TextNode

from panda3d.core import TextNode
class TextNode

Bases:

Bases: PandaNode, TextEncoder, TextProperties

The primary interface to this module. This class does basic text assembly; given a string of text and a TextFont object, it creates a piece of geometry that may be placed in the 3-d or 2-d world to represent the indicated text.

The TextNode may be used in one of two ways. Naively, it may simply be parented directly into the scene graph and rendered as if it were a GeomNode; in this mode, the actual polygon geometry that renders the text is not directly visible or accessible, but remains hidden within the TextNode.

The second way TextNode may be used is as a text generator. To use it in this way, do not parent the TextNode to the scene graph; instead, set the properties of the text and call generate() to return an ordinary node, containing ordinary geometry, which you may use however you like. Each time you call generate() a new node is returned.

Inheritance diagram

Inheritance diagram of TextNode

enum FlattenFlags
enumerator FF_none = 0
enumerator FF_light = 1
enumerator FF_medium = 2
enumerator FF_strong = 4
enumerator FF_dynamic_merge = 8
__init__(name: str)
__init__(name: str, copy: TextProperties)

It’s sort of a copy constructor: it copies the indicated TextProperties, without copying a complete TextNode.

property align Alignment
property bin string

Returns the drawing bin set with setBin(), or empty string if no bin has been set.

Getter

Returns the drawing bin set with setBin(), or empty string if no bin has been set.

Setter

Names the GeomBin that the TextNode geometry should be assigned to. If this is set, then a GeomBinTransition will be created to explicitly place each component in the named bin.

The draw_order value will also be passed to each GeomBinTransition as appropriate; this is particularly useful if this names a GeomBinFixed, e.g. “fixed”.

calcWidth(line: str) float

Returns the width of a line of text of arbitrary characters. The line should not include the newline character.

calcWidth(line: str) float

Returns the width of a line of text of arbitrary characters. The line should not include the newline character or any embedded control characters like 1 or 3.

calcWidth(character: int) float

Returns the width of a single character of the font, or 0.0 if the character is not known. This may be a wide character (greater than 255).

property card_color LColor

Getter Setter

property card_texture Texture
clearAlign()
clearBin()

Removes the effect of a previous call to setBin(). Text will be drawn in whatever bin it would like to be drawn in, with no explicit ordering.

clearCard()

Specifies that a card will not be drawn behind the text.

clearCardBorder()
clearCardTexture()
clearDrawOrder()
clearFont()

Resets the font to the default font.

clearFrame()

Specifies that a border will not be drawn around the text.

clearGlyphScale()
clearGlyphShift()
clearIndent()
clearMaxRows()

Resets the TextNode’s default behavior of not limiting the number of rows of text.

clearShadow()

Specifies that a shadow will not be drawn behind the text.

clearShadowColor()
clearSlant()
clearSmallCaps()
clearSmallCapsScale()
clearTabWidth()
clearTextColor()

Removes the text color specification; the text will be colored whatever it was in the source font file.

clearWordwrap()

Removes the wordwrap setting from the TextNode. Text will be as wide as it is.

property coordinate_system CoordinateSystem

Getter Setter

Specifies the coordinate system in which the text will be generated.

property draw_order int

Returns the drawing order set with setDrawOrder().

Getter

Returns the drawing order set with setDrawOrder().

Setter

Sets the drawing order of text created by the TextMaker. This is actually the draw order of the card and frame. The shadow is drawn at _draw_order+1, and the text at _draw_order+2.

This affects the sorting order assigned to the arcs as they are created, and also is passed to whatever bin may be assigned via setBin().

The return value is the first unused draw_order number, e.g. _draw_order + 3.

property flatten_flags int
Getter

Returns the flatten flags. See setFlattenFlags().

Setter

Sets the flatten flags. This should be a union of the TextNode::FlattenFlags options. This controls the degree of flattening performed on the TextNode’s internal geometry (i.e. the scene graph returned by generate()) each time the text is changed. In general, more flattening means a more optimal result, but it will take more time to generate.

