docs-desktop/dotnet-desktop-guide/framework/winforms/controls/textbox-control-overview-windows-forms.md

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title	ms.date	dev_langs	f1_keywords	helpviewer_keywords	ms.assetid
TextBox Control Overview	03/30/2017	csharp vb cpp	TextBox	TextBox control [Windows Forms], about TextBox controls text boxes [Windows Forms], adding	d1a9c7f5-fa53-480a-a75c-158f8649ea2f

TextBox Control Overview (Windows Forms)

Windows Forms text boxes are used to get input from the user or to display text. The xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox control is generally used for editable text, although it can also be made read-only. Text boxes can display multiple lines, wrap text to the size of the control, and add basic formatting. The xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox control provides a single format style for text displayed or entered into the control. To display multiple types of formatted text, use the xref:System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox control. For more information, see RichTextBox Control Overview.

Working with the TextBox Control

The text displayed by the control is contained in the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox.Text%2A property. By default, you can enter up to 2048 characters in a text box. If you set the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox.Multiline%2A property to true, you can enter up to 32 KB of text. The xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox.Text%2A property can be set at design time with the Properties Window, at run time in code, or by user input at run time. The current contents of a text box can be retrieved at run time by reading the xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox.Text%2A property.

The following code example sets text in the control at run time. The InitializeMyControl procedure will not execute automatically; it must be called.

Private Sub InitializeMyControl()  
   ' Put some text into the control first.  
   TextBox1.Text = "This is a TextBox control."  
End Sub  

private void InitializeMyControl() {  
   // Put some text into the control first.  
   textBox1.Text = "This is a TextBox control.";  
}  

private:  
   void InitializeMyControl()  
   {  
      // Put some text into the control first.  
      textBox1->Text = "This is a TextBox control.";  
   }  

See also

• xref:System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
• How to: Control the Insertion Point in a Windows Forms TextBox Control
• How to: Create a Password Text Box with the Windows Forms TextBox Control
• How to: Create a Read-Only Text Box
• How to: Put Quotation Marks in a String
• How to: Select Text in the Windows Forms TextBox Control
• How to: View Multiple Lines in the Windows Forms TextBox Control
• TextBox Control