TextEditor

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TextEditor control

A multi-line text editing view, similar to an HTML <textarea>. TextEditor is suited for editing longer content such as notes, descriptions, or code. The text property is reactive -- assigning a new value triggers an immediate UI update.

Constructor

nib.TextEditor(
    text="",
    placeholder=None,
    on_change=None,
    style=None,
    font=None,
    foreground_color=None,
    **modifiers,
)

Parameters

Parameter Type Default Description
text str "" Initial text content.
placeholder str None Placeholder text displayed when the editor is empty (macOS 14+).
on_change Callable[[str], None] None Callback called when text changes. Receives the new text as a string argument.
style TextEditorStyle None Comprehensive style configuration including font, colors, line spacing, alignment, and editor appearance.
font Font None Text font. Overridden by style.font if both are provided.
foreground_color Color \| str None Text color. Overridden by style.foreground_color if both are provided.
**modifiers Common view modifiers: padding, background, opacity, width, height, etc.

Mutable Properties

Property Type Description
text str Get or set the editor text content. Setting triggers a UI update.
placeholder str Get or set the placeholder text. Setting triggers a UI update.
style TextEditorStyle Get or set the style configuration. Setting triggers a UI update.

Examples

Simple note editor

import nib

def main(app: nib.App):
    editor = nib.TextEditor(
        text="",
        placeholder="Write your notes here...",
        width=300,
        height=200,
    )

    app.build(
        nib.VStack(controls=[
            nib.Text("Notes", style=nib.TextStyle.TITLE),
            editor,
        ], spacing=8, padding=16)
    )

nib.run(main)

Editor with change tracking

import nib

def main(app: nib.App):
    char_count = nib.Text("0 characters")

    def on_text_change(text: str):
        char_count.content = f"{len(text)} characters"

    app.build(
        nib.VStack(controls=[
            nib.TextEditor(
                text="",
                placeholder="Start typing...",
                on_change=on_text_change,
                width=300,
                height=150,
            ),
            char_count,
        ], spacing=8, padding=16)
    )

nib.run(main)

Styled code editor

import nib

def main(app: nib.App):
    app.build(
        nib.TextEditor(
            text='print("Hello, World!")',
            style=nib.TextEditorStyle(
                font=nib.Font.custom("Menlo", size=13),
                foreground_color=nib.Color.PRIMARY,
                background_color=nib.Color(hex="#1E1E1E"),
                line_spacing=6,
                editor_style=nib.EditorStyle.PLAIN,
            ),
            width=400,
            height=250,
            padding=16,
        )
    )

nib.run(main)
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