Programming .NET Windows Applications

Editable Text Controls: TextBoxBase

In addition to all of the controls that have a run-of-the-mill Text property, there are several controls whose sole purpose is to display editable text. The Label control displays text, but is read-only.

The TextBoxBase class provides a base class for three controls that allow the read-write display of text:

TextBox

Displays text with no formatting other than the current Font of the control. Has a 64K character capacity limit.

DataGridTextBox

A text box hosted in a DataGridTextBoxColumn control. Derives from TextBox.

RichTextBox

Displays text with formatting.

Figure 12-1 shows the class hierarchy of the TextBoxBase class.

Figure 12-1. TextBoxBase class hierarchy

Properties and Methods

The TextBoxBase class has many properties and methods in addition to those inherited from Control. Many of the properties are listed in Table 12-1 and the methods in Table 12-4. Many of the most commonly used properties and methods are demonstrated in the examples that follow.

Table 12-1. TextBoxBase properties

Property	Value type	Description
AcceptsTab	Boolean	Read/write. Applies to multiline TextBoxes and RichTextBoxes. If true, the Tab key is accepted as part of the text string, otherwise it moves the focus to the next control in the tab order. The default is false.
AutoSize	Boolean	Read/write. If true (the default), the size of control is automatically adjusted ...