Multiline Text Height on Kindle Fire

Solar2D Android
#1

I have an iOS app with lots of text that uses contentHeight to allow me to place one text block under another.  Works great.  I’m working to expand the app to the Kindle Fire, and it looks great in the Corona Simulator.  

But…  when I test my app on my device - Kindle Fire HD (3rd generation), the text block is spaced down the equivalent of 3 lines, not 1.  This only happens on multiline text.  If the text is 1 line the spacing is fine.

Are there any issues with the contentHeight property on multiline text on the Kindle Fire?

#2

Have you tried .height instead of .contentHeight?

#3

Thanks for the tip.

Yes I have tried .height.  Actually I originally built my app for iOS using .height and only tried .contentHeight after having an issue on the Kindle Fire and seeing a forum posting.  I get the same behavior with both .height and .contentHeight.  iPad and iPod Touch look great on the simulator and devices, Kindle Fire looks great on the simulator but the device adds the spacing for 2 blank lines.

This is only for multiline text.  Single text line text blocks look good on the Kindle Fire device.

My code looks like this:

local textDisplayGroup = display.newGroup()

local categoryObject = display.newText(category, 0, 0, textWidth, 0, native.systemFontBold, _G.fontSize)

categoryObject:setReferencePoint(display.TopLeftReferencePoint)

categoryObject.x = textMargin

categoryObject.y = textYoffset

textDisplayGroup:insert(categoryObject)

local textObject1 = display.newText( textBlock1, 0, 0, textWidth, 0, native.systemFont, _G.fontSize )

textObject1:setReferencePoint(display.TopLeftReferencePoint)

textObject1.x = textMargin

textObject1.y = textYoffset + textDisplayGroup.contentHeight

textDisplayGroup:insert(textObject1)

The issue is that on the Kindle Fire device, textBlock1 is 3 lines below category if category is multiple lines of text.  On the Simulator and iOS devices and for single lines of text on the Kindle Fire, textBlock1 is 1 line below category.

Thanks for your help!

#4

Can you provide a couple of screen shots?  One from a device that’s working and one from the KF HD?

Thanks

Rob

#5

Hi Rob:

Sure, I’ll work on that.

Meanwhile, I ran a quick test to see if the Simulator and Device return the same value for textDisplayGroup.contentHeight after I insert the text block.  They do not.  On the Coronal Simulator I get 299 and on the KF HD device I get 370.

I’ll work on the screenshots.

#6

Hi Rob:

Here are the screenshots from an iPad and from a Kindle Fire HD.  The first 2 verses are separated with \n.  The third is in a new display.newText object.

Thanks again for looking into this.

#7

I wonder if your Kindle Fire runs Android 4.4, or something built on top of it? I’ve recently reported a bug - and it was confirmed - that appeared only on a 4.4.* device, and was also related to a multiline text (when using DroidSerif-Regular, a part of the last line was cut off). There might be a problem either in 4.4 itself, or in a way how Corona uses it. 

#8

Thanks for the the info.  The Amazon website says the Kindle Fire HD (3rd generation) uses Fire OS 3.0 which is compatible with Android 4.2.2, so I don’t think my device is at 4.4.*.  On my device it says the system version is 11.3.1.0 - I’m not sure how to correlate that to an Android version.

#9

What version of Corona SDK are you using?

instead of getting the height of the group, can you get the height of the actual text block?  What values are those?

Rob

#10

Hi Rob:

I’m on 1260.  I downloaded 2100 to get on a more recent version and now when the Simulator starts I get a black screen with a white rectangle.  No error in the “Output” screen.  I loaded my apps and Corona sample apps and I get the same thing - black screen/white rectangle/no error.  I removed Corona from my PC and reloaded Corona and get the same behavior.  Multiple times.  I attached a screenshot of my Simulator screen.

What do I need to do so my Simulator works again?

Thanks.

#11

The symptoms you are seeing is related to the graphics drivers for your graphics card not fully supporting OpenGL 2.0.   You need to update your drivers to something newer.  If you have a desk top, you could consider updating to a more modern graphics card.  It looks like you’re running Windows XP which probably means older drivers.

If you can’t upgrade your drivers (i.e. there are not new ones for your graphics card for XP) and you can’t upgrade your hardware/software to support OpenGL 2.0, you will probably have to drop back to 1260 for now.

I don’t know of any fixes in Corona SDK that would address your text problem on the Kindle Fire HD.

Rob

#12

Hi Rob:

Ok, thanks for the info.  I appreciate all the advice!

Paul

#13

Have you tried .height instead of .contentHeight?

#14

Thanks for the tip.

Yes I have tried .height.  Actually I originally built my app for iOS using .height and only tried .contentHeight after having an issue on the Kindle Fire and seeing a forum posting.  I get the same behavior with both .height and .contentHeight.  iPad and iPod Touch look great on the simulator and devices, Kindle Fire looks great on the simulator but the device adds the spacing for 2 blank lines.

This is only for multiline text.  Single text line text blocks look good on the Kindle Fire device.

My code looks like this:

local textDisplayGroup = display.newGroup()

local categoryObject = display.newText(category, 0, 0, textWidth, 0, native.systemFontBold, _G.fontSize)

categoryObject:setReferencePoint(display.TopLeftReferencePoint)

categoryObject.x = textMargin

categoryObject.y = textYoffset

textDisplayGroup:insert(categoryObject)

local textObject1 = display.newText( textBlock1, 0, 0, textWidth, 0, native.systemFont, _G.fontSize )

textObject1:setReferencePoint(display.TopLeftReferencePoint)

textObject1.x = textMargin

textObject1.y = textYoffset + textDisplayGroup.contentHeight

textDisplayGroup:insert(textObject1)

The issue is that on the Kindle Fire device, textBlock1 is 3 lines below category if category is multiple lines of text.  On the Simulator and iOS devices and for single lines of text on the Kindle Fire, textBlock1 is 1 line below category.

Thanks for your help!

#15

Can you provide a couple of screen shots?  One from a device that’s working and one from the KF HD?

Thanks

Rob

#16

Hi Rob:

Sure, I’ll work on that.

Meanwhile, I ran a quick test to see if the Simulator and Device return the same value for textDisplayGroup.contentHeight after I insert the text block.  They do not.  On the Coronal Simulator I get 299 and on the KF HD device I get 370.

I’ll work on the screenshots.

#17

Hi Rob:

Here are the screenshots from an iPad and from a Kindle Fire HD.  The first 2 verses are separated with \n.  The third is in a new display.newText object.

Thanks again for looking into this.

#18

I wonder if your Kindle Fire runs Android 4.4, or something built on top of it? I’ve recently reported a bug - and it was confirmed - that appeared only on a 4.4.* device, and was also related to a multiline text (when using DroidSerif-Regular, a part of the last line was cut off). There might be a problem either in 4.4 itself, or in a way how Corona uses it. 

#19

Thanks for the the info.  The Amazon website says the Kindle Fire HD (3rd generation) uses Fire OS 3.0 which is compatible with Android 4.2.2, so I don’t think my device is at 4.4.*.  On my device it says the system version is 11.3.1.0 - I’m not sure how to correlate that to an Android version.

#20

What version of Corona SDK are you using?

instead of getting the height of the group, can you get the height of the actual text block?  What values are those?

Rob