The choice may be any of these three:

FF_none - No flatten operation is called. The letters are left as independent Geoms.

FF_light - A flatten_light() operation is called. The attributes are applied to the vertices, but no nodes are removed.

FF_medium - A flatten_medium() operation is called. The attributes are applied to the vertices, and a few trivial nodes are removed.

FF_strong - A flatten_strong() operation is called. The attributes are applied to the vertices, and the resulting nodes are aggressively combined into as few nodes as possible.

In addition to the above choices, you may optionally include the following flag:

FF_dynamic_merge - Copy the geoms into a single GeomVertexData as we go, instead of relying on the flatten operation at the end. This pre-flattens the text considerably, and may obviate the need for flatten altogether; it also tends to improve performance considerably even if you do call flatten. However, it is not as fast as not calling flatten at all.

The default is taken from the text-flatten and text-dynamic-merge config variables.

property font TextFont

Returns the font currently in use, if any. If no font is in use, this returns the default font.

Getter

Returns the font currently in use, if any. If no font is in use, this returns the default font.

Setter

Sets the font that will be used when making text. If this is set to NULL, the default font will be used, which can be set via setDefaultFont().

forceUpdate()

Forces the TextNode to recompute itself now, even if it believes nothing has changed. Normally, this should not need to be called, but it may be useful if some properties change outside of the TextNode’s knowledge (for instance, within the font).

property frame_color LColor

Getter Setter

property frame_corners bool

Getter Setter

Enables or disables the drawing of corners for the frame. These are extra points drawn at each of the four corners, to soften the ugly edges generated when the line width is greater than one.

property frame_line_width float

Returns/Specifies the thickness of the lines that will be used to draw the frame.

generate() PandaNode

Generates the text, according to the parameters indicated within the TextNode, and returns a Node that may be parented within the tree to represent it.

getBottom() float

Returns the bottommost extent of the text in local 2-d coordinates, unmodified by the setTransform() matrix.

getCardActual() LVecBase4

Returns the actual dimensions of the card around the text. If the card was set via setCardAsMargin(), the result returned by this function reflects the size of the current text; if the card was set via setCardActual(), this returns the values actually set.

If the text has no card at all, this returns the dimensions of the text itself, as if the card were set with a margin of 0, 0, 0, 0.

getCardAsSet() LVecBase4

Returns the dimensions of the card as set by setCardAsMargin() or setCardActual(). Use is_card_actual() to determine how to interpret the values returned by this function. It is an error to call this if hasCard() is false.

getCardBorderSize() float
getCardBorderUvPortion() float
getCardColor() LColor
getCardDecal() bool

Returns the card_decal flag. See setCardDecal().

getCardTexture() Texture
getCardTransformed() LVecBase4

Returns the actual card dimensions, transformed by the matrix set by setTransform(). This returns the card dimensions in actual coordinates as seen by the rest of the world. Also see getUpperLeft3d() and getLowerRight3d().

static getClassType() TypeHandle
getCoordinateSystem() CoordinateSystem
getFlattenFlags() int

Returns the flatten flags. See setFlattenFlags().

getFrameActual() LVecBase4

Returns the actual dimensions of the frame around the text. If the frame was set via setFrameAsMargin(), the result returned by this function reflects the size of the current text; if the frame was set via setFrameActual(), this returns the values actually set.

If the text has no frame at all, this returns the dimensions of the text itself, as if the frame were set with a margin of 0, 0, 0, 0.

getFrameAsSet() LVecBase4

Returns the dimensions of the frame as set by setFrameAsMargin() or setFrameActual(). Use is_frame_actual() to determine how to interpret the values returned by this function. It is an error to call this if hasFrame() is false.

getFrameColor() LColor
getFrameCorners() bool
getFrameLineWidth() float

Returns the thickness of the lines that will be used to draw the frame.

getHeight() float

Returns the net height of the text in local 2-d coordinates.

getInternalGeom() PandaNode

Returns the actual node that is used internally to render the text, if the TextNode is parented within the scene graph.

