Specifying maxlength for multiline textbox

Question

I'm trying to use asp:

<asp:TextBox ID="txtInput" runat="server" TextMode="MultiLine"></asp:TextBox>

I want a way to specify the maxlength property, but apparently there's no way possible for a multiline textbox. I've been trying to use some JavaScript for the onkeypress event:

onkeypress="return textboxMultilineMaxNumber(this,maxlength)"

function textboxMultilineMaxNumber(txt, maxLen) {
    try {
        if (txt.value.length > (maxLen - 1)) return false;
    } catch (e) { }
    return true;
}

While working fine the problem with this JavaScript function is that after writing characters it doesn't allow you to delete and substitute any of them, that behavior is not desired.

Have you got any idea what could I possibly change in the above code to avoid that or any other ways to get round it?

Answer 1

try this javascript:

function checkTextAreaMaxLength(textBox,e, length)
{

        var mLen = textBox["MaxLength"];
        if(null==mLen)
            mLen=length;

        var maxLength = parseInt(mLen);
        if(!checkSpecialKeys(e))
        {
         if(textBox.value.length > maxLength-1)
         {
            if(window.event)//IE
              e.returnValue = false;
            else//Firefox
                e.preventDefault();
         }
    }   
}
function checkSpecialKeys(e)
{
    if(e.keyCode !=8 && e.keyCode!=46 && e.keyCode!=37 && e.keyCode!=38 && e.keyCode!=39 && e.keyCode!=40)
        return false;
    else
        return true;
}

On the control invoke it like this:

<asp:TextBox Rows="5" Columns="80" ID="txtCommentsForSearch" MaxLength='1999' onkeyDown="checkTextAreaMaxLength(this,event,'1999');"  TextMode="multiLine" runat="server"> </asp:TextBox>

You could also just use the checkSpecialKeys function to validate the input on your javascript implementation.