Only allow specific characters in textbox

Question

How can I only allow certain characters in a Visual C# textbox? Users should be able to input the following characters into a text box, and everything else should be blocked: 0-9, +, -, /, *, (, ).

I've used Google to look up this problem, but the only solutions I'm getting are allowing only alphabetic characters, only numerical or disallowing certain characters. What I want is not disallowing certain characters, I want to disallow everything by default except the characters that I put in the code.

Answer 1

As mentioned in a comment (and another answer as I typed) you need to register an event handler to catch the keydown or keypress event on a text box. This is because TextChanged is only fired when the TextBox loses focus

The below regex lets you match those characters you want to allow

Regex regex = new Regex(@"[0-9+\-\/\*\(\)]");
MatchCollection matches = regex.Matches(textValue);

and this does the opposite and catches characters that aren't allowed

Regex regex = new Regex(@"[^0-9^+^\-^\/^\*^\(^\)]");
MatchCollection matches = regex.Matches(textValue);

I'm not assuming there'll be a single match as someone could paste text into the textbox. in which case catch textchanged

textBox1.TextChanged += new TextChangedEventHandler(textBox1_TextChanged);
private void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Regex regex = new Regex(@"[^0-9^+^\-^\/^\*^\(^\)]");
    MatchCollection matches = regex.Matches(textBox1.Text);
    if (matches.Count > 0) {
       //tell the user
    }
}

and to validate single key presses

textBox1.KeyPress += new KeyPressEventHandler(textBox1_KeyPress);
private void textBox1_KeyPress(object sender, System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs e)
{
    // Check for a naughty character in the KeyDown event.
    if (System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.IsMatch(e.KeyChar.ToString(), @"[^0-9^+^\-^\/^\*^\(^\)]"))
    {
        // Stop the character from being entered into the control since it is illegal.
        e.Handled = true;
    }
}