Working with Linked TextBoxes

In Aspose.Words, the TextBox class is used to specify how a text is displayed inside a shape. It provides a public property named as Parent to get the parent shape for the text box to allow the customer to find linked Shape from linked TextBox.

Create A Link

The TextBox class provides the IsValidLinkTarget method in order to check whether the TextBox can be linked to the target Textbox.

The following code example shows how to check if the TextBox can be linked to the target Textbox:

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-words/Aspose.Words-for-Java
Document doc = new Document();
Shape shape1 = new Shape(doc, ShapeType.TEXT_BOX);
Shape shape2 = new Shape(doc, ShapeType.TEXT_BOX);

TextBox textBox1 = shape1.getTextBox();
TextBox textBox2 = shape2.getTextBox();

if (textBox1.isValidLinkTarget(textBox2))
    textBox1.setNext(textBox2);

Check TextBox Sequence

There are several ways to display text in a shape. The TextBox can be the Head, Middle, or Tail of a sequence.

The following code example shows how to check if TextBox is a Head, Tail, or Middle of the sequence:

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-words/Aspose.Words-for-Java
Document doc = new Document();
Shape shape = new Shape(doc, ShapeType.TEXT_BOX);
TextBox textBox = shape.getTextBox();

if ((textBox.getNext() != null) && (textBox.getPrevious() == null)) {
    System.out.println("The head of the sequence");
}

if ((textBox.getNext() != null) && (textBox.getPrevious() != null)) {
    System.out.println("The Middle of the sequence.");
}

if ((textBox.getNext() == null) && (textBox.getPrevious() != null)) {
    System.out.println("The Tail of the sequence.");
}

Break a Link

Using the BreakForwardLink method you can break the link to the next TextBox.

The following code example shows how to break a link for a TextBox:

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-words/Aspose.Words-for-Java
Document doc = new Document();
Shape shape = new Shape(doc, ShapeType.TEXT_BOX);
TextBox textBox = shape.getTextBox();

// Break a forward link
textBox.breakForwardLink();

// Break a forward link by setting a null
textBox.setNext(null);

// Break a link, which leads to this textbox
if (textBox.getPrevious() != null)
    textBox.getPrevious().breakForwardLink();