Watermark / hint text / placeholder TextBox

Question

How can I put some text into a textbox which is removed automatically when user types something in it? (In WPF)

Answer 1

I can't believe that no one posted the obvious Extended WPF Toolkit - WatermarkTextBox from Xceed. It works quite well and is open source in case you want to customise.

Answer 2

Simple solution using style:

<TextBox>
    <TextBox.Style>
        <Style TargetType="TextBox" xmlns:sys="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib">
            <Style.Resources>
                <VisualBrush x:Key="CueBannerBrush" AlignmentX="Left" AlignmentY="Center" Stretch="None">
                    <VisualBrush.Visual>
                        <Label Content="MM:SS:HH AM/PM" Foreground="LightGray" />
                    </VisualBrush.Visual>
                </VisualBrush>
            </Style.Resources>
            <Style.Triggers>
                <Trigger Property="Text" Value="{x:Static sys:String.Empty}">
                    <Setter Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource CueBannerBrush}" />
                </Trigger>
                <Trigger Property="Text" Value="{x:Null}">
                    <Setter Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource CueBannerBrush}" />
                </Trigger>
                <Trigger Property="IsKeyboardFocused" Value="True">
                    <Setter Property="Background" Value="White" />
                </Trigger>
            </Style.Triggers>
        </Style>
    </TextBox.Style>
</TextBox>

Great solution:

https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsdesktop/In-place-hit-messages-for-18db3a6c

Answer 3

I have created siple code-only implementation which works fine for WPF and Silverlight as well:

using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Media;

public class TextBoxWatermarked : TextBox
{
    #region [ Dependency Properties ]

    public static DependencyProperty WatermarkProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Watermark",
                                                                             typeof(string),
                                                                             typeof(TextBoxWatermarked),
                                                                             new PropertyMetadata(new PropertyChangedCallback(OnWatermarkChanged)));


    #endregion


    #region [ Fields ]

    private bool _isWatermarked;
    private Binding _textBinding;

    #endregion


    #region [ Properties ]

    protected new Brush Foreground
    {
        get { return base.Foreground; }
        set { base.Foreground = value; }
    }

    public string Watermark
    {
        get { return (string)GetValue(WatermarkProperty); }
        set { SetValue(WatermarkProperty, value); }
    }

    #endregion


    #region [ .ctor ]

    public TextBoxWatermarked()
    {
        Loaded += (s, ea) => ShowWatermark();
    }

    #endregion


    #region [ Event Handlers ]

    protected override void OnGotFocus(RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnGotFocus(e);
        HideWatermark();
    }

    protected override void OnLostFocus(RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnLostFocus(e);
        ShowWatermark();
    }

    private static void OnWatermarkChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs ea)
    {
        var tbw = sender as TextBoxWatermarked;
        if (tbw == null) return;
        tbw.ShowWatermark();
    }

    #endregion


    #region [ Methods ]

    private void ShowWatermark()
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(base.Text))
        {
            _isWatermarked = true;
            base.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Gray);
            var bindingExpression = GetBindingExpression(TextProperty);
            _textBinding = bindingExpression == null ? null : bindingExpression.ParentBinding;
            if (bindingExpression != null)
                bindingExpression.UpdateSource();
            SetBinding(TextProperty, new Binding());
            base.Text = Watermark;
        }
    }

    private void HideWatermark()
    {
        if (_isWatermarked)
        {
            _isWatermarked = false;
            ClearValue(ForegroundProperty);
            base.Text = "";
            SetBinding(TextProperty, _textBinding ?? new Binding());
        }
    }

    #endregion
}

Usage:

<TextBoxWatermarked Watermark="Some text" />

Answer 4

Here's my approach Is great for MVVM where I also check if the Text box has focus, you can also use a regular trigger just for the text value as well the point is I just change the background Image when value changes:

