padding property

Sets or retrieves the amount of space to insert between the object and its margin or, if there is a border, between the object and its border.

Syntax

Integer value = object.put_padding( v);Integer value = object.get_padding(* sPadding);

Property values

Type: BSTR

length (0)

Floating-point number, followed by an absolute units designator (cm, mm, in, pt, or pc) or a relative units designator (em, ex, or px). For more information about the supported length units, see CSS Values and Units Reference.

percentage

Integer, followed by a %. The value is a percentage of the width of the parent object.

String format

<length> | <percentage>

CSS information

Standards information

• CSS 2.1, Section 5.5.10

Remarks

This is a composite property that specifies up to four padding values, in the following order: top, right, bottom, left. If one width value is specified, it is used for all four sides. If two width values are specified, the first is used for the top and bottom borders, and the second is used for left and right borders. If three width values are specified, they are used for top, right/left, and bottom borders, respectively. Negative values are not allowed.

The below illustration shows the content, padding, border, and margin areas of a basic box. The red labels illustrate the edges of each of these areas.

As of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, this property applies to inline elements. With earlier versions of Windows Internet Explorer, inline elements must have an absolute IHTMLRuleStyle::position or layout to use this property. Element layout is set by providing a value for the IHTMLRuleStyle::height property or the IHTMLRuleStyle::width property.

Examples

In the following example, a div element contains text and specifies IHTMLRuleStyle::width, IHTMLRuleStyle::border, and IHTMLRuleStyle::padding values.

<div id="padding">
   Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.
</div>

In the CSS below, the first IHTMLRuleStyle::padding value sets IHTMLRuleStyle::paddingTop to 5 pixels, the second value sets IHTMLRuleStyle::paddingRight to 10 pixels, the third value sets IHTMLRuleStyle::paddingBottom to 15 pixels, and the fourth value sets IHTMLRuleStyle::paddingLeft to 20 pixels.

#padding {
   width: 200px;
   border: .5em solid #BBBBBB;
   padding: 5px 10px 15px 20px;
}

The following image shows the result.

Requirements

See also

CSS Enhancements in Internet Explorer 6