How to add watermark to textbox in C# windows form?

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C#

private void Login_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	textBox1.Text = "Email";
	textBox1.ForeColor = Color.Gray;
	textBox2.Text = "Password";
	textBox2.ForeColor = Color.Gray;
	panel8.Visible = false;
	panel7.Visible = false;


	// textBox1.ForeColor = Color.Gray;

	//textBox2.ForeColor = Color.Gray;

}
private void textBox1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	panel8.Visible = true;
	panel7.Visible = false;
	textBox1.Text = "";
}

private void textBox2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
	panel8.Visible=false;
	panel7.Visible = true;
	textBox2.Text = "";
}

What I have tried:

i don't know how to add watermark so i did this with click events but it is not satisfiable...is there any other way to do that?

Posted 31-Mar-16 2:42am

Member 10549697

Updated 18-Nov-18 3:13am

Patrice T

v3

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Comments

Patrice T 31-Mar-16 8:50am

What you want to do with watermark in a textbox ?

Patrice T 31-Mar-16 8:56am

I found, I didn't know this name in context. :)

Member 10549697 31-Mar-16 11:25am

its like normal textbox having tex as "type here..."

2 solutions

Solution 3

Create 2 identical text boxes on a windows form. Name them "RealTextBox" (set tab index to 1) and "WatermarkTextBox" (set tab index to 0, set fore color to gray). Position WatermarkTextBox exactly on top of RealTextBox, so that the latter is not visible. Create a "TextChanged event" for each text box (see code below) and a string field "watermark" to hold the watermark text. Create a "Click event" for the WatermarkTextBox. When the text box is clicked by the user, this event makes sure that the watermark text and the caret remain the same.

When the form is loaded, the WatermarkTextBox shows the watermark text and the caret is blinking in front of it. When the first character is typed, it is copied to the RealTextBox, the WatermarkTextBox is set to "invisible" and the caret is positioned after the character in the RealTextBox where the typing can be continued.

If the text in the RealTextBox is removed, the form goes back to the initial state.

My solution in code:

C#

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WatermarkTextBox
{
    public partial class TestForm : Form
    {
        // The placeholder text:
        string watermark = "Type here...";

        public TestForm()
        {
            InitializeComponent();            
            WatermarkTextBox.Text = watermark;
            WatermarkTextBox.Select(0, 0);
        }

        // The 2 TextChanged events:
        private void WatermarkTextBox_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            RealTextBox.Text = WatermarkTextBox.Text.Substring(0, 1);
            WatermarkTextBox.Visible = false;
            RealTextBox.Select(1, 0);
        }

        private void RealTextBox_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(RealTextBox.Text))
            {
                WatermarkTextBox.Text = watermark;
                WatermarkTextBox.Visible = true;
                WatermarkTextBox.Focus();
                WatermarkTextBox.Select(0, 0);
            }
        }

        private void WatermarkTextBox_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            WatermarkTextBox.Text = watermark;
            WatermarkTextBox.Select(0, 0);
        }
    }
}

Posted 18-Nov-18 3:14am

Member 13942300

Updated 18-Nov-18 21:48pm

v2

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Karthik_Mahalingam · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-31T02:51:00

Solution 1

Check out these ready-made answers

CodeProject:WaterMark TextBox For Desktop Applications /a>[^]
c# - Watermark for Textbox - Stack Overflow[^]
WaterMark TextBox In Windows Applications [^]

Posted 31-Mar-16 2:51am

Karthik_Mahalingam

Comments

Member 10549697 31-Mar-16 11:36am

Thank You sir! the third link worked...it was easy explanation..really thanks

Karthik_Mahalingam 31-Mar-16 11:38am

welcome :)