Resolved Making A Visible But Gray Informational Label Inside A Multiline TextBox That Can Be Typed Over

[zunebuggy65]

I have a multiline TextBox on my form and I added a Label in the center of the textbox and made the Label text gray and programmatically set Label1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent

What I want is just to add a label that simply states "Type text or drag text here". I have that but if I type to the point where the text comes to the Label, the typed or pasted text goes behind the Label and the label is in no way transparent.

I was pretty sure I could do this in VB 6 but I cannot remember how, and I have tried all the Properties I can think of in VB.net. Maybe Label is the wrong control? Can anyone help?

Thank you

 

[JohnH]

Check this thread: Question - PlaceHolder

 

[zunebuggy65]

I added this code to the form. It compiles without errors, but no text is displayed.

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Public Class frm_Main
    Private Const EM_SETCUEBANNER As Integer = &H1501
    <DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet:=CharSet.Auto)>
    Private Shared Function SendMessage(ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, ByVal msg As Integer, ByVal wParam As Integer, <MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)> ByVal lParam As String) As Int32
    End Function


    Private Sub SetCueText(ByVal control As Control, ByVal text As String)
        SendMessage(control.Handle, EM_SETCUEBANNER, 0, text)
    End Sub

    Private Sub frm_Main_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        SetCueText(TextBox1, "Type message or drag or paste text here.")
    End Sub

End Class

 

[jdelano]

This one takes a slightly different approach Create a textbox "hint" message for two different textboxes(watermark) (it just does it for two textboxes)

EDIT: I just used it and it worked quite well.

 

[jmcilhinney]

I haven't tested but I suspect that the native cue banner doesn't work on a multiline TextBox.

 

[JohnH]

I haven't tested but I suspect that the native cue banner doesn't work on a multiline TextBox.

True, it is documented here: EM_SETCUEBANNER message (Commctrl.h) - Win32 apps
(I actually mentioned it myself on page 2 of that thread too)

You cannot set a cue banner on a multiline edit control or on a rich edit control.

The graphics/drawstring solution linked by @jdelano should work.

 

[jdelano]

This is what the textbox looks like on the form, the text in the background disappears when the textbox gets focus.

 

[JohnH]

With this code?

 

[jmcilhinney]

With this code?

View attachment 4792

Presumably, the watermark is only displayed when the TextBox is empty and does not have focus.

 

[jdelano]

Presumably, the watermark is only displayed when the TextBox is empty and does not have focus.

Yes, that was my experience

 

[jmcilhinney]

OK, I think I may have misunderstood post #8 and possibly post #7. In post #7, are you simply reporting the behaviour that matches your requirements or are you saying that it's not working as expected?