WPF TextBox

This article demonstrates how to create and use a TextBox control in WPF using XAML and C#.

Creating a TextBox
The TextBox element represents a WPF TextBox control in XAML.

<TextBox/>

The Width and Height attributes of the TextBox element represent the width and the height of a TextBox. The Text property of the TextBox element sets the content of a TextBox. The Name attribute represents the name of the control, which is a unique identifier of a control.

The code snippet in Listing 1 creates a TextBox control and sets the name, height, width, and content of a TextBox control.

<TextBox Name="TextBox1" Height="30" Width="200" Text="Hello! I am a TextBox."> </TextBox> Listing 1 The output looks like Figure 1.

Figure 1 As you can see from Figure 1, by default the TextBox is place in the center of the page. We can place a TextBox control where we want by using the Margin, VerticalAlignment and HorizontalAlignment attributes that sets the margin, vertical alignment, and horizontal alignment of a control. The code snippet in Listing 2 sets the position of the TextBox control in the left top corner of the page. <TextBox Name="TextBox1" Height="30" Width="200"

Text="Hello! I am a TextBox." Margin="10,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left"> </TextBox> Listing 2

Formatting a TextBox
The BorderBrush property of the TextBox sets a brush to draw the border of a TextBox. You may use any brush to fill the border. The code snippet in Listing 3 uses a linear gradient brush to draw the border with a combination of red and blue color. <TextBox.BorderBrush> <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,1" > <GradientStop Color="Blue" Offset="0" /> <GradientStop Color="Red" Offset="1.0" /> </LinearGradientBrush> </TextBox.BorderBrush> Listing 3

The Background and Foreground properties of the TextBox set the background and foreground colors of a TextBox. You may use any brush to fill the border. The following code snippet uses linear gradient brushes to draw the background and foreground of a TextBox.

<TextBox.Background> <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,1" > <GradientStop Color="Blue" Offset="0.1" /> <GradientStop Color="Orange" Offset="0.25" /> <GradientStop Color="Green" Offset="0.75" /> <GradientStop Color="Red" Offset="1.0" /> </LinearGradientBrush>

</TextBox.Background> <TextBox.Foreground> <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,1" > <GradientStop Color="Orange" Offset="0.25" /> <GradientStop Color="White" Offset="1.0" /> </LinearGradientBrush> </TextBox.Foreground> The new TextBox looks like Figure 2.

Figure 2

Setting Image as Background of a TextBox

To set an image as background of a TextBox, we can set an image as the Background of the TextBox. The code snippet in Listing 4 sets the background of a TextBox to an image. <TextBox.Background> <ImageBrush ImageSource="dock.jpg" /> </TextBox.Background> Listing 4 The new output looks like Figure 3.

Figure 3

Creating a TextBox Dynamically

The code listed in Listing 5 creates a TextBox control programmatically. First, it creates a TextBox object and sets its width, height, contents, background and foreground and later the TextBox is added to the LayoutRoot. private void CreateATextBox() { TextBox txtb= new TextBox(); txtb.Height = 50; txtb.Width = 200; txtb.Text = "Text Box content"; txtb.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Orange); txtb.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black); LayoutRoot.Children.Add(txtb); } Listing 5

Setting Fonts of TextBox Contents

The FontSize, FontFamily, FontWeight, FontStyle, and FontStretch properties are used to set the font size, family, weight, style and stretch to the text of a TextBox. The code snippet in Listing 6 sets the font properties of a TextBox. FontSize="14" FontFamily="Verdana" FontWeight="Bold" Listing 6 The new output looks like Figure 4.

Figure 4 The FontSource property allows loading custom fonts dynamically. The following code snippet sets the FontSource property. Uri fontUri = new Uri("SomeFont.ttf", UriKind.Relative); StreamResourceInfo MySRI = Application.GetResourceStream(fontUri); TextBox1.FontSource = new FontSource(MySRI.Stream);

Non Editable TextBox

The IsReadOnly property of the TextBox sets the text box read only. By default, it is false. IsReadOnly="True"

Restricting Text Size of a TextBox

The MaxLength property of the TextBox sets the number of characters allowed to input in a text box. MaxLength="250"

Scrolling, Alignment, and Wrapping

The HorizontalScrollBarVisibility and VerticalScrollBarVisibility properties are used to set horizontal and vertical scroll bars of a TextBox, which is of type ScrollBarVisibility enumeration. The ScrollBarVisibility enumeration has four values Disabled, Auto, Hidden, and Visible. The following code snippet sets the horizontal and vertical scroll bars visible in a TextBox. HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Visible" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"

The TextWrapping property sets the wrap of no warp text. The following code snippet sets the wrapping text option. TextWrapping="Wrap" The TextAlignment property sets the text alignment in a TextBox, which is of type TextAlignment enumeration. A text can be aligned left, center, or right. TextAlignment="Right" The AcceptReturn property sets if the return is accepted in a TextBox or not. AcceptsReturn="True" Listing 7 shows all these properties in a complete sample. <TextBox Name="TextBox2" Margin="10,10,50,0" Width="300" Height="150"

HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Visible" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Visible" TextWrapping="Wrap" TextAlignment="Right" MaxLength="500" IsReadOnly="False" AcceptsReturn="True" > </TextBox> Listing 7

Selection in TextBox
The Select and SelectAll methods are used to select text in a TextBox. The Select method select a text range in a TextBox and the SelectAll method select all text in a TextBox. The SelectionBackground and SelectionForeground properties set the background and foreground colors of the selected text. The SelectedText property returns the selected text in a TextBox. The code in Listing 8 sets the selected text background and foreground properties and on button click event handler, returns the selected text of the TextBox. private void TextBox2Functionality() { string textBoxData = functionality."; "Hey I am a text with scrolling and return

textBoxData += " You can select text it me and get the selected data. "; textBoxData += " How about setting background and foreground color of the selected text?. "; textBoxData += " Maximum lenght and a lot more to offer. "; textBoxData += " You can select text it me and get the selected data. "; textBoxData += " You can select text it me and get the selected data. "; textBoxData += " Also sets the selection background and foreground "; textBoxData += " Set font size and the font name. ";

textBoxData += " You can select text it me and get the selected data. "; textBoxData += " Also sets the selection background and foreground "; textBoxData += " Set font size and the font name. "; textBoxData += " You can select text it me and get the selected data. ";

TextBox2.Text = textBoxData; TextBox2.FontFamily = new FontFamily("Georgia"); TextBox2.FontSize = 12; TextBox2.SelectionBackground = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Blue); TextBox2.SelectionForeground = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.White); TextBox2.SelectionStart = 100; TextBox2.SelectionLength = 200; } private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { MessageBox.Show(TextBox2.SelectedText); } Listing 8 The new output looks like Figure 5.

Figure 5

Summary
In this article, I discussed how we can create and format a TextBox control in WPF and C#. After that we saw how to create a TextBox control dynamically. Then we saw how to set various properties of a TextBox such as making it non editable, restrict the size of text, and set the foreground an d background of the selected text.

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