                    <TextBox.Style>
                        <Style TargetType="TextBox">

                            <Style.Triggers>
                                <MultiTrigger>
                                    <MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                        <Condition Property="IsFocused" Value="True"/>
                                        <Condition Property="Text" Value=""/>
                                    </MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                    <MultiTrigger.Setters>
                                        <Setter Property="Background">
                                            <Setter.Value>
                                                <ImageBrush ImageSource="/Images/Scan.PNG" Stretch="Uniform" AlignmentX="Left"/>
                                            </Setter.Value>
                                        </Setter>
                                    </MultiTrigger.Setters>
                                </MultiTrigger>

                            </Style.Triggers>
                        </Style>
                    </TextBox.Style>
                </TextBox>

Answer 5

<Window.Resources>

    <Style x:Key="TextBoxUserStyle" BasedOn="{x:Null}" TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Black"/>
      <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" Value="Center"/>
      <Setter Property="VerticalContentAlignment" Value="Center"/>
      <Setter Property="Width" Value="225"/>
      <Setter Property="Height" Value="25"/>
      <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="12"/>
      <Setter Property="Padding" Value="1"/>
      <Setter Property="Margin" Value="5"/>
      <Setter Property="AllowDrop" Value="true"/>
      <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle" Value="{x:Null}"/>
      <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
          <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
            <Border x:Name="OuterBorder" BorderBrush="#5AFFFFFF" BorderThickness="1,1,1,1" CornerRadius="4,4,4,4">
              <Border x:Name="InnerBorder" Background="#FFFFFFFF" BorderBrush="#33000000" BorderThickness="1,1,1,1" CornerRadius="3,3,3,3">
                <ScrollViewer SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}" x:Name="PART_ContentHost"/>
              </Border>
            </Border>
          </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
      </Setter>
    </Style>

    <Style x:Key="PasswordBoxVistaStyle" BasedOn="{x:Null}" TargetType="{x:Type PasswordBox}">
      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Black"/>
      <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" Value="Center"/>
      <Setter Property="VerticalContentAlignment" Value="Center"/>
      <Setter Property="Width" Value="225"/>
      <Setter Property="Height" Value="25"/>
      <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="12"/>
      <Setter Property="Padding" Value="1"/>
      <Setter Property="Margin" Value="5"/>
      <Setter Property="AllowDrop" Value="true"/>
      <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle" Value="{x:Null}"/>
      <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
          <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type PasswordBox}">
            <Border x:Name="OuterBorder" BorderBrush="#5AFFFFFF" BorderThickness="1,1,1,1" CornerRadius="4,4,4,4">
              <Border x:Name="InnerBorder" Background="#FFFFFFFF" BorderBrush="#33000000" BorderThickness="1,1,1,1" CornerRadius="3,3,3,3">
                <Grid>
                  <Label x:Name="lblPwd" Content="Password" FontSize="11" VerticalAlignment="Center" Margin="2,0,0,0" FontFamily="Verdana" Foreground="#828385" Padding="0"/>
                  <ScrollViewer SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}" x:Name="PART_ContentHost"/>
                </Grid>
              </Border>
            </Border>
            <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
              <Trigger Property="IsFocused" Value="True">
                <Setter Property="Visibility" TargetName="lblPwd" Value="Hidden"/>
              </Trigger>
            </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
          </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
      </Setter>
    </Style>
  </Window.Resources>


        <PasswordBox Style="{StaticResource PasswordBoxVistaStyle}" Margin="169,143,22,0" Name="txtPassword" FontSize="14" TabIndex="2" Height="31" VerticalAlignment="Top" />

This can help check it with your code.When applied to password box,it will show Password,which will disappear when usertypes.

Answer 6

Just using XAML, no extensions, no converters:

<Grid>
    <TextBox  Width="250"  VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Left" x:Name="SearchTermTextBox" Margin="5"/>
    <TextBlock IsHitTestVisible="False" Text="Enter Search Term Here" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,0,0,0" Foreground="DarkGray">
        <TextBlock.Style>
            <Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}">
                <Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Collapsed"/>
                <Style.Triggers>
                    <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Text, ElementName=SearchTermTextBox}" Value="">
                        <Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Visible"/>
                    </DataTrigger>
                </Style.Triggers>
            </Style>
        </TextBlock.Style>
    </TextBlock>
</Grid>