineColor()`	`Color`	Returns the color of the text's outline.	None
`SetOutlineColor(Color)`	`None`	Sets the color of the text's outline.	None
`GetShadowColor()`	`Color`	Returns the color of the text's drop shadow.	None
`SetShadowColor(Color)`	`None`	Sets the color of the text's drop shadow.	None
`GetShadowOffset()`	`Vector2`	Returns the offset of the text's drop shadow in UI space.	None
`SetShadowOffset(Vector2)`	`None`	Sets the offset of the text's drop shadow in UI space.	None
`ComputeApproximateSize()`	`Vector2`	Attempts to determine the size of the rendered block of text. This may return `nil` if the size cannot be determined, for example because the underlying widget has not been fully initialized yet.	None
`SetFont(string fontId)`	`None`	Sets the text to use the specified font asset.	None
`GetCurrentTouchIndex()`	`integer`	Returns the touch index currently interacting with this control. Returns `nil` if the control is not currently being interacted with.	Client-Only

Events

Event Name	Return Type	Description	Tags
`touchStartedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`, `Vector2` location, `integer` touchIndex>	Fired when the player starts touching the control on a touch input device. Parameters are the screen location of the touch and a touch index used to distinguish between separate touches on a multitouch device.	Client-Only
`touchStoppedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`, `Vector2` location, `integer` touchIndex>	Fired when the player stops touching the control on a touch input device. Parameters are the screen location from which the touch was released and a touch index used to distinguish between separate touches on a multitouch device.	Client-Only
`tappedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`, `Vector2` location, `integer` touchIndex>	Fired when the player taps the control on a touch input device. Parameters are the screen location of the tap and the touch index with which the tap was performed.	Client-Only
`flickedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`, `number` angle>	Fired when the player performs a quick flicking gesture on the control on a touch input device. The `angle` parameter indicates the direction of the flick. 0 indicates a flick to the right. Values increase in degrees counter-clockwise, so 90 indicates a flick straight up, 180 indicates a flick to the left, etc.	Client-Only
`pinchStartedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`>	Fired when the player begins a pinching gesture on the control on a touch input device. `Input.GetPinchValue()` may be polled during the pinch gesture to determine how far the player has pinched.	Client-Only
`pinchStoppedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`>	Fired when the player ends a pinching gesture on a touch input device.	Client-Only
`rotateStartedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`>	Fired when the player begins a rotating gesture on the control on a touch input device. `Input.GetRotateValue()` may be polled during the rotate gesture to determine how far the player has rotated.	Client-Only
`rotateStoppedEvent`	`Event`<`UIText`>	Fired when the player ends a rotating gesture on a touch input device.	Client-Only

Examples

Example using:

`rotateStoppedEvent`

In this example we manipulate a UI Text object with a multi-touch pinching gesture. The pinch gesture is used to move, scale and rotate a the UI Text on screen.

-- Client Script as a child of the UI Text.
local UI_OBJECT = script.parent

-- Make the UI Control hittable
UI_OBJECT.isHittable = true

local isPinching = false
local isRotating = false
local startingSize
local startingAngle

function Tick()
    -- Position
    local touch1 = Input.GetTouchPosition(1)
    local touch2 = Input.GetTouchPosition(2)

    if touch1 ~= nil and touch2 ~= nil then
        local position = (touch1 + touch2) / 2

        UI_OBJECT:SetAbsolutePosition(position)
    end

    -- Scale
    if isPinching then
        local pinchPercent = Input.GetPinchValue()

        UI_OBJECT.fontSize = CoreMath.Round(startingSize * pinchPercent)
    end

    -- Rotate
    if isRotating then
        local angle = Input.GetRotateValue()

        UI_OBJECT.rotationAngle = startingAngle + angle
    end
end

local function OnPinchStarted()
    isPinching = true
    startingSize = UI_OBJECT.fontSize
end

local function OnPinchStopped()
    isPinching = false
end

-- Detect pinch gesture start/end
UI_OBJECT.pinchStartedEvent:Connect(OnPinchStarted)
UI_OBJECT.pinchStoppedEvent:Connect(OnPinchStopped)

local function OnRotateStarted()
    isRotating = true
    startingAngle = UI_OBJECT.rotationAngle
end

local function OnRotateStopped()
    isRotating = false
end

-- Detect rotation gesture start/end
UI_OBJECT.rotateStartedEvent:Connect(OnRotateStarted)
UI_OBJECT.rotateStoppedEvent:Connect(OnRotateStopped)

Example using:

`flickedEvent`

In this example we listen for the tapped and flicked touch gestures on the UI object. When one of those events is triggered, the pertinent information is printed to the screen.

