RadWatermarkTextBox - CurrentText vs Text - which to use?

[Rob]

Hello,

I'm trying to understand the difference between the "CurrentText" and "Text" properties of the RadWatermarkTextBox control.  Which property should I bind my data object to?  One or the other or both?

I thought it made sense that when I was typing in the textbox, the "CurrentText" property was updated with each character entered, but the "Text" property was not actually updated until the textbox lost focus.  But for a small demo project I put together, it doesn't seem to matter...  As I type in the textbox, it looks like both the "Text" and "CurrentText" property are updated.

<Grid>

        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="1*" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

        <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Background="Pink">

            <Border Padding="3">
                <telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox x:Name="tb1" Text="Text" CurrentText="CurrentText" WatermarkContent="WatermarkContent" />
            </Border>

        </StackPanel>


        <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Background="White">

            <Border Padding="3">
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName=tb1, Path=Text, StringFormat='@Text=\{0\}'}" />
            </Border>

            <Border Padding="3">
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName=tb1, Path=CurrentText, StringFormat='@CurrentText=\{0\}'}" />
            </Border>

            <Border Padding="3">
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName=tb1, Path=WatermarkContent, StringFormat='@WatermarkContent=\{0\}'}" />
            </Border>

        </StackPanel>

    </Grid>

[Rob]

Hello again,

Actually, I think I have discovered a problem with the RadWatermarkTextBox that was causing my confusion...

If you hardcode the "Text" property of a RadWatermarkTextBox, instead of binding it, the initial value of "CurrentText" is null until you actually manipulate it.  And there must be some sort of link between that the Watermark.  If you load this application, and put focus into the "ReadOnly" field simply by clicking on it, look what happens to the first RadWatermarkTextBox - it shows both the watermark and the text because there is no current text...

<Grid>

        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="1*" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

        <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Background="Pink">

            <Border Padding="3">
                <telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox x:Name="tb1" Text="Normal" WatermarkContent="WatermarkContent" />
            </Border>

            <Border Padding="3">
                <telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox x:Name="tb2" Text="IsEnabled='False'" IsEnabled="False" WatermarkContent="WatermarkContent">
            </Border>

            <Border Padding="3">
                <telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox x:Name="tb3" Text="IsReadOnly='True'" IsReadOnly="True" WatermarkContent="WatermarkContent"/>
            </Border>

            <Border Padding="3">
                <telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox x:Name="tb4" Text="IsReadOnly='True' AND IsEnabled='False'" IsEnabled="False" IsReadOnly="True" WatermarkContent="WatermarkContent"/>
            </Border>

        </StackPanel>

    </Grid>

[Alex Fidanov]

Hello Rob,

The CurrentText property is meant to be used (to be boundbound) in TwoWay-binding scenarios so that it is updated on each change of the text and not when the control loses focus (the value is updated in the TextChanged event of the textbox).


Regards,
Alex Fidanov
the Telerik team

[Jason]

I'm finding the RadWatermarkTextBox to be very frustrating.  I'm getting the same behavior the first post referred to when binding the text property.  Both the text and the watermark show up when the textbox receives focus and then loses focus without making any changes.  If I try to bind the currenttext property as suggested the text just goes away, never to return, when the control receives focus.  

[Yana]

Hi Jason,

I've tried to reproduce this issue but without much success - CurrentText property is bound and updated as expected. Please check the attached simple project.

All the best,
Yana
the Telerik team

[James]

Thanks heaps, this helped alot.

If you guys could show this as example in demo app, that would have been quick to look at solution.

CurrentText="{Binding Path=Value, Mode=TwoWay}" Text="{Binding Path=Value, Mode=OneTime}"

 

That is what I am doing, and that fixed the issue "Binding only updates value when control loses focus"

Thanks,
Bhavin