Question

I am working on Windows Form Application and have created a TextBox control and a Browse button control, so that user can select a folder through Button and show directory in TextBox.

I want to give a freedom to the user to paste a directory path directly into the TextBox. However, at the same, user must provide only a valid directory as a string/text in TextBox.

In addition, I want to disable editing this directory either by keyboard or any other possible way. The user will be able to paste a new valid directory anytime but can’t edit it in the TextBox.

Is there any way to do this using C# at runtime?

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you set the textbox to ReadOnly then that stops editing the TextBox.

Then add an event for KeyDown you can capture if Ctrl + V is pressed and then action based on that using the Clipbboard class and if the directory is valid set the TextBox.Text.

private void textBox1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
  if (e.Modifiers == Keys.Control && e.KeyCode == Keys.V)
  {
    var clipboard = Clipboard.GetText();
    if (Directory.Exists(clipboard))
      textBox1.Text = clipboard;
  }
}