[RESOLVED] Highlight Text on TextBox Enter

I'm certain this was working at some stage. Wondering why it isn't now.

HTML Code:

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    Private Sub EnterTextBox(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtNoBars.Enter, txtMultiplier.Enter, txtCenters.Enter
        'DirectCast(sender, System.Windows.Forms.TextBox).SelectAll() 'On entering the textbox select all text
        Dim myTextBox = DirectCast(sender, System.Windows.Forms.TextBox)
        myTextBox.SelectionStart = 0
        myTextBox.SelectionLength = myTextBox.Text.Length
    End Sub

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I've stepped through the code and there's nothing past this.

So that "Handles txtNoBars.Enter, txtMultiplier.Enter, txtCenters.Enter".
Is it those textboxes that aren't working, or another one that should be added to the Handles clause?

Any reason you've commented out the built-in SelectAll method?

I get a breakpoint on the line so it is being handled.
I commented out the .SelectAll because was that that wasn't working either.

Per the MSDN documentation, the GotFocus event would fire immediately after the Enter event. Is it possible that you have code overwriting the code shown in the Enter event?

Maybe it's a bug with the application I'm using it under (AutoCAD).
I created a new textbox and the same problem exists.
Wierd, it used to work.

I've realised that Enter is not the right event for the selection of text, for some reason.
Needs to be Click or something else.

Dammit.
_Enter doesn't select the text.
_Click doesn't allow me to select part of the text.
Is there something inbetween?

Show us the handles clause on the _Enter handler, and list the textboxes you want it to work with...

There is the GotFocus event (as mentioned earlier). Per the documentation:

Quote:

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Occurs when the control receives focus.

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This gets fired after the Enter event.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dday9

There is the GotFocus event (as mentioned earlier). Per the documentation:


This gets fired after the Enter event.

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That should generally not be used by application developers but, as this appears to be an AutoCAD plugin, that rule may not apply.

Is the issue resolved or not? You marked the thread Resolved but then posted again as though the issue persists. If the issue is resolved then maybe you could provide the resolution, which could help others. If it's not resolved, please edit the thread title to remove the indication that it is. You should be able to do that with your post count.

Thanks. I didn't realise I could do that.
And sorry, it's not problem related to AutoCAD. I should have tested this with a fresh VS project before suggesting that.

I want to highlight the text on entering it (or the control getting focus) but not thereafter when selecting a portion of the text.

Neither TextBox1.Enter or TextBox1.GotFocus wants to highlight the text.
And TextBox1.Click highlights all the text, even when I select part of the text, which does make sense.

I suspect that the code is working exactly as it should. Try this. Create a new WinForms App project, add three Buttons and three TextBoxes to the form, then add the following code:

vb.net Code:

Public Class Form1
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Button1.TabIndex = 1
        TextBox1.TabIndex = 2
        Button2.TabIndex = 3
        TextBox2.TabIndex = 4
        Button3.TabIndex = 5
        TextBox3.TabIndex = 6
 
        TextBox1.Text = "First"
        TextBox2.Text = "Second"
        TextBox3.Text = "Third"
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub TextBoxes_Enter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox3.Enter, TextBox2.Enter, TextBox1.Enter
        DirectCast(sender, TextBox).SelectAll()
    End Sub
 
End Class

Now run the project and press the Tab key repeatedly. Is the full text selected each time? When a TextBox has focus, click somewhere in the text and then Tab out and back into the TextBox. Is the full text selected again? I'm quite sure that it will be and that proves that the code is working properly.

What I'm guessing is happening is that you are clicking a Textbox to give it focus and you're assuming that that should select all the text but of course it won't. That's because the Enter event is raised first, which selects all the text, and then a Click event is raised, which positions the caret where you clicked. By clicking, you are undoing the selection. You can see that this is obviously the case because clicking an unfocused TextBox will place the caret where you clicked.

If what you want is to be able to click a TextBox that doesn't have focus and have all the text selected then there's no simple way to do so. If you handle every Click or MouseClick then you'll always be selecting all the text on every click. If you try to detect the first click after receiving focus then the user could Tab in and then click some time later, so that wouldn't really work. The best option would probably be to create a custom control that inherits TextBox and filters Windows message to determine the reason that its receiving focus and then select all text or not on the next Click based on that. If you want to use a standard TextBox then I think your best option might be to handle Enter and record the time and the TextBox, then handle Click and check for the same TextBox and whether it is within an appropriate period of time, e.g. 100 ms, of the Enter event and select all the text if it is.

The important takeaway here is to think about what events are going to be raised in any particular scenario, rather than just thinking about the event(s) you care about and ignoring all others.

Thank you all.
I basically want the textbox to behave as a number cell. Like Excel or a datagridview.
But a textbox is designed for text.
I think I figured out a workaround.

HTML Code:

---

    Dim EnteringTxtBox As Boolean
    Private Sub TextBoxes_Enter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox3.Enter, TextBox2.Enter, TextBox1.Enter
        EnteringTxtBox = True
    End Sub
    Private Sub TextBox1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.Click, TextBox2.Click, TextBox3.Click
        If EnteringTxtBox Then
            DirectCast(sender, TextBox).SelectAll()
            EnteringTxtBox = False
        End If
    End Sub

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by sgrya1

Thank you all.
I basically want the textbox to behave as a number cell. Like Excel or a datagridview.
But a textbox is designed for text.
I think I figured out a workaround.

HTML Code:

---

    Dim EnteringTxtBox As Boolean
    Private Sub TextBoxes_Enter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox3.Enter, TextBox2.Enter, TextBox1.Enter
        EnteringTxtBox = True
    End Sub
    Private Sub TextBox1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.Click, TextBox2.Click, TextBox3.Click
        If EnteringTxtBox Then
            DirectCast(sender, TextBox).SelectAll()
            EnteringTxtBox = False
        End If
    End Sub

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As I mentioned in my previous post, that will behave as you want if you click into a TextBox but if you Tab in and then click to position the caret, it will select all the text on that click. You need to remember that a lot of people use the keyboard to navigate forms, especially ones that are heavily into data entry. It's far more efficient to keep your hands on the keyboard than keep grabbing the mouse all the time.

My app is a plugin to a program that is primrarily driven using a mouse.
I used a custom 'NumberBox' control that someone had created on a previous Visual Basic project.
I remember it being quite powerful with many features.