Multiline Text Entity (MTextEnt)

About 2 min

Multiline Text Entity (MTextEnt)

MTextEnt represents multiline text entities in CAD, supporting multi-line text and simple formatting.

Overview

Multiline text can contain multiple lines of text, with support for automatic line wrapping, text styles, and simple format control codes. Suitable for adding longer descriptions, tables, and similar content.

Constructor

import { MTextEnt, Point2D } from 'vjcad';

// Create multiline text
const mtext = new MTextEnt();
mtext.insertionPoint = [100, 100];  // Array format supported
mtext.text = 'First line\nSecond line\nThird line';
mtext.width = 100;
mtext.height = 10;
mtext.setDefaults();

Simplified Syntax

The insertionPoint property supports [x, y] array format for coordinates.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
`insertionPoint`	Point2D	Insertion point (position determined by attachment)
`text`	string	Text content (alias for `textString`)
`textString`	string	Text content (supports newline characters)
`contents`	string	Rich text content (includes format codes)
`maxWidth`	number	Text box width
`height`	number	Text height
`rotation`	number	Rotation angle (radians)
`textAttachment`	number	Attachment point position
`rowSpcFac`	number	Row spacing factor
`styleName`	string	Text style name
`textStyle`	TextStyle	Text style object (read-only, auto-fetched after setting styleName)

Attachment Point Positions

1 --- 2 --- 3
|     |     |
4 --- 5 --- 6
|     |     |
7 --- 8 --- 9

Value	Position
1	Top-left
2	Top-center
3	Top-right
4	Middle-left
5	Center
6	Middle-right
7	Bottom-left
8	Bottom-center
9	Bottom-right

Format Control Codes

Code	Description
`\n`	Line break
`\P`	Paragraph break
`\\`	Backslash
`\{`	Left curly brace
`\}`	Right curly brace

Examples

Using Fonts

import { Engine, MTextEnt } from 'vjcad';

// Method 1: Use font name directly as styleName (recommended)
// MainView automatically creates a TextStyle with the same name for configured fonts
const mtext1 = new MTextEnt();
mtext1.insertionPoint = [0, 100];
mtext1.text = 'Using Kai font';
mtext1.height = 10;
mtext1.styleName = "simkai";  // Use font name directly
mtext1.setDefaults();

// Using SHX font
const mtext2 = new MTextEnt();
mtext2.insertionPoint = [0, 80];
mtext2.text = 'SHX Font Text';
mtext2.height = 10;
mtext2.styleName = "_default";  // Use font name directly
mtext2.setDefaults();

Engine.addEntities([mtext1, mtext2]);

Tips

Fonts must be configured during MainView initialization. See Text Entities - Font Configuration.

Creating Multiline Description Text

import { Engine, MTextEnt, Point2D } from 'vjcad';

const mtext = new MTextEnt();
mtext.position = new Point2D(50, 150);
mtext.text = 'Project: WebCAD Example\n' +
             'Date: 2024-01-01\n' +
             'Designer: Dev Team';
mtext.width = 120;
mtext.height = 8;
mtext.attachment = 1;  // Top-left alignment
mtext.setDefaults();

Engine.addEntities(mtext);

Creating Centered Title

import { Engine, MTextEnt, Point2D } from 'vjcad';

const title = new MTextEnt();
title.position = new Point2D(100, 200);
title.text = 'Design Drawing';
title.width = 100;
title.height = 15;
title.attachment = 2;  // Top-center alignment
title.setDefaults();

Engine.addEntities(title);

Creating Bordered Description

import { Engine, MTextEnt, PolylineEnt, BulgePoints, BulgePoint, Point2D } from 'vjcad';

function drawTextBox(text: string, x: number, y: number, width: number, padding: number = 5) {
  // Create text
  const mtext = new MTextEnt();
  mtext.position = new Point2D(x + padding, y - padding);
  mtext.text = text;
  mtext.width = width - 2 * padding;
  mtext.height = 8;
  mtext.attachment = 1;  // Top-left
  mtext.setDefaults();
  
  // Estimate height (simplified: ~10 units per line)
  const lines = text.split('\n').length;
  const height = lines * 12 + 2 * padding;
  
  // Create border
  const points = new BulgePoints();
  points.add(new BulgePoint(new Point2D(x, y), 0));
  points.add(new BulgePoint(new Point2D(x + width, y), 0));
  points.add(new BulgePoint(new Point2D(x + width, y - height), 0));
  points.add(new BulgePoint(new Point2D(x, y - height), 0));
  
  const border = new PolylineEnt(points);
  border.isClosed = true;
  border.setDefaults();
  
  Engine.addEntities([border, mtext]);
}

drawTextBox('Notes:\n1. All dimensions in millimeters\n2. Unspecified tolerances per GB/T 1804-m', 0, 0, 150);