How To Select All Text in a Field When It Gets the Focus (161240)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 6.0
This article was previously published under Q161240

SUMMARY

Automatic highlighting is useful in data entry boxes where you want to give the user the option to overwrite the existing contents quickly by pressing any character key.

This article demonstrates how to select (highlight) all text in a text box automatically whenever the text box gets the focus. This example also applies to the ComboBox and Grid control and any other controls that implement the Text, SelStart, and SelLength properties.

MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Example

  1. Start Visual Basic, or, if it is already running, click New Project from the File menu.
  2. Place two Text Boxes on the Form1 form with the default settings.
  3. Copy and paste the following code to the Form1 Code Window: 
          Private Sub Text1_GotFocus()
        Call SelectMe(Me.ActiveControl)
      End Sub

      Private Sub Text2_GotFocus()
        Call SelectMe(Me.ActiveControl)
      End Sub

      Private Sub SelectMe(This As TextBox)
        This.SelStart = 0
        This.SelLength = Len(This.Text)
      End Sub
  4. Press the F5 key to run the project, or click Run Project from the Tools menu.
As you move to each text box, the text is highlighted. If you begin typing, the text will be replaced with your new entry. To deselect the text after giving focus to the text box, you can single-click the text or press any of the TextBox navigation keys (Home, End, Arrow-Keys).

REFERENCES

Visual Basic On-Line Help: Text, SelLength, SelStart Properties

(c) Microsoft Corporation 1996, All Rights Reserved.
Contributions by Ted Keith, Microsoft Corporation
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/13/2004
Keywords:kbhowto KB161240
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.