Graph IDE ► Controls ► Text Field
A text field is used to enter a single line of text. The figure below shows a text field on a window background.
Select the text field and start typing. As text is entered, there are three background changes as follows.
| Background | Description |
| White | The text has not been edited (is fresh) |
| Yellow | The text has been edited (is dirty) |
| Red | The text has an error |
The following figure shows three textual values that have been edited (are dirty) but not entered and two textual values that have not been edited:
All entries are entered only when the Apply button is selected, see Graphs for an explanation.
The following figure shows text that has an error:
In this case, the error is associated with a numeric value that is outside a suggested range. The value can still be entered by selecting the Enter button or typing the return character. If the error was hard then the text field will refuse to propagate its value until the error is corrected.
Text fields work in cooperation with several types of validators so that a text field is actually much more than simple textual data entry. Each new character typed into a text field is validated as it is entered so that there is immediate feedback. Some text fields such as on the Color Selector are very specific, for example specifying a hex encoded byte of data.
Unlike some systems, text is not entered upon tabbing out of a text field and an explicit return key, or Apply button, et. al., is required to enter the text. Thus the yellow background to show that text is dirty but not entered.