Get the Text of AutoCAD AcDbText object with python - python-3.x

Question

What is the best way, in python, to get the text of an AcDbText object?
I am working in python, win32com, and autoCAD. I would like to be able to do the following, via a python program:
Place objects into a selection set
Determine which are AcDbText objects
From those, extract the text and then delete.
I can do the first two things just fine. However, assuming textObj is the correct type of object, the following achieves half the remaining-- t will contain the text desired as a str:
t = textObj.copy().fieldcode()
Problem 1: As the code implies, this creates a copy of the object, right there in the drawing, and does not seem to provide a way to identify it later for deletion.
Problem 2: The original object resists deletion from the selection set. If selection is the selection set, then no variation of selection.clear(), selection.delete(), or selection.erase() does anything. (I have checked the length of selection set before and after the fieldcode() invocation-- the number of objects remains the same.)
I am puzzled that there does not seem to be a way to prize the text out of the object without copying it. What am I missing?
Per question in comments to an answer, the output of pprint(dir(textObj)) is:
['AddRef',
'Application',
'ArrayPolar',
'ArrayRectangular',
'Copy',
'Database',
'Delete',
'Document',
'EntityName',
'EntityTransparency',
'EntityType',
'Erase',
'GetBoundingBox',
'GetExtensionDictionary',
'GetIDsOfNames',
'GetTypeInfo',
'GetTypeInfoCount',
'GetXData',
'Handle',
'HasExtensionDictionary',
'Highlight',
'Hyperlinks',
'IntersectWith',
'Invoke',
'Layer',
'Linetype',
'LinetypeScale',
'Lineweight',
'Material',
'Mirror',
'Mirror3D',
'Move',
'ObjectID',
'ObjectName',
'OwnerID',
'PlotStyleName',
'QueryInterface',
'Release',
'Rotate',
'Rotate3D',
'ScaleEntity',
'SetXData',
'TransformBy',
'TrueColor',
'Update',
'Visible',
'_AddRef',
'_GetIDsOfNames',
'_GetTypeInfo',
'_IAcadEntity__com_ArrayPolar',
'_IAcadEntity__com_ArrayRectangular',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Copy',
'_IAcadEntity__com_GetBoundingBox',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Highlight',
'_IAcadEntity__com_IntersectWith',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Mirror',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Mirror3D',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Move',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Rotate',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Rotate3D',
'_IAcadEntity__com_ScaleEntity',
'_IAcadEntity__com_TransformBy',
'_IAcadEntity__com_Update',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_EntityName',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_EntityTransparency',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_EntityType',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_Hyperlinks',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_Layer',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_Linetype',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_LinetypeScale',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_Lineweight',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_Material',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_PlotStyleName',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_TrueColor',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_Visible',
'_IAcadEntity__com__get_color',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_EntityTransparency',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_Layer',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_Linetype',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_LinetypeScale',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_Lineweight',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_Material',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_PlotStyleName',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_TrueColor',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_Visible',
'_IAcadEntity__com__set_color',
'_IAcadObject__com_Delete',
'_IAcadObject__com_Erase',
'_IAcadObject__com_GetExtensionDictionary',
'_IAcadObject__com_GetXData',
'_IAcadObject__com_SetXData',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_Application',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_Database',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_Document',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_Handle',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_HasExtensionDictionary',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_ObjectID',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_ObjectName',
'_IAcadObject__com__get_OwnerID',
'_IDispatch__com_GetIDsOfNames',
'_IDispatch__com_GetTypeInfo',
'_IDispatch__com_GetTypeInfoCount',
'_IDispatch__com_Invoke',
'_IUnknown__com_AddRef',
'_IUnknown__com_QueryInterface',
'_IUnknown__com_Release',
'_Invoke',
'_QueryInterface',
'_Release',
'__bool__',
'__class__',
'__cmp__',
'__com_interface__',
'__ctypes_from_outparam__',
'__del__',
'__delattr__',
'__dict__',
'__dir__',
'__doc__',
'__eq__',
'__format__',
'__ge__',
'__getattr__',
'__getattribute__',
'__gt__',
'__hash__',
'__init__',
'__init_subclass__',
'__le__',
'__lt__',
'__map_case__',
'__module__',
'__ne__',
'__new__',
'__reduce__',
'__reduce_ex__',
'__repr__',
'__setattr__',
'__setstate__',
'__sizeof__',
'__str__',
'__subclasshook__',
'__weakref__',
'_b_base_',
'_b_needsfree_',
'_case_insensitive_',
'_compointer_base__get_value',
'_idlflags_',
'_iid_',
'_invoke',
'_methods_',
'_needs_com_addref_',
'_objects',
'_type_',
'color',
'from_param',
'value']

Answer 1

Assuming textObj is either a single-line text object (AcDbText) or multiline text object (AcDbMText), then you should be able to obtain the text content using the TextString property, e.g.:
t = textObj.TextString
Note that the methods clear() & delete() when invoked on an ActiveX SelectionSet object do not delete the objects it contains, but rather remove the objects from the SelectionSet and delete the SelectionSet object respectively. Though, the erase() method should successfully erase all objects contained in the SelectionSet.
Though, to delete an object, you would typically just invoke the delete() method on the object itself, e.g.:
textObj.Delete()