How to prevent a Windows Forms TextBox from flickering on resize?
There are plenty of articles addressing flicker in Windows Forms. The majority recommend setting DoubleBuffered = true or setting a bunch of ControlStyle flags. However, none of these help reduce a TextBox flickering.
Here are a couple of related questions:
- How to double buffer .NET controls on a form?
- How to eliminate flicker in Windows.Forms custom control when scrolling?
To reproduce the issue, create a new WinForms project, add a TextBox, enable multi-line, disable word-wrap, add a bunch of text, set Anchor to Left+Right+Top+Bottom. Now run and resize. The text flickers. For text boxes inside a couple of nested TableLayoutPanels the flicker on resize is even worse.
Applying the solutions proposed in the above questions at best do not fix the flicker; if I get experimental and set the protected ControlStyle on TextBox I can break it completely (by enabling UserPaint) but not eliminate the flicker.
So, is there any way at all to fix the flickering of the text in a TextBox?
Answer
I usually use a RichTextBox instead of a multiline TextBox. By setting the DetectUrls- and ShortcutsEnabled-properties to false the RTB behaves very similar to a TextBox and ... it's flicker-free.