How do I make a textbox that only accepts numbers?

Question

I have a windows forms app with a textbox control that I want to only accept integer values. In the past I\'ve done this kind of validation by overloading the KeyPress event

Answer 1

Sorry to wake the dead, but I thought someone might find this useful for future reference.

Here is how I handle it. It handles floating point numbers, but can easily be modified for integers.

Basically you can only press 0 - 9 and .

You can only have one 0 before the .

All other characters are ignored and the cursor position maintained.

    private bool _myTextBoxChanging = false;

    private void myTextBox_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        validateText(myTextBox);
    }

    private void validateText(TextBox box)
    {
        // stop multiple changes;
        if (_myTextBoxChanging)
            return;
        _myTextBoxChanging = true;

        string text = box.Text;
        if (text == "")
            return;
        string validText = "";
        bool hasPeriod = false;
        int pos = box.SelectionStart;
        for (int i = 0; i < text.Length; i++ )
        {
            bool badChar = false;
            char s = text[i];
            if (s == '.')
            {
                if (hasPeriod)
                    badChar = true;
                else
                    hasPeriod = true;
            }
            else if (s < '0' || s > '9')
                badChar = true;

            if (!badChar)
                validText += s;
            else
            {
                if (i <= pos)
                    pos--;
            }
        }

        // trim starting 00s
        while (validText.Length >= 2 && validText[0] == '0')
        {
            if (validText[1] != '.')
            {
                validText = validText.Substring(1);
                if (pos < 2)
                    pos--;
            }
            else
                break;
        }

        if (pos > validText.Length)
            pos = validText.Length;
        box.Text = validText;
        box.SelectionStart = pos;
        _myTextBoxChanging = false;
    }

Here is a quickly modified int version:

    private void validateText(TextBox box)
    {
        // stop multiple changes;
        if (_myTextBoxChanging)
            return;
        _myTextBoxChanging = true;

        string text = box.Text;
        if (text == "")
            return;
        string validText = "";
        int pos = box.SelectionStart;
        for (int i = 0; i < text.Length; i++ )
        {
            char s = text[i];
            if (s < '0' || s > '9')
            {
                if (i <= pos)
                    pos--;
            }
            else
                validText += s;
        }

        // trim starting 00s 
        while (validText.Length >= 2 && validText.StartsWith("00")) 
        { 
            validText = validText.Substring(1); 
            if (pos < 2) 
                pos--; 
        } 

        if (pos > validText.Length)
            pos = validText.Length;
        box.Text = validText;
        box.SelectionStart = pos;
        _myTextBoxChanging = false;
    }