Plist strings to UILabel: formatting specific words in the text?

Question

Developers,
I have a UILable populated by a plist string. I would like the UILabel to display text, with specific words in bold format.
I have looked around for a solution to this problem, but I haven't found anything useful on the net.
Is this possible?
I have been thinking that this could be done by using a key (e.g. stars around a word *word1*) that identifies particular words within the plist string to be formatted. An if statement could then be used to filter through which words should be formatted, within each string. I'm not sure if this would work or how i would implement it, which is why i turn to you for your experience and advice.
j
Message was edited by: james_coleman01

Answer 1

Hey James!
james_coleman01 wrote:
I would like the UILabel to display text, with specific words in bold format.
Any single instance of UILabel can only have one font, one text color, etc. There's no way to draw one letter or word differently from any other.
I have been thinking that this could be done by using a key (e.g. stars around a word *word1*) that identifies particular words within the plist string to be formatted. ...
As always, you're on the right track, James. In fact if you extend your idea to include syntax for italics, underlines, superscripts, etc., then add font family, point size and text color, then add various paragraph styles, you'll be well on your way to inventing what's known as "rich text".
So the web search keys you needed were "UILabel UITextView rich text". I think the two most common solutions to your requirement are: (1) If the text is static, put the words in separate labels; (2) The recommended, and most general solution: Use UIWebView in place of UILabel.
No. 2 isn't as kinky as it might seem, even if you've never used HTML (the most widely known example of rich text). Here's a short blog that's probably enough to get you going: [Display Rich Text Using a UIWebView|http://iphoneincubator.com/blog/windows-views/display-rich-text-using -a-uiwebview]. The responses on that page include some good tips too.
\- Ray