TextField() Prevent ctrl+a (select all)

Question

How can I prevent ctrl+a from functioning with editable TextField()

Answer 1

Not tested, but perhaps you could catch the selectAll event on the TextField and prevent it bubbling up, or clear the selection (not sure when the event is fired).

Answer 2

Use the setFocus function paired with a KeyboardEvent listener:

<xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- menus/SimpleMenuControl.mxml -->
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" width="800" initialize="init()" >
 <mx:TextInput id="nom"/>
 <mx:Script>
  <![CDATA[
   private function init():void
   {
    addEventListener( KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP,  edit );
    addEventListener( KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN,  edit );
   } 

   private function edit( event:KeyboardEvent ):void
   {
    if( event.type == KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN && event.ctrlKey ) setFocus();
    else nom.setFocus();
    nom.selectionEndIndex = nom.selectionBeginIndex = nom.text.length;
   }
  ]]>
 </mx:Script>

</mx:Application>

The setFocus means that the Text object will no longer listen to any keyboard events.

I would not recommend using the enabled property as that will gray-out the textarea.

Answer 3

The previous example only works with Flex Text and TextArea objects, this works with all flash.text.* objects.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" creationComplete="init()">
 <mx:Script>
  <![CDATA[
   import mx.core.UIComponent;

   private var t:TextField;
   private function init():void
   {
    t = new TextField();
    t.height = 80;
    t.width  = 100;
    t.type   = TextFieldType.INPUT;
    t.multiline = true;
    var c:UIComponent = new UIComponent();
    c.addChild( t );
    foo.addChild( c );
    addEventListener( KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP,         edit );
    addEventListener( KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN,       edit );
            } 

   private function edit( event:KeyboardEvent ):void
   {
    if( event.type == KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN && event.ctrlKey )
    {
     t.type = TextFieldType.DYNAMIC; // Dynamic texts cannot be edited.  You might be able to remove this line.
     t.selectable = false; // If selectable is false, then Ctrl-a won't do anything.
    }
    else
    {
     t.type = TextFieldType.INPUT;
     t.selectable = true;
    }
   }
  ]]>
 </mx:Script>
 <mx:Canvas id="foo" height="90" width="110" backgroundColor="#FFFFFF" />
</mx:Application>