In general, you should not call this method. Call generate() instead if you want to get a handle to geometry that represents the text. This method is provided as a debugging aid only.

getLeft() float

Returns the leftmost extent of the text in local 2-d coordinates, unmodified by the setTransform() matrix.

getLineHeight() float

Returns the number of units high each line of text is. This is based on the font. Note that it is possible for the text to include nested font change commands, in which case the value of this method is questionable.

getLowerRight3d() LPoint3

Returns the lower-right extent of the text object, after it has been transformed into 3-d space by applying the setTransform() matrix.

getMaxRows() int

Returns the limit on the height of the TextNode specified by setMaxRows().

getNumRows() int

Returns the number of rows of text that were generated. This counts word- wrapped rows as well as rows generated due to embedded newlines.

getRight() float

Returns the rightmost extent of the text in local 2-d coordinates, unmodified by the setTransform() matrix.

getTop() float

Returns the topmost extent of the text in local 2-d coordinates, unmodified by the setTransform() matrix.

getTransform() LMatrix4
getUpperLeft3d() LPoint3

Returns the upper-left extent of the text object, after it has been transformed into 3-d space by applying the setTransform() matrix.

getUsageHint() UsageHint

Returns the UsageHint that will be applied to generated geometry. See setUsageHint().

getWidth() float

Returns the net width of the text in local 2-d coordinates.

getWordwrappedText() str

Returns a string that represents the contents of the text, as it has been formatted by wordwrap rules.

In earlier versions, this did not contain any embedded special characters like 1 or 3; now it does.

getWordwrappedWtext() str

Returns a wstring that represents the contents of the text, as it has been formatted by wordwrap rules.

In earlier versions, this did not contain any embedded special characters like 1 or 3; now it does.

property glyph_scale float

Returns the scale factor of each letter as specified by setGlyphScale().

Getter

Returns the scale factor of each letter as specified by setGlyphScale().

Setter

Specifies the factor by which to scale each letter of the text as it is placed. This can be used (possibly in conjunction with setGlyphShift()) to implement superscripting or subscripting.

property glyph_shift float

Returns the vertical shift of each letter as specified by setGlyphShift().

Getter

Returns the vertical shift of each letter as specified by setGlyphShift().

Setter

Specifies a vertical amount to shift each letter of the text as it is placed. This can be used (possibly in conjunction with setGlyphScale()) to implement superscripting or subscripting.

hasCard() bool
hasCardBorder() bool
hasCardTexture() bool
hasCharacter(character: int) bool

Returns true if the named character exists in the font or can be synthesized by Panda, false otherwise. (Panda can synthesize some accented characters by combining similar-looking glyphs from the font.)

This returns true for whitespace and Unicode whitespace characters (if they exist in the font), but returns false for characters that would render with the “invalid glyph”.

hasExactCharacter(character: int) bool

Returns true if the named character exists in the font exactly as named, false otherwise. Note that because Panda can assemble glyphs together automatically using cheesy accent marks, this is not a reliable indicator of whether a suitable glyph can be rendered for the character. For that, use hasCharacter() instead.

This returns true for whitespace and Unicode whitespace characters (if they exist in the font), but returns false for characters that would render with the “invalid glyph”. It also returns false for characters that would be synthesized within Panda, but see hasCharacter().

hasFrame() bool
hasMaxRows() bool

Returns true if a limit on the height of the TextNode has been set via setMaxRows(), false otherwise.

hasOverflow() bool

Returns true if the last text set on the text node exceeded the max_rows constraint, or false if it all fit.

property indent float

Getter Setter

Specifies the amount of extra space that is inserted before the first character of each line. This can be thought of as a left margin.

isCardAsMargin() bool

If this is true, the card was set via a call to setCardAsMargin(), and the dimension of the card as returned by getCardAsSet() represent a margin all around the text. If false, then the card was set via a call to setCardActual(), and the dimensions of the card as returned by getCardAsSet() are relative to the text’s origin.

isFrameAsMargin() bool

If this is true, the frame was set via a call to setFrameAsMargin(), and the dimension of the frame as returned by getFrameAsSet() represent a margin all around the text. If false, then the frame was set via a call to setFrameActual(), and the dimensions of the frame as returned by getFrameAsSet() are relative to the text’s origin.

isWhitespace(character: int) bool

Returns true if the indicated character represents whitespace in the font, or false if anything visible will be rendered for it.

