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wpftextboxtextblock

Is there any difference between WPF TextBlock and TextBox?


What criteria must I consider when selecting one of these two controls?


Solution

  • Common to both TextBlocks and TextBoxes:

    • Can be used to display text
    • Can be set to specific Height and Width or be set to Auto so that they grow in size with the text.
    • Can set font size, font type, font styling, to wrap and to range left, right or centred.
    • Can have opacity set and have Pixel Shaders applied.

    TextBlock:

    • Used for displaying text more focused typographically.
    • Can contain text set to different colors, fonts and sizes.
    • The line height can also be increased from the default setting to give more space between each line of text.
    • Text inside a TextBlock cannot be made selectable by the user.

    TextBox:

    • Used for displaying text more focused for content input or when content is needed to be made selectable by the user.
    • Can only be set to one colour, one font size, one font type etc.
    • Have fixed Line Spacing.
    • Can also be set to a fixed height and width but also have scrollbars switched on to allow content to expand.