How to enable a disabled textbox from mouse click

Question

Simple how to enable a Textbox which is disabled by clicking on it? how is this done?

my code doesn't work

Private Sub Textbox1_MouseClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Textbox1.MouseClick
    Textbox1.Enabled = True
End Sub

Can anyone help me out.

Do I have to resort to tracking the mouse clicks and X,Y positions of textbox with timers etc.. no events are fired from clicking it?

Answer 1

What worked for me seems like the best way to go is to do something like this.

Private Sub TextBox1_MouseClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.MouseClick
    TextBox1.BackColor = Color.Empty
End Sub

and to disable it run this kind of code

        'To lose focus from textbox otherwise it will have a blinker
        Label1.Focus()
        TextBox1.BackColor = TextBox.DefaultBackColor

But first set the color to disabled I found that using ButtonFace color probably works best, it sure looks real.

TextBox1.BackColor = SystemColors.ButtonFace

my intention was never to disable it, but to make the user think it's disabled until he clicks it.. when he clicks somewhere else it turns disabled

Answer 2

As an alternative, you can set the ReadOnly control property to True and the Text property to "" when a MouseClick event reach another control (another TextBox for example).

That work fine for me. My code is:

Private Sub TxtNameIn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TxtNameIn.MouseClick
    Me.TxtNameIn.ReadOnly = False
    Me.TxtPatternIn.ReadOnly = True
    Me.TxtPatternIn.Text = ""
End Sub
Private Sub TxtPatternIn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TxtPatternIn.MouseClick
    Me.TxtPatternIn.ReadOnly = False
    Me.TxtNameIn.ReadOnly = True
    Me.TxtNameIn.Text = ""
End Sub

Answer 3

You can use IMessageFilter to trap WM_LBUTTONDOWN messages and then check to see if the cursor is within the TextBox...something like:

Public Class Form1

    Private WithEvents filter As New MyFilter

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        TextBox1.Enabled = False
        Application.AddMessageFilter(filter)
    End Sub

    Private Sub filter_LeftClick() Handles filter.LeftClick
        Dim rc As Rectangle = TextBox1.RectangleToScreen(TextBox1.ClientRectangle)
        If rc.Contains(Cursor.Position) AndAlso Not TextBox1.Enabled Then
            TextBox1.Enabled = True
            TextBox1.Focus()
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Class MyFilter
        Implements IMessageFilter

        Public Event LeftClick()
        Private Const WM_LBUTTONDOWN As Integer = &H201

        Public Function PreFilterMessage(ByRef m As System.Windows.Forms.Message) As Boolean Implements System.Windows.Forms.IMessageFilter.PreFilterMessage
            Select Case m.Msg
                Case WM_LBUTTONDOWN
                    RaiseEvent LeftClick()

            End Select
            Return False
        End Function

    End Class

End Class

Answer 4

When your text box is in the enabled = false state you cant click on it with a mouse.