This returns true for whitespace and Unicode whitespace characters (if they exist in the font), and returns false for any other characters, including characters that do not exist in the font (these would be rendered with the “invalid glyph”, which is visible).

Note that this function can be reliably used to identify Unicode whitespace characters only if the font has all of the whitespace characters defined. It will return false for any character not in the font, even if it is an official Unicode whitespace character.

property max_rows int
Getter

Returns the limit on the height of the TextNode specified by setMaxRows().

Setter

Sets the maximum number of rows that may be formatted by the TextNode. If more text than this is attempted, it will be truncated and hasOverflow() will return true.

output(out: ostream)
property preserve_trailing_whitespace bool

Returns the preserve_trailing_whitespace flag. See setPreserveTrailingWhitespace().

Getter

Returns the preserve_trailing_whitespace flag. See setPreserveTrailingWhitespace().

Setter

Sets the preserve_trailing_whitespace flag. When this is set, trailing whitespace at the end of the line is not stripped when the text is wordwrapped (it is stripped by default). Since the trailing whitespace is invisible, this is important primarily for determining the proper width of a frame or card behind the text.

setAlign(align_type: Alignment)
setBin(bin: str)

Names the GeomBin that the TextNode geometry should be assigned to. If this is set, then a GeomBinTransition will be created to explicitly place each component in the named bin.

The draw_order value will also be passed to each GeomBinTransition as appropriate; this is particularly useful if this names a GeomBinFixed, e.g. “fixed”.

setCardActual(left: float, right: float, bottom: float, top: float)

Similar to setCardAsMargin(), except the card is specified in actual coordinate units (relative to the text’s origin), irrespective of the size of the text. The left and bottom coordinates should generally be negative, while the right and top coordinates should generally be positive.

setCardAsMargin(left: float, right: float, bottom: float, top: float)

Specifies that a (possibly opaque or semitransparent) card will be held behind the text when it is next created. Like setFrameAsMargin(), the parameters are the amount of additional padding to insert around the text in each dimension, and all should generally be positive.

setCardBorder(size: float, uv_portion: float)
setCardColor(card_color: LColor)
setCardColor(r: float, g: float, b: float, a: float)
setCardDecal(card_decal: bool)

Sets the card_decal flag. When this is true, the text is decalled onto the card, which is necessary if the TextNode is to be rendered in the 3-d world without putting it in a bin.

setCardTexture(card_texture: Texture)
setCoordinateSystem(cs: CoordinateSystem)

Specifies the coordinate system in which the text will be generated.

setDrawOrder(draw_order: int) int

Sets the drawing order of text created by the TextMaker. This is actually the draw order of the card and frame. The shadow is drawn at _draw_order+1, and the text at _draw_order+2.

This affects the sorting order assigned to the arcs as they are created, and also is passed to whatever bin may be assigned via setBin().

The return value is the first unused draw_order number, e.g. _draw_order + 3.

setFlattenFlags(flatten_flags: int)

Sets the flatten flags. This should be a union of the TextNode::FlattenFlags options. This controls the degree of flattening performed on the TextNode’s internal geometry (i.e. the scene graph returned by generate()) each time the text is changed. In general, more flattening means a more optimal result, but it will take more time to generate.

The choice may be any of these three:

FF_none - No flatten operation is called. The letters are left as independent Geoms.

FF_light - A flatten_light() operation is called. The attributes are applied to the vertices, but no nodes are removed.

FF_medium - A flatten_medium() operation is called. The attributes are applied to the vertices, and a few trivial nodes are removed.

FF_strong - A flatten_strong() operation is called. The attributes are applied to the vertices, and the resulting nodes are aggressively combined into as few nodes as possible.

