TextBox ControlTemplate Example

Article
11/16/2012

Controls in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) have a ControlTemplate that contains the visual tree of that control. You can change the structure and appearance of a control by modifying the ControlTemplate of that control. There is no way to replace only part of the visual tree of a control; to change the visual tree of a control you must set the Template property of the control to its new and complete ControlTemplate.

This topic shows the ControlTemplate of the WPF TextBox control.

Important Note:
The ControlTemplate for a TextBox must contain exactly one element that is tagged as the content host element; this element will be used to render the contents of the TextBox. To tag an element as the content host, assign it the special name PART_ContentHost. The content host element must be either a ScrollViewer or an AdornerDecorator. The content host element may not host any child elements.

This topic contains the following sections.

Prerequisites
TextBox ControlTemplate Example
Related Topics

Prerequisites

To run the examples in this topic, you should understand how to write WPF applications. For more information, see Getting Started with Windows Presentation Foundation. You should also understand how styles are used in WPF. For more information, see Styling and Templating.

TextBox ControlTemplate Example

Although this example contains all of the elements that are defined in the ControlTemplate of a TextBox by default, the specific values should be thought of as examples.

<Style x:Key="{x:Type TextBox}" TargetType="{x:Type TextBoxBase}">
  <Setter Property="SnapsToDevicePixels" Value="True"/>
  <Setter Property="OverridesDefaultStyle" Value="True"/>
  <Setter Property="KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation" Value="None"/>
  <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle" Value="{x:Null}"/>
  <Setter Property="MinWidth" Value="120"/>
  <Setter Property="MinHeight" Value="20"/>
  <Setter Property="AllowDrop" Value="true"/>
  <Setter Property="Template">
    <Setter.Value>
      <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TextBoxBase}">
        <Border 
          Name="Border"
          CornerRadius="2" 
          Padding="2"
          Background="{StaticResource WindowBackgroundBrush}"
          BorderBrush="{StaticResource SolidBorderBrush}"
          BorderThickness="1" >
          <ScrollViewer Margin="0" x:Name="PART_ContentHost"/>
        </Border>
        <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
          <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="False">
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBackgroundBrush}"/>
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="BorderBrush" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBackgroundBrush}"/>
            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource DisabledForegroundBrush}"/>
          </Trigger>
        </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
      </ControlTemplate>
    </Setter.Value>
  </Setter>
</Style>

<!-- SimpleStyles: RichTextBox -->

<Style x:Key="{x:Type RichTextBox}"
     BasedOn="{StaticResource {x:Type TextBox}}"
     TargetType="{x:Type RichTextBox}">
  <Style.Resources>
    <Style x:Key="{x:Type FlowDocument}"
         TargetType="{x:Type FlowDocument}">
      <Setter Property="OverridesDefaultStyle"
          Value="true"/>
    </Style>
  </Style.Resources>
</Style>

<!-- SimpleStyles: PasswordBox -->

<Style x:Key="{x:Type PasswordBox}" TargetType="{x:Type PasswordBox}">
  <Setter Property="SnapsToDevicePixels" Value="true"/>
  <Setter Property="OverridesDefaultStyle" Value="true"/>
  <Setter Property="KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation" Value="None"/>
  <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle" Value="{x:Null}"/>
  <Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="Verdana"/>
  <Setter Property="PasswordChar" Value="●"/>
  <Setter Property="MinWidth" Value="120"/>
  <Setter Property="MinHeight" Value="20"/>
  <Setter Property="AllowDrop" Value="true"/>
  <Setter Property="Template">
    <Setter.Value>
      <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type PasswordBox}">
        <Border 
          Name="Border"
          CornerRadius="2" 
          Padding="2" 
          Background="{StaticResource WindowBackgroundBrush}"
          BorderBrush="{StaticResource SolidBorderBrush}"
          BorderThickness="1" >
          <ScrollViewer x:Name="PART_ContentHost" />
        </Border>
        <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
          <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="False">
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBackgroundBrush}"/>
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="BorderBrush" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBackgroundBrush}"/>
            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource DisabledForegroundBrush}"/>
          </Trigger>
        </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
      </ControlTemplate>
    </Setter.Value>
  </Setter>
</Style>

The preceding example uses one or more of the following resources.

<!-- Fill Brushes -->

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="NormalBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="HorizontalNormalBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,0">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="LightBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="HorizontalLightBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,0">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="DarkBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#AAA" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="PressedBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#BBB" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="0.1"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="0.9"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledForegroundBrush" Color="#888" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledBackgroundBrush" Color="#EEE" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="WindowBackgroundBrush" Color="#FFF" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="SelectedBackgroundBrush" Color="#DDD" />

<!-- Border Brushes -->

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="NormalBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#444" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="HorizontalNormalBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,0">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#444" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="DefaultedBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#777" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#000" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="PressedBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#444" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#888" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledBorderBrush" Color="#AAA" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="SolidBorderBrush" Color="#888" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="LightBorderBrush" Color="#AAA" />

<!-- Miscellaneous Brushes -->
<SolidColorBrush x:Key="GlyphBrush" Color="#444" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="LightColorBrush" Color="#DDD" />

For the complete sample, see Styling with ControlTemplates Sample.

See Also

Concepts

Guidelines for Designing Stylable Controls

Other Resources

ControlTemplate Examples