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Desktop Development » Edit Controls » General     Intermediate

InputBox in C#

By hestol

This is owner's own InputBox in C#, with only one function. So this InputBox do not inherit from a WinForm.
C#, .NET, Win2K, WinXP, Visual Studio, WinForms, Dev
Posted:21 Apr 2005
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Sample Image - InputBox.gif

Introduction

Visual Basic 6.0 has an InputBox() function, Visual Basic .NET has one but in C# you don't. You can easily solve this by adding a reference to 'Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll' and using the static method 'Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.InputBox()'.

See reference to MSDN 2001 in VB help.

InputBox Function

Displays a prompt in a dialog box, waits for the user to input text or click a button, and returns a string containing the contents of the text box.

Syntax
InputBox(prompt[, title] [, default] [, xpos] [, ypos] [, helpfile, context])

The InputBox function syntax has these named arguments: see the help file MSDN\2001OCT\1033.

In the VB 6.0, there were the title, default, xpos and ypos optional values to the call of InputBox function. It is the same thing I have made.

But in this example we make ours own.

InputBox Class

The InputBox class is a public class there are not inherited from System.Windows.Forms.Form class. You use it by calling the static function name 'Show' like we also do in MessageBox. This method is returning a public InputBoxResult. This object has two public properties one called Text with a string and a ReturnCode.

There is an enum. It the same as the MessageBox returns, but the InputBox only returns these two parameters, DialogResult.OK or DialogResult.Cancel.

See the class header:

InputBox Class Image

Usage

You activate the InputBox by calling the static Show() method. It has one required and four optional arguments (using overloading).

Why there are so many new lines in the prompt argument is that, the old VB 6.0 made the InputBox form bigger after the size of the prompt argument.

private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    // This test that the InputBox can handle more newline than one.

    InputBoxResult test = InputBox.Show("Prompt" + "\n" + "DDDD" + 
                  "Prompt" + "\n" + "DDDD" +
                  "Prompt" + "\n" + "DDDD" + "Prompt" + "\n" + "DDDD" +
                  "Prompt" + "\n" + "DDDD" +
                  "Prompt" + "\n" + "DDDD"
                  ,"Title","Default",100,0); 

    if( test.ReturnCode == DialogResult.OK )
        MessageBox.Show(test.Text);
} 

The best of all is that the drop down list there comes from the InputBox is very small. If we have inherited from Windows.Form then it will have been bigger.

InputBox drop down list Image

This is one of the methods in the InputBox class where we assign values to all the properties in the control. It regulates the InputBox size and the prompt textbox size based on the size of the prompt input string.

static private void LoadForm()
{
    OutputResponse.ReturnCode = DialogResult.Ignore;
    OutputResponse.Text = string.Empty;

    txtInput.Text = _defaultValue;
    lblPrompt.Text = _formPrompt;
    frmInputDialog.Text = _formCaption;

    // Retrieve the working rectangle from the Screen class

    // using the PrimaryScreen and the WorkingArea properties.

    System.Drawing.Rectangle workingRectangle = 
         Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea;

    if((_xPos >= 0 && _xPos < workingRectangle.Width) && 
         (_yPos >= 0 && _yPos < workingRectangle.Height))
    {
        frmInputDialog.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.Manual;
        frmInputDialog.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(_xPos, _yPos);
    }
    else
     {  
        // InputBox in the center if not specifier or out of screen size

        frmInputDialog.StartPosition = 
            FormStartPosition.CenterScreen; 
     }

    string PrompText = lblPrompt.Text;

    int n = 0;
    int Index = 0;
    // Counting the new line in the Prompt string

    while(PrompText.IndexOf("\n",Index) > -1)            
    {
        Index = PrompText.IndexOf("\n",Index)+1;
        n++;
    }

    if( n == 0 )
        n = 1;

    // Down here making the form bigger.

    System.Drawing.Point Txt = txtInput.Location; 
    Txt.Y = Txt.Y + (n*4);
    txtInput.Location = Txt; 
    System.Drawing.Size form = frmInputDialog.Size; 
    form.Height = form.Height + (n*4);
    frmInputDialog.Size = form; 

    txtInput.SelectionStart = 0;
    txtInput.SelectionLength = txtInput.Text.Length;
    txtInput.Focus();
}

Conclusion

The InputBox a simple static class which you can use in Windows Forms application to prompt for a text. It can also be used from Visual Basic .NET when you compile it in a library and refer this library from your VB project.

If we will make our own MessageBox, then we have to make in the same way as we made the InputBox. Then we will support other languages with our own MessageBox.

Have fun!

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here

About the Author

hestol


Member
I have working with C since 1988, and updates to VC++ in 1998. The first software I was making in VC++ was Fan calculation program with graph. This Fan Was integrated with the Oracle system.
I've been working almost exclusively with C# and .NET since
beginning of the technology.
Now I am working with SOA structure, SQL Server 2005 and VS.NET 2008. The company Infopaq A/S scans all newspaper with the customer scan words and broadcast these news on the web to the customer.
Occupation: Software Developer (Senior)
Company: Infopaq International A/S
Location: Denmark Denmark

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 Msgs 1 to 16 of 16 (Total in Forum: 16) (Refresh)FirstPrevNext
GeneralInputBox PinmemberJoeNovak6910:52 10 Nov '09  
GeneralJavier Daza PinmemberJavier Daza4:00 19 Sep '09  
Generalno need for this Pinmembereagles8120:52 13 Sep '07  
GeneralRe: no need for this PinmemberJordanwb14:02 31 Mar '08  
GeneralRe: no need for this Pinmemberbhains10:43 17 Jul '08  
GeneralRe: no need for this Pinmemberhestol21:37 31 Jul '08  
GeneralRe: no need for this PinmemberRiz Thon23:20 14 Sep '08  
GeneralRe: Good One Pinmembermanas5:29 25 Sep '08  
GeneralIt was useful to me PinmemberPaul Reynolds10:05 15 Oct '09  
AnswerRe: It was useful to me Pinmemberhestol22:43 15 Oct '09  
GeneralProblems with this code PinmemberDavid Piepgrass15:30 3 May '05  
GeneralRe: Problems with this code PinmemberDavid Piepgrass15:36 3 May '05  
GeneralRe: Problems with this code Pinmemberhestol22:20 3 May '05  
GeneralRe: Problems with this code PinmemberDavid Piepgrass15:16 4 May '05  
GeneralRe: Problems with this code [modified] PinmemberBajotumn.com17:39 15 Sep '09  
AnswerRe: Problems with this code Pinmemberhestol22:38 15 Sep '09  

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Last Updated: 21 Apr 2005
Editor: Sumalatha K.R.
Copyright 2005 by hestol
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