Edit control

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Help / Developing an application or website / Controls, windows and pages / Controls: Available types / Edit control

Edit control overview
Create an "Edit" control
Main features of the "General" tab
Type of an Edit control
Types and masks
Specific HTML 5 features
Main features of the "UI" tab
Initial state
Parameters
Validation of Edit controls via the Enter key
Buttons integrated into the input area
Main features of the "Details" tab
Customizing the alphanumeric keypad
Main features of the "Help" tab
Displaying a hint text in an Edit control
Main features of the "Style" tab
Edit control style
Converting an Edit control to a Static Text control

WINDEV

WEBDEV

WINDEV Mobile

Others

See also

Edit control

Edit control overview

The Edit control allows users to enter data. This control can also be used to view information.

Create an "Edit" control

To create an "Edit" control:

On the "Creation" tab, in the "Usual controls" group, click .
Click where the control will be created in the window or page. The control appears in the editor.

Remark: It is also possible to create an Edit control from a list of predefined fields supplied as standard by selecting "Edit control".. The list of available controls is displayed with the project skin template. Simply click the control you want to create in the editor.

To view the control characteristics, select "Description" in the context menu.

Report editor: It is also possible to create an Edit control in a report. For more details, see Input in the reports.

Main features of the "General" tab

Type of an Edit control

The format of an Edit control depends on the type of information displayed or entered. The following types of edit controls can be created:

Text to display or enter a string (name, address, etc.).
Multiline text to display or enter several lines separated by a "Carriage Return".
RTF text to enter and display information in RTF.
HTML text to enter and format rich text.
Markdown read-only to display Markdown text.
Password: when typing information, all characters will be replaced with asterisks on the screen.
Numeric to display or enter a numeric value (weight, etc.). The "+++" characters are displayed if the control is not large enough to display the entire number.
Currency to display or enter monetary values.
Currency + Euro to manage prices for example
Date to display or enter dates.
Time to enter or display times.
Duration to enter or display durations.
Text tokens to manage an input with tokens.
Upload to manage file uploads.
Warning
This type of Edit control is kept for compatibility. We recommend using the Upload control..

For Text Edit controls, you can check File path autocomplete. This option shows the different directories and files accessible as the user types a file name with its path. This option is not available if the control already uses standard input suggestions.

Types and masks

Input mask: A large number of input masks can be used for each type of Edit control..
These input masks are multilingual: different input masks can be selected according to the language in which the project is run. For more details, see Multiple languages in the controls.
These input masks can be modified programmatically with the InputMask property.
The keyboard displayed when entering data in the control automatically adapts to the selected input mask. For example, the numeric keyboard will be automatically displayed to enter values in a control using a numeric input mask.
Display mask: It is also possible to define display masks for certain field types (Monetary, Monetary + Euro, Date, Time and Duration).. These display masks are used to define the characteristics of the control when it is not in edit.
For example, a Date control can have:
- input mask: "DD/MM/YYYY"..
- display mask: "DD DD DD MMMM YYYY" (corresponding to the date in words).
  Display masks can be multilingual and can be modified programmatically with the DisplayMask property.
New in version 2025
Auto.fill.: This option allows you to set up the automatic filling of fields via a filling service (e.g. Dashlane, Google, etc.).. For more details, see Autofill in Edit controls.

Specific HTML 5 features

Some characteristics of Edit controls use HTML 5 features:

Input masks. By choosing an HTML 5 input mask, the site lets the browser handle and check the input. It is not the page (the site) that performs the checks, but the browser itself. In any case, you can run WLanguage code when exiting a control, which allows for additional checks on the data entered. These features are only available on certain browsers from the following versions: FireFox 5, Chrome 12, Opera 11, Safari 5, etc..
For more details, see the help about the input masks of text, numeric, date and time controls.
HTML search field 5: If this option is selected for a text field, the browser will display a cross to the right of the field.. This X allows the user to clear the control content.
This option is available in the "General" tab of the control description window.
Please note: This option is only available on browsers that support HTML 5, such as Chrome 12 and Safari 5..
Auto-completion: This option (present in the "Detail" tab of the Edit control description window) enables or disables auto-completion on Edit control fields.. Automatic completion is enabled by default. When the user starts typing information in a form, all the page controls are immediately and automatically filled with the data previously typed on this computer.
Autocomplete is a dangerous feature. It must be disabled when processing confidential data.
Most browsers that support HTML 5 (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, etc.) support this feature as well.

Main features of the "UI" tab

Initial state

The initial state of an Edit control is the default state of the control when the window or page is opened. The following states are available:

Parameters

Markdown support: This option enables or disables Markdown rendering.. For more details, see Markdown.
TAB key management: This option makes a field accessible or inaccessible via the Tab key.. By default, the "Accessible by TAB" option is selected when a control is created. All controls accessible via the Tab key are automatically included in window tab order. By default, the tab order is the order in which the controls are created in the window. For more details, see Tab order in a window, a page, etc..
This option corresponds to the "Accessible by TAB" option.

Validation of Edit controls via the Enter key

For each Edit control in a page, you can specify the action that will be run when the user presses the Enter key.

