NSParagraphStyle Class Reference

Inherits from
NSObject
Conforms to
NSCoding
NSCopying
NSMutableCopying
NSObject (NSObject)
Framework
/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework
Availability
Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Companion guide
Ruler and Paragraph Style Programming Topics
Declared in
NSParagraphStyle.h
Related sample code

Overview

NSParagraphStyle and its subclass NSMutableParagraphStyle encapsulate the paragraph or ruler attributes used by the NSAttributedString classes. Instances of these classes are often referred to as paragraph style objects or, when no confusion will result, paragraph styles.

The mutable subclass of NSParagraphStyle is NSMutableParagraphStyle.

Adopted Protocols

NSCoding
NSCopying
NSMutableCopying

Tasks

Creating an NSParagraphStyle

Accessing Style Information

Getting Text Block and List Information

Getting Line Breaking Information

Getting HTML Header Level

Writing Direction

Class Methods

defaultParagraphStyle

Returns the default paragraph style.

+ (NSParagraphStyle *)defaultParagraphStyle
Discussion

The default paragraph style has the following default values:

Subattribute

Default Value

Alignment

NSNaturalTextAlignment

Tab stops

12 left-aligned tabs, spaced by 28.0 points

Line break mode

NSLineBreakByWordWrapping

All others

0.0

See individual method descriptions for explanations of each subattribute.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

defaultWritingDirectionForLanguage:

Returns the default writing direction for the specified language.

+ (NSWritingDirection)defaultWritingDirectionForLanguage:(NSString *)languageName
Parameters
languageName

The language specified in ISO language region format. Can be nil to return a default writing direction derived from the user’s defaults database.

Return Value

The default writing direction.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.2 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

Instance Methods

alignment

Returns the text alignment of the receiver.

- (NSTextAlignment)alignment
Return Value

The text alignment.

Discussion

Natural text alignment is realized as left or right alignment depending on the line sweep direction of the first script contained in the paragraph.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

baseWritingDirection

Returns the base writing direction for the receiver.

- (NSWritingDirection)baseWritingDirection
Return Value

The base writing direction for the receiver.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.2 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

defaultTabInterval

Returns the document-wide default tab interval.

- (CGFloat)defaultTabInterval
Return Value

The default tab interval in points. Tabs after the last specified in tabStops are placed at integer multiples of this distance (if positive). Default return value is 0.0.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.3 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

firstLineHeadIndent

Returns the indentation of the first line of the receiver.

- (CGFloat)firstLineHeadIndent
Return Value

The distance in points from the leading margin of a text container to the beginning of the paragraph’s first line. This value is always nonnegative.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

headerLevel

Specifies whether the paragraph is to be treated as a header for purposes of HTML generation.

- (NSInteger)headerLevel
Return Value

Returns 0 (the default value), if the paragraph is not a header, or from 1 through 6 if the paragraph is to be treated as a header.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.4 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

headIndent

Returns the indentation of the receiver’s lines other than the first.

- (CGFloat)headIndent
Return Value

The distance in points from the leading margin of a text container to the beginning of lines other than the first. This value is always nonnegative.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

hyphenationFactor

Returns the paragraph’s threshold for hyphenation.

- (float)hyphenationFactor
Return Value

A value between 0.0 and 1.0 inclusive. The default value is 0.0.

Discussion

Hyphenation is attempted when the ratio of the text width (as broken without hyphenation) to the width of the line fragment is less than the hyphenation factor. When the paragraph’s hyphenation factor is 0.0, the layout manager’s hyphenation factor is used instead. When both are 0.0, hyphenation is disabled.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.4 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

lineBreakMode

Returns the mode that should be used to break lines in the receiver.

- (NSLineBreakMode)lineBreakMode
Return Value

The line break mode to be used laying out the paragraph’s text.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

lineHeightMultiple

Returns the line height multiple.

- (CGFloat)lineHeightMultiple
Return Value

The line height multiple. The natural line height of the receiver is multiplied by this factor (if positive) before being constrained by minimum and maximum line height. Default return value is 0.0.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.3 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

lineSpacing

Returns the space between lines in the receiver (commonly known as leading).

- (CGFloat)lineSpacing
Return Value

The space in points added between lines within the paragraph. This value is always nonnegative.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

maximumLineHeight

Returns the receiver’s maximum line height.