In addition to the above choices, you may optionally include the following flag:

FF_dynamic_merge - Copy the geoms into a single GeomVertexData as we go, instead of relying on the flatten operation at the end. This pre-flattens the text considerably, and may obviate the need for flatten altogether; it also tends to improve performance considerably even if you do call flatten. However, it is not as fast as not calling flatten at all.

The default is taken from the text-flatten and text-dynamic-merge config variables.

setFont(font: TextFont)

Sets the font that will be used when making text. If this is set to NULL, the default font will be used, which can be set via setDefaultFont().

setFrameActual(left: float, right: float, bottom: float, top: float)

Similar to setFrameAsMargin(), except the frame is specified in actual coordinate units (relative to the text’s origin), irrespective of the size of the text. The left and bottom coordinates should generally be negative, while the right and top coordinates should generally be positive.

setFrameAsMargin(left: float, right: float, bottom: float, top: float)

Specifies that a border will be drawn around the text when it is next created. The parameters are the amount of additional padding to insert between the frame and the text in each dimension, and all should generally be positive.

setFrameColor(frame_color: LColor)
setFrameColor(r: float, g: float, b: float, a: float)
setFrameCorners(corners: bool)

Enables or disables the drawing of corners for the frame. These are extra points drawn at each of the four corners, to soften the ugly edges generated when the line width is greater than one.

setFrameLineWidth(line_width: float)

Specifies the thickness of the lines that will be used to draw the frame.

setGlyphScale(glyph_scale: float)

Specifies the factor by which to scale each letter of the text as it is placed. This can be used (possibly in conjunction with setGlyphShift()) to implement superscripting or subscripting.

setGlyphShift(glyph_shift: float)

Specifies a vertical amount to shift each letter of the text as it is placed. This can be used (possibly in conjunction with setGlyphScale()) to implement superscripting or subscripting.

setIndent(indent: float)

Specifies the amount of extra space that is inserted before the first character of each line. This can be thought of as a left margin.

setMaxRows(max_rows: int)

Sets the maximum number of rows that may be formatted by the TextNode. If more text than this is attempted, it will be truncated and hasOverflow() will return true.

setShadow(shadow_offset: LVecBase2)

Specifies that the text should be drawn with a shadow, by creating a second copy of the text and offsetting it slightly behind the first.

setShadow(xoffset: float, yoffset: float)

Specifies that the text should be drawn with a shadow, by creating a second copy of the text and offsetting it slightly behind the first.

setShadowColor(shadow_color: LColor)
setShadowColor(r: float, g: float, b: float, a: float)
setSlant(slant: float)
setSmallCaps(small_caps: bool)

Sets the small_caps flag. When this is set, lowercase letters are generated as scaled-down versions of their uppercase equivalents. This is particularly useful to set for fonts that do not have lowercase letters.

It is also a good idea to set this for a (dynamic) font that has already implemented lowercase letters as scaled-down versions of their uppercase equivalents, since without this flag the texture memory may needlessly duplicate equivalent glyphs for upper and lowercase letters. Setting this flag causes the texture memory to share the mixed-case letters.

The amount by which the lowercase letters are scaled is specified by setSmallCapsScale().

setSmallCapsScale(small_caps_scale: float)

Sets the scale factor applied to lowercase letters from their uppercase equivalents, when the small_caps flag is in effect. See setSmallCaps(). Normally, this will be a number less than one.

setTabWidth(tab_width: float)

Sets the width of each tab stop, in screen units. A tab character embedded in the text will advance the horizontal position to the next tab stop.

setTextColor(text_color: LColor)
setTextColor(r: float, g: float, b: float, a: float)
setTransform(transform: LMatrix4)

Sets an additional transform that is applied to the entire text paragraph.

setUsageHint(usage_hint: UsageHint)

Specifies the UsageHint that will be applied to generated geometry. The default is UH_static, which is probably the right setting, but if you know the TextNode’s geometry will have a short lifespan, it may be better to set it to UH_stream. See geomEnums.h.

setWordwrap(wordwrap: float)

Sets the text up to automatically wordwrap when it exceeds the indicated width. This can be thought of as a right margin or margin width.

property shadow LVector2

Returns the offset of the shadow as set by setShadow(). It is an error to call this if hasShadow() is false.

