WPF TextBox to enter decimal values

Question

Is there any decent way to get a WPF control which is bound to a decimal value?

When I just bind the TextBox or DataGridTextColumn to a decimal, data entry is a problem.

<TextBox Text="{Binding MyDecimal, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged, 
    ValidatesOnDataErrors=True}"/>

When I try to enter "0,5" in this TextBox I'll get "5" as a result. It is nearly impossible to enter "0,5" at all (apart from entering 1,5 and replacing the "1" with a "0").

When I use StringFormat, data entry is only slightly improved:

<TextBox Text="{Binding MyDecimal, StringFormat=F1, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged,
    ValidatesOnDataErrors=True}"/>

Now, when I try to enter "0,5" I'll end up with "0,5,0", which still is wrong but at least I can remove the trailing ",0" without much difficulty.

Still, entering decimal types using WPF is very awkward, because these TextBoxes are very prone to data entry errors, which is a real pain especially for values!

So what am I supposed to use for decimal data entry in WPF? Or does Microsoft not support decimal data??

Solution 1

I currently use this behavior for digital and decimal input:

public class TextBoxInputBehavior : Behavior<TextBox>
{
    const NumberStyles validNumberStyles = NumberStyles.AllowDecimalPoint |
                                               NumberStyles.AllowThousands |
                                               NumberStyles.AllowLeadingSign;
    public TextBoxInputBehavior()
    {
        this.InputMode = TextBoxInputMode.None;
        this.JustPositivDecimalInput = false;
    }

    public TextBoxInputMode InputMode { get; set; }


    public static readonly DependencyProperty JustPositivDecimalInputProperty =
     DependencyProperty.Register("JustPositivDecimalInput", typeof(bool),
     typeof(TextBoxInputBehavior), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(false));

    public bool JustPositivDecimalInput
    {
        get { return (bool)GetValue(JustPositivDecimalInputProperty); }
        set { SetValue(JustPositivDecimalInputProperty, value); }
    }

    protected override void OnAttached()
    {
        base.OnAttached();
        AssociatedObject.PreviewTextInput += AssociatedObjectPreviewTextInput;
        AssociatedObject.PreviewKeyDown += AssociatedObjectPreviewKeyDown;

        DataObject.AddPastingHandler(AssociatedObject, Pasting);

    }

    protected override void OnDetaching()
    {
        base.OnDetaching();
        AssociatedObject.PreviewTextInput -= AssociatedObjectPreviewTextInput;
        AssociatedObject.PreviewKeyDown -= AssociatedObjectPreviewKeyDown;

        DataObject.RemovePastingHandler(AssociatedObject, Pasting);
    }

    private void Pasting(object sender, DataObjectPastingEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.DataObject.GetDataPresent(typeof(string)))
        {
            var pastedText = (string)e.DataObject.GetData(typeof(string));

            if (!this.IsValidInput(this.GetText(pastedText)))
            {
                System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
                e.CancelCommand();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
            e.CancelCommand();
        }
     }

     private void AssociatedObjectPreviewKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
     {
        if (e.Key == Key.Space)
        {
            if (!this.IsValidInput(this.GetText(" ")))
            {
                System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
                e.Handled = true;
            }
        }
     }

     private void AssociatedObjectPreviewTextInput(object sender, TextCompositionEventArgs e)
     {
        if (!this.IsValidInput(this.GetText(e.Text)))
        {
            System.Media.SystemSounds.Beep.Play();
            e.Handled = true;
        }
     }

     private string GetText(string input)
     {
        var txt = this.AssociatedObject;

        int selectionStart = txt.SelectionStart;
        if (txt.Text.Length < selectionStart) 
            selectionStart = txt.Text.Length;

        int selectionLength = txt.SelectionLength;
        if (txt.Text.Length < selectionStart + selectionLength) 
            selectionLength = txt.Text.Length - selectionStart;

        var realtext = txt.Text.Remove(selectionStart, selectionLength);

        int caretIndex = txt.CaretIndex;
        if (realtext.Length < caretIndex) 
            caretIndex = realtext.Length;

        var newtext = realtext.Insert(caretIndex, input);

        return newtext;
     }

     private bool IsValidInput(string input)
     {
        switch (InputMode)
        {
            case TextBoxInputMode.None:
                return true;
            case TextBoxInputMode.DigitInput:
                return CheckIsDigit(input);

            case TextBoxInputMode.DecimalInput:
                decimal d;
                //wen mehr als ein Komma
                if (input.ToCharArray().Where(x => x == ',').Count() > 1)
                    return false;


                if (input.Contains("-"))
                {
                     if (this.JustPositivDecimalInput) 
                        return false;


                     if (input.IndexOf("-",StringComparison.Ordinal) > 0) 
                          return false;

                      if(input.ToCharArray().Count(x=>x=='-') > 1)
                          return false;

                        //minus einmal am anfang zulässig
                       if (input.Length == 1) 
                           return true;
                    }

                    var result = decimal.TryParse(input, validNumberStyles, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, out d);
                    return result;



            default: throw new ArgumentException("Unknown TextBoxInputMode");

        }
        return true;
     }

     private bool CheckIsDigit(string wert)
     {
        return wert.ToCharArray().All(Char.IsDigit);
     }
}

 public enum TextBoxInputMode
 {
  None,
  DecimalInput,
  DigitInput
  }

The XAML usage looks like this:

<TextBox Text="{Binding Sum}">
    <i:Interaction.Behaviors>
        <Behaviors:TextBoxInputBehavior InputMode="DecimalInput"/>
    </i:Interaction.Behaviors>
</TextBox>

Solution 2

    private void DecimalTextBox_PreviewTextInput(object sender, System.Windows.Input.TextCompositionEventArgs e)
    {
        bool approvedDecimalPoint = false;

        if (e.Text == ".")
        {
            if (!((TextBox)sender).Text.Contains("."))
                approvedDecimalPoint = true;
        }

        if (!(char.IsDigit(e.Text, e.Text.Length - 1) || approvedDecimalPoint))
            e.Handled = true;
    }

Solution 3

The WPF Extended toolkit has a DecimalUpDown control that may suit your needs. It's free to use, and it's better to use this than to try and roll your own.

As for validating the input on it, there are a number of ways of applying validation, here is one detailed in MSDN. I detail another approach for custom bindable validation in two posts on my blog (you would apply the validation to the Value property binding on the DecimalUpDown control).

Solution 4

I also came across this issue; with UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged it seems that the binding tries to update the text as you are typing it. To fix this issue we changed our input fields so that UpdateSourceTrigger=LostFocus, e.g.:

<TextBox Text="{Binding MyDecimal, UpdateSourceTrigger=LostFocus, ValidatesOnDataErrors=True, StringFormat=n1}" />

You can define your own validation errors by using the IDataErrorInfo interface. You just need to add the following to your backing model:

 public class MyModel : IDataErrorInfo
 {
    /* my properties */

    public string Error { get { return null; } }
    public string this[string name]
    {
       get
       {
          switch (name)
          {
             case "MyDecimal":
                return NumberHelper.IsValidValue(MyDecimal) ? message : null;
             default: return null;
          }
       }
    }
    private string message = "Invalid value";
 }

Solution 5

As of .NET 4.5, there is a Easier fix, add a "Delay" to the binding

 <TextBox  Text="{Binding MyDouble, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged, Delay=1000}" />

Users now have 1 second (1000ms) before the binding system would attempt to replace the period (changing "1." to "1"). Which should give them time to enter in additional characters after the '.' so that it doesn't get removed.

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