-- Client Script as a child of the UI Text.
local UI_OBJECT = script.parent

-- Make the UI Control hittable
UI_OBJECT.isHittable = true

function OnTappedEvent(control, location, touchIndex)
    UI.PrintToScreen("Tap ".. touchIndex ..": ".. tostring(location))
end

function OnFlickedEvent(control, angle)
    UI.PrintToScreen("Flick: " .. angle)
end

UI_OBJECT.tappedEvent:Connect(OnTappedEvent)
UI_OBJECT.flickedEvent:Connect(OnFlickedEvent)

Example using:

In this example, the touch inputs on the UI object are tracked in two different ways, with a counter and with a table. Each time the amount of touches change a summary of the touch information is printed to screen.

-- Client Script as a child of the UI Text.
local UI_OBJECT = script.parent

-- Make the UI Control hittable
UI_OBJECT.isHittable = true

local touchCount = 0
local activeTouches = {}

function PrintTouchInfo()
    local str = touchCount .. ": ["
    local addComma = false

    for id,_ in pairs(activeTouches) do
        if addComma then
            str = str .. ", "
        end

        addComma = true
        str = str .. id
    end

    str = str .. "]"

    UI.PrintToScreen(str)
end

local function OnTouchStarted(control, location, touchId)
    touchCount = touchCount + 1
    activeTouches[touchId] = true

    PrintTouchInfo()
end

local function OnTouchStopped(control, location, touchId)
    touchCount = touchCount - 1
    activeTouches[touchId] = nil

    PrintTouchInfo()
end

UI_OBJECT.touchStartedEvent:Connect(OnTouchStarted)
UI_OBJECT.touchStoppedEvent:Connect(OnTouchStopped)

Example using:

`ComputeApproximateSize`

In this example a random message will be displayed. Each message is a different length. Using ComputeApproximateSize, you can get the rendered text size and increase the parent width so the text does not overflow. This is useful when you do not know the size of the text, for example, player names.

-- Client script.
-- The image is a fixed size.
local UI_IMAGE = script:GetCustomProperty("Image"):WaitForObject()

-- The text is set to not wrap, a child of the image, centered,
-- and inherit parent width.
local UI_TEXT = script:GetCustomProperty("Text"):WaitForObject()

-- Amount of space on the left and right of the text.
local padding = 100

-- Cache the starting width that will be used later.
local minWidth = UI_IMAGE.width

-- Array of messages to pick from at random.
local messages = {

    "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.",
    "Lorem ipsum.",
    "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.",
    "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur."

}

-- Get the approx text size of the UI_TEXT.
function GetTextSize()
    local size = UI_TEXT:ComputeApproximateSize()

    -- The size could be nil for a couple of frames,
    -- so you will need to wait for the component to
    -- be initialized.
    while size == nil do
        Task.Wait()
        size = UI_TEXT:ComputeApproximateSize()
    end

    return size
end

-- Spawn a task to repeat every 3 seconds and display
-- a random message.
local randomMsgTask = Task.Spawn(function()

    -- The UI_TEXT object needs the text property set
    -- first before getting the size.
    UI_TEXT.text = messages[math.random(#messages)]

    -- The width of the image is set based on the size
    -- of the text. The minimum width of the image will
    -- not go below minWidth value.
    UI_IMAGE.width = math.max(minWidth, GetTextSize().x + padding)
end)

randomMsgTask.repeatCount = -1
randomMsgTask.repeatInterval = 3

See also: UIText.text | UIControl.width | Task.Spawn

Example using:

`SetShadowOffset`

`SetShadowColor`

Adding shadows to UI components is a great way to draw a player's attention to that UI component. This example will show you how to position UI Text shadows and change the color of UI Text shadows. This script will cause the shadow of a UI Text object to blink on and off.