This allows, for example, to improve the default events in a page. For instance, there can be several search controls can in the same page, and each control can be validated by pressing the Enter key. The action performed will be the one associated with the Edit control that has focus.

To define the action associated with an Edit control:

Create a button in your page containing the desired code.
Open the Edit control description. On the "UI" tab, select the desired button in the " Action on 'Enter' " option.

Buttons integrated into the input area

An Edit control can contain different buttons in the input area:

A button on the left.
A button on the right.
A delete button.

For more details, see Buttons in the input area.

Main features of the "Details" tab

An Edit control can:

be used to perform a drag-and-drop operation. For more details, see Drag and Drop.
be in assisted entry: when the field is entered, the application automatically proposes the corresponding value present in the HFSQL key item linked to the field..
For example, in the "City" control, "London" is automatically proposed once "Lo" is typed.
This feature can only be used with key items and Text items.
Input suggestions cannot be used with non-key items, numeric items, or if an input mask is used for dates. For more details, see Input suggestions in an Edit control

An Edit control can also include:

a spelling checker that uses:
- the OpenOffice dictionary installed on the computer, or a spelling and grammar checker that uses the Word dictionary.
- an integrated spelling checker (based on Hunspell dictionaries).
- The type of spelling checker can be selected in the project description window ("Options" tab).
an history of entries: When entering data in the field, the list of previous values entered in this field is automatically proposed.. This input history is not available for multiline controls. For more details, see Saving entered data (AAF).

Customizing the alphanumeric keypad

In Android and iOS applications, an on-screen keyboard appears automatically when a text input control receives the focus. This keyboard allows the user to enter the desired text.

This keyboard includes a button (bottom right) that can be customized:

To configure this button:

Go to the "Details" tab of the Edit control description window.
In the "Keyboard button" option, select the desired type of button. Depending on the selected type, the system will display the corresponding button in the current language on the device.

Note: Adding a "Custom" button is available on Android only..
Validate.

The event associated with this button can be entered in the code editor. It corresponds to the optional event "Validation via keyboard". For more details, see Edit control events.

Main features of the "Help" tab

Displaying a hint text in an Edit control

The hint text is used to display a help text in the empty edit control. This help text disappears automatically as soon as the user enters the first character in the control.

This hint text is available for:

Text Edit controls.
Numeric, Currency and Currency + Euro Edit controls.
To show the hint text in Numeric, Currency or Currency + Euro edit controls, the option "Blank if zero" must be checked ("Details" tab of the control description).
You can also display the lower bound and the upper bound of the numeric edit control:
- in the hint text ("Display the bounds in the hint text" in the "Details" tab of the control description).
- in the control tooltip ("Display the bounds in the tooltip" in the "Details" tab of the control description).

The help text can be typed:

in the Edit control description window ("Help" tab in WINDEV/WINDEV Mobile and "Content" tab in WEBDEV).
programmatically with the Hint property.

The style of the hint text displayed in the control can be configured in the "Style" tab. By default, it corresponds to the style of the input area, in gray and italic. To modify it, simply select "Hint text" and check "Customize the style of the hint text".

The HintTextColor property gets and sets the color of the hint text programmatically.

The hint text uses the same style as the input area, in italic and gray.

Main features of the "Style" tab

Edit control style

The "Style" tab allows you to customize the appearance of all the elements in the Edit control. You can apply styles to different elements:

Field label: You can define the font, position and color of the label.
The outside border.
The text in the input area.
The input field: For example, you can define the background color, the color of the frame, and so on., ...
Note: The "Margins" button is used to define the margins between the text and the edge of the input field..
The hint text.
The tokens (if any).
Invalid or required input indicators.
...

Converting an Edit control to a Static Text control

WINDEV and WINDEV Mobile allow you to automatically transform an edit control into several static controls:

Select the Edit control to be converted.
On the "Modification" tab, in the "Transformations" group, expand "Refactoring and swapping" and select "Edit control to Static Text".

A Static Text control is automatically created for the caption of the Edit control and also for the input area.

Related Examples:

Unit examples (WINDEV): The special characters

[ + ] Handling special characters in an RTF control and viewing the ASCII and ANSI codes.

Unit examples (WINDEV): The voice recognition functions

[ + ] Using the voice recognition functions.
The voice commands of Windows Vista (or Windows XP, with a specific software) are used to control WINDEV applications with the voice.
A WINDEV application already responds to the voice when the user dictates in an edit control or spells out the caption of a button.
You also have the ability to program a specific voice command to perform a specific action.

Unit examples (WINDEV): Advanced input mask

[ + ] Handling the input masks in WINDEV:
- Defining the format of positive/negative number in a numeric edit control
- Defining how negative numbers will be displayed in a numeric edit control
- Defining how the value 0 will be displayed in a numeric edit control
- Using a regular expression to prevent from typing characters other than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
- Using a regular expression to "regulate" the input of a French registration number

Training (WINDEV): WD Search Control

[ + ] This example explains how to manage an edit control used to perform FullText searches of "google" type in your database.

Complete examples (WEBDEV): WW_Rewali

[ + ] This example is a site for travel booking.

It proposes travels at very attractive prices.
You have the ability to choose the travel duration, the start dates, then validate the purchase until the payment via Paypal.

It is using the "scrolling banner" control and the planes.