Getter

Returns the offset of the shadow as set by setShadow(). It is an error to call this if hasShadow() is false.

Setter

Specifies that the text should be drawn with a shadow, by creating a second copy of the text and offsetting it slightly behind the first.

Specifies that the text should be drawn with a shadow, by creating a second copy of the text and offsetting it slightly behind the first.

property shadow_color LColor

Getter Setter

property slant float

Returns the factor by which the text is specified to slant to the right.

Getter

Returns the factor by which the text is specified to slant to the right.

Setter

property small_caps bool

Returns the small_caps flag. See setSmallCaps().

Getter

Returns the small_caps flag. See setSmallCaps().

Setter

Sets the small_caps flag. When this is set, lowercase letters are generated as scaled-down versions of their uppercase equivalents. This is particularly useful to set for fonts that do not have lowercase letters.

It is also a good idea to set this for a (dynamic) font that has already implemented lowercase letters as scaled-down versions of their uppercase equivalents, since without this flag the texture memory may needlessly duplicate equivalent glyphs for upper and lowercase letters. Setting this flag causes the texture memory to share the mixed-case letters.

The amount by which the lowercase letters are scaled is specified by setSmallCapsScale().

property small_caps_scale float

Returns the scale factor applied to lowercase letters from their uppercase equivalents, when the small_caps flag is in effect. See setSmallCaps() and setSmallCapsScale().

Getter

Returns the scale factor applied to lowercase letters from their uppercase equivalents, when the small_caps flag is in effect. See setSmallCaps() and setSmallCapsScale().

Setter

Sets the scale factor applied to lowercase letters from their uppercase equivalents, when the small_caps flag is in effect. See setSmallCaps(). Normally, this will be a number less than one.

property tab_width float

Returns the width set via setTabWidth().

Getter

Returns the width set via setTabWidth().

Setter

Sets the width of each tab stop, in screen units. A tab character embedded in the text will advance the horizontal position to the next tab stop.

property text_color LColor

Getter Setter

property text_scale float

Returns the scale factor of the text as specified by setTextScale().

Getter

Returns the scale factor of the text as specified by setTextScale().

Setter

Specifies the factor by which to scale the text, in addition to any scalings imposed by the node, as well as in addition to the glyph scale.

The text scale is not cumulative when applied to nested TextProperties. See also setGlyphScale(), which is cumulative.

property transform LMatrix4

Getter Setter

Sets an additional transform that is applied to the entire text paragraph.

property underscore bool

Returns the underscore flag. See setUnderscore().

Getter

Returns the underscore flag. See setUnderscore().

Setter

Sets the underscore flag. When this is set, the text is underscored with a one-pixel line the same color as the text foreground, drawn at the baseline.

property underscore_height float

Returns the vertical height of the underscore; see setUnderscoreHeight().

Getter

Returns the vertical height of the underscore; see setUnderscoreHeight().

Setter

Specifies the vertical height of the underscore, relative to the text baseline. This only has meaning if the underscore mode is enabled with setUnderscore().

update()

Can be called after the TextNode has been fully configured, to force the node to recompute its text immediately, rather than waiting for it to be drawn. This call is optional.

property usage_hint UsageHint
Getter

Returns the UsageHint that will be applied to generated geometry. See setUsageHint().

Setter

Specifies the UsageHint that will be applied to generated geometry. The default is UH_static, which is probably the right setting, but if you know the TextNode’s geometry will have a short lifespan, it may be better to set it to UH_stream. See geomEnums.h.

property wordwrap float

Getter Setter

Sets the text up to automatically wordwrap when it exceeds the indicated width. This can be thought of as a right margin or margin width.

write(out: ostream, indent_level: int)