-- Grab the text object
local propUIText = script:GetCustomProperty("UIText"):WaitForObject()

-- Slightly offset the text's shadow so that you can see the shadow
propUIText:SetShadowOffset(Vector2.New(20, 20))

-- This variable will store the number of seconds that have passed
local secondCounter = 0

-- Give the shadow a black color
local shadowBlackColor = Color.BLACK

-- This color will not be visible because the alpha value is 0
local shadowInvisibleColor = Color.New(0, 1, 0, 0)

function Tick(deltaTime)
    -- Update the "secondCounter" to keep track of the number of seconds that have passed
    secondCounter = secondCounter + deltaTime

    -- Once 1 second has passed, toggle the visibility of the shadow
    Task.Wait(1)

    -- If the current color of the text shadow is black, make the shadow invisible using "shadowInvisibleColor"
    if(propUIText:GetShadowColor() == shadowBlackColor) then
        -- Set the color of the text shadow to black
        propUIText:SetShadowColor(shadowInvisibleColor)
    -- If the current color of the text shadow is invisible, make the shadow visible using "shadowBlackColor"
    elseif (propUIText:GetShadowColor() == shadowInvisibleColor) then
        -- Set the color of the text shadow to an invisible color
        propUIText:SetShadowColor(shadowBlackColor)
    end
end

Example using:

`outlineSize`

`SetOutlineColor`

Text outlines are often used to draw a player's attention towards a specific word or phrase. This example will demonstrate how you can change the color and size of UI Text outlines. This script will cause the outline of the UI Text object to repeatedly increase and decrease in size.

-- Grab the text object
local propUIText = script:GetCustomProperty("UIText"):WaitForObject()

-- Change the outline color of the text to green
propUIText:SetOutlineColor(Color.GREEN)

-- This variable will store the number of seconds that have passed since the start of the game
local timePassed = 0

-- This variable will store the current size of the text outline
local textOutlineSize = 0

-- This variable determines how large the text outline will be
local outlineScale = 5

-- Determines how often the text outline changes size
-- The current value will change the size 2 times per second
local frequency = 2 * (2 * math.pi)

function Tick(deltaTime)
    -- Update the "timePassed" to keep track of the number of seconds that have passed
    timePassed = timePassed + deltaTime

    -- The "timePassed" variable will be passed into a sine wave function to smoothly change the text outline size
    -- This sine wave function will have a frequency of 2 hertz, and an amplitude of 5 units
    textOutlineSize = (math.sin(timePassed * frequency) * outlineScale) + outlineScale

    -- the "floor" function is used to convert "textOutlineSize" from a number with decimals (known as a "floating point number")
    -- to a number without a decimal point (known as an "integer")
    textOutlineSize = math.floor(textOutlineSize)

    -- Update the outline size of the text
    propUIText.outlineSize = textOutlineSize
end

`text`

Being able to modify text is extremely valuable. This example will show you how to use the text property of a UI Text object to modify text displayed during runtime.

-- Grab the text object
local propUIText = script:GetCustomProperty("UIText"):WaitForObject()

-- This variable will store the number of seconds that have passed since the start of this script
local timePassed = 0

function Tick(deltaTime)
    -- Update the "timePassed" to keep track of the number of seconds that have passed
    timePassed = timePassed + deltaTime

    -- Convert the "timePassed" variable into a string format
    -- the "floor" function was used to remove the extra decimal points from the "timePassed" number
    local timePassedString = tostring(math.floor(timePassed))

    -- Update the UI text object to display the number of seconds that have passed
    propUIText.text = timePassedString
end

Tutorials

UI in Core

Last update: June 30, 2022

UIText

Properties

Functions

Events

Examples

`GetTouchPosition`

`GetPinchValue`

`GetRotateValue`

`pinchStartedEvent`

`pinchStoppedEvent`

`rotateStartedEvent`

`rotateStoppedEvent`

`tappedEvent`

`flickedEvent`

`touchStartedEvent`

`touchStoppedEvent`

`ComputeApproximateSize`

`SetShadowOffset`

`SetShadowColor`

`outlineSize`

`SetOutlineColor`

`text`

Tutorials