Adding placeholder text to textbox

Question

I am looking for a way to add placeholder text to a textbox like you can with a textbox in html5.

I.e. if the textbox has no text, then it adds the text Enter some text here, when the user clicks on it the placeholder text disappears and allows the user to enter their own text, and if the textbox loses focus and there is still no text then the placeholder is added back to the textbox.

Answer 1

You can use this, it's working for me and is extremely simple solution.

    <Style x:Key="placeHolder" TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}" BasedOn="{StaticResource {x:Type TextBox}}">
        <Setter Property="Template">
            <Setter.Value>
                <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
                    <Grid>
                        <TextBox Text="{Binding Path=Text,
                                                RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, 
                                                Mode=TwoWay,
                                                UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"
                                 x:Name="textSource" 
                                 Background="Transparent" 
                                 Panel.ZIndex="2" />
                        <TextBox Text="{TemplateBinding Tag}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Panel.ZIndex="1">
                            <TextBox.Style>
                                <Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
                                    <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Transparent"/>
                                    <Style.Triggers>
                                        <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=Text, Source={x:Reference textSource}}" Value="">
                                            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="LightGray"/>
                                        </DataTrigger>
                                    </Style.Triggers>
                                </Style>
                            </TextBox.Style>
                        </TextBox>
                    </Grid>
                </ControlTemplate>
            </Setter.Value>
        </Setter>
    </Style>

Usage:

<TextBox Style="{StaticResource placeHolder}" Tag="Name of customer" Width="150" Height="24"/>

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