DefaultTextFormat vs SetTextFormat

Question

here are 2 code blocks.

var myTextField:TextField = new TextField();
var myTextFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat();

addChild(myTextField);

myTextFormat.font          


        

Answer 1

setTextFormat allows you to change the formatting on parts of the text. Check out the other two parameters of setTextFormat. When you set defaultTextFormat it is applied to all the text that you add to the TextField.

More info :

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/flash/text/TextField.html#defaultTextFormat

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/flash/text/TextField.html#setTextFormat

Edit : Also setTextFormat doesn't work on text that is inserted after you set the format. Adobe says "Any text inserted manually by the user, or replaced by the replaceSelectedText() method, receives the default text field formatting for new text, and not the formatting specified for the text insertion point. To set the default formatting for new text, use defaultTextFormat."