Multiline Label

Versions

Tested with 0.99.4; should work with other versions though

Problem

Commonly, we need to have a multi-line text, e.g. on a dialog. Here's how to do it on two ways.

Solution

Using CCLabel

This is the easiest approach. Most people generally use :

CCLabel* myLabel = [CCLabel  labelWithString: @"A Text" fontName: @"Arial" fontSize: 16];

However, there is another method, which does what we need:

CCLabel* myLabel = [CCLabel labelWithString:@"A text"
                            dimensions: CGSizeMake(200, 300)
                            alignment:UITextAlignmentLeft
                            fontName:@"Arial"
                            fontSize:16];

This will result in a CCLabel which will occupy a 200×300 rect. Note you can change the alignment also (UITextAlignmentLeft, UITextAlignmentRight or UITextAlignmentCenter).

Most of times this is what we need. But sometimes, we need to use a CCBitmapFontAtlas…

Using CCBitmapFontAtlas

LongJohnnyE was kind enough to share his solution

-(void) setTipString:(NSString*)str {
 
	NSInteger lineChars = 0;
	BOOL isSpace = NO;
	NSInteger index = 0;
	NSInteger numLines = 0;
	NSInteger LINE_LENGTH = 30; // this is each line's length, in characters
	NSMutableString *line = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity:LINE_LENGTH];
 
	while (index <= [str length]) {
		if(index == [str length]) {
			CCBitmapFontAtlas *tip = [[CCBitmapFontAtlas bitmapFontAtlasWithString:[NSString stringWithString:line] 
								     fntFile:@"text.fnt"] retain];
			[tip setPosition: ccp(30,210 - 20 * numLines)];
			[self addChild:tip];	
			[tip release];
			return;
		}
 
 
		NSString *tmp = [str substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(index, 1)];
		[line appendString:tmp];
 
		if([tmp isEqual:@" "])
			isSpace = YES;
		else
			isSpace = NO;
 
		if(lineChars >= LINE_LENGTH && isSpace) {
			CCBitmapFontAtlas *tip = [[CCBitmapFontAtlas bitmapFontAtlasWithString:[NSString stringWithString:line] 
								      fntFile:@"text.fnt"] retain];
			[tip setPosition: ccp(30,210 - 20 * numLines)];
			[self addChild:tip];	
			[tip release];
			lineChars = -1;
			[line setString:@""];
			numLines++;
		}
		lineChars++;
		index++;
	}
}

This is the basic snippet, which will create and add to self CCBitmapFontAtlas. You can adapt this to your own need, e.g. adding to a array each line, so you can reverence it later.

I should not use it, unless you need to use CCBitmapFontAtlas for something, like getting each letter. (I used it to make a dialog, with a typewriter effect).

Again, I'd rather use the CCLabel approach most of times, but it's good to know there's another approach if needed. I adapted the setTipString code to 0.99.4 version from http://johnehartzog.com/2009/06/create-multi-line-labels-with-cocos-2d-iphone/