The Text Area object is very much as the Text Input object, although the first one can manage more than one line of text. A Text Area is an entry field that allow you to provide your users with a place to enter text information. The information may be stored in a variable, used in calculations or sent to a server script to be stored in a database.

The Text Area object corresponds to the <textarea> HTML tag.



To create a Text Area object, use the mouse to draw a rectangle where you want the field to appear. The Text Area properties can be accessed from the Properties Panel, allowing you to define the appearance and behaviour.



  • id: use this property to set a unique name for your Text Area. It will allow you later to modify its properties programatically.
  • initial-value: add here some text only if you want the Text Area to be prefilled with that text.
  • max-length: put here a number to limit the maximun characters allowed on the Text Area.
  • place-holder: this attribute specifies a short hint that describes the expected value of an input field (e.g. a sample value or a short description of the expected format). The short hint is displayed in the input field before the user enters a value.
  • property-name: this is important if you want to send the data from a Form with a Text Area to a server. The server script will get the value associated to this property.
  • variable: if you want to store the Text Area data into a variable to keep track of its content, just add the variable name using brackets into the variable property (ie: [name]). For more information see Understanding Actions and Variables.


At runtime, the variable will contain whatever has been typed into the Text Area. You can modify the contents of the Text Area object by manipulating the variable using a simple Action Command. For example:


SetVar "[comment]" "This is a Text Area!"


Similarly, you can clear the contents of the Text Area object like this:


SetVar "[comment]" ""