How to change the background color of a rich text box when it is disabled?

Question

Whenever I set the RichTextBox.Enabled property to false, its background color is automatically set to gray as it is set to the color in system color which is s

Answer 1

its to late but its not a bad way,

    private void richTextBox1_ReadOnlyChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //just here instead of White select your color

        richTextBox1.BackColor = Color.White;
    }

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        richTextBox1.ReadOnly = true;
    }

Answer 2

See: How to change the font color of a disabled TextBox?

[Edit - code example added]

richTextBox.TabStop = false;
richTextBox.ReadOnly = true;
richTextBox.BackColor = Color.DimGray;
richTextBox.Cursor = Cursors.Arrow;
richTextBox.Enter += richTextBox_Enter;

private void richTextBox_Enter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // you need to set the focus somewhere else. Eg a label.
    SomeOtherControl.Focus();
}

or as en extension method (I realized you don't have to put it in readonly since the Enter event catches any input):

public static class MyExtensions
{
    public static void Disable( this Control control, Control focusTarget )
    {
        control.TabStop = false;
        control.BackColor = Color.DimGray;
        control.Cursor = Cursors.Arrow;
        control.Enter += delegate { focusTarget.Focus(); };
    }
}

Answer 3

Take a look at DrawStringDisabled Method . You will have to override OnPaint method and then use DrawStringDisabled method. But, if I was at your place then I will go with Mikael Svenson's answer.

Answer 4

Set the backcolor property to your desired color and then set the richtextbox to readonly.

