Introduction to Text Views

The Text and Text Attributes API provides everything needed to store and manipulate formatted text. The Text Views API provide views of text objects on screen or printer, and enough information to allow these objects to be updated efficiently.

Text Views provides the facilities to view and update text on screen, and to print.

Viewing of text objects on screen is acheived by accessing the text object through a document layout interface, laying it out according to the requirements of its formatting and then displaying a view of the laid-out document.

In association with printing, two preview modes are provided: one is a conventional preview of a full page on screen, the other, a mode referred to as WYSIWYG mode in which font metrics from a printer are used to display and edit text on the screen. Therefore, layout is identical with the printer's.