CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#winforms
AlexQuezada
AlexQuezada

Reputation: 143

How to set a textbox visible false but still write on it?

I´m trying to set textbox visible = false to avoid user from write on it manually but I still need it to write on it by using a bar code scanner, so I need it to get focused before use the scanner, what would be the better way to do it?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2524

Answers (4)

chopperfield
chopperfield

Reputation: 567

just simply set textbox property size to (0,0) with textbox visible = true

Upvotes: 2

Bloopy
Bloopy

Reputation: 429

Your best option would be to simply validate that what's entered into the textbox is indeed a bar code. What happens when the scanner breaks down and the user still needs to enter a bar code? Limit it to numbers only.

If that's not an option and you find the scanner doesn't work with hidden or disabled textboxes, then set TabStop = false and Multiline = true, and try setting the text box size to 0x0. Or at least really tiny and make it the same colour as the background. In that case you'd want a label or something to then display the bar code or product info so the user knows the scanning worked.

Another possibility may be to set KeyPreview = true on your form. Then you can handle anything that looks like a bar code in the form's KeyPress event, no matter which control is focused. If numbers start coming in, capture them, and if it turns out not to be a bar code, just forward them to the focused control.

Upvotes: 2

vrksoln
vrksoln

Reputation: 29

If the purpose of hiding textbox is to not-allow user from editing it, then you may set the ReadOnly property of texbox to true, then call the .Focus() method before scanning the barcode. In my experience, after having installed the barcode reader driver, softwares from accompanying CD, all you have to do is scan the barcode and it will populate with the barcode-value in human readable format, on any control in an application that can take user-input. I suggest to use Readonly property of textbox instead of setting visible = false.

Upvotes: 0

Timothy Macharia
Timothy Macharia

Reputation: 2926

From the question, you want to achieve two things.

  1. Make the textbox invisible before Scanning.
  2. Lock the user from editing the textbox after bar code scanning.

Solution

Set the textbox visibility property to false before Scanning so that it does appear on the screen whatsoever.

Have an event handler after finishing scanning or at the end of your scanning method/function, change the Property of the textbox called Disabled to true.

Hope this helps.

Upvotes: 0

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