- (CGFloat)maximumLineHeight
Return Value

The maximum height in points that any line in the receiver will occupy, regardless of the font size or size of any attached graphic. This value is always nonnegative. The default value is 0.

Discussion

Glyphs and graphics exceeding this height will overlap neighboring lines; however, a maximum height of 0 implies no line height limit. Although this limit applies to the line itself, line spacing adds extra space between adjacent lines.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

minimumLineHeight

Returns the receiver’s minimum height.

- (CGFloat)minimumLineHeight
Return Value

The minimum height in points that any line in the receiver will occupy, regardless of the font size or size of any attached graphic. This value is always nonnegative.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

paragraphSpacing

Returns the space after the end of the paragraph.

- (CGFloat)paragraphSpacing
Return Value

The space in points added at the end of the paragraph to separate it from the following paragraph. This value is always nonnegative.

Discussion

This value is determined by adding the previous paragraph’s paragraphSpacing and the current paragraph’s paragraphSpacingBefore.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

paragraphSpacingBefore

Returns the distance between the paragraph’s top and the beginning of its text content.

- (CGFloat)paragraphSpacingBefore
Return Value

The distance in points between the paragraph’s top and the beginning of its text content. Default return value is 0.0.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.3 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

tabStops

Returns the receiver’s tab stops.

- (NSArray *)tabStops
Return Value

The NSTextTab objects, sorted by location, that define the tab stops for the paragraph style.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

tailIndent

Returns the trailing indentation of the receiver.

- (CGFloat)tailIndent
Return Value

The distance in points from the margin of a text container to the end of lines.

Discussion

If positive, this value is the distance from the leading margin (for example, the left margin in left-to-right text). If 0 or negative, it’s the distance from the trailing margin.

For example, a paragraph style designed to fit exactly in a 2-inch wide container has a head indent of 0.0 and a tail indent of 0.0. One designed to fit with a quarter-inch margin has a head indent of 0.25 and a tail indent of –0.25.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.0 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

textBlocks

Returns an array specifying the text blocks containing the paragraph.

- (NSArray *)textBlocks
Return Value

An array of the NSTextTableBlock objects containing the paragraph, nested from outermost to innermost.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.4 and later.
See Also
Related Sample Code
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

textLists

Returns an array specifying the text lists containing the paragraph.

- (NSArray *)textLists
Return Value

An array of the NSTextList objects containing the paragraph, nested from outermost to innermost.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.4 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

tighteningFactorForTruncation

Returns the threshold for using tightening as an alternative to truncation.

- (float)tighteningFactorForTruncation
Return Value

The tightening threshold value. The default value is 0.05.

Discussion

When the line break mode specifies truncation, the text system attempts to tighten intercharacter spacing as an alternative to truncation, provided that the ratio of the text width to the line fragment width does not exceed 1.0 + the tightening factor returned by this method. Otherwise the text is truncated at a location determined by the line break mode.

Availability
  • Available in OS X v10.4 and later.
See Also
Declared In
NSParagraphStyle.h

Constants

NSLineBreakMode

These constants specify what happens when a line is too long for its container.

enum {
   NSLineBreakByWordWrapping = 0,
   NSLineBreakByCharWrapping,
   NSLineBreakByClipping,
   NSLineBreakByTruncatingHead,
   NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail,
   NSLineBreakByTruncatingMiddle
};
typedef NSUInteger NSLineBreakMode
Constants
NSLineBreakByWordWrapping

Wrapping occurs at word boundaries, unless the word itself doesn’t fit on a single line.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSParagraphStyle.h.

NSLineBreakByCharWrapping

Wrapping occurs before the first character that doesn’t fit.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSParagraphStyle.h.

NSLineBreakByClipping

Lines are simply not drawn past the edge of the text container.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSParagraphStyle.h.

NSLineBreakByTruncatingHead

Each line is displayed so that the end fits in the container and the missing text is indicated by some kind of ellipsis glyph.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSParagraphStyle.h.

NSLineBreakByTruncatingTail

Each line is displayed so that the beginning fits in the container and the missing text is indicated by some kind of ellipsis glyph.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSParagraphStyle.h.

NSLineBreakByTruncatingMiddle

Each line is displayed so that the beginning and end fit in the container and the missing text is indicated by some kind of ellipsis glyph in the middle.

Available in OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in NSParagraphStyle.h.



© 2009 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Last updated: 2009-11-17)

Did this document help you? Yes It's good, but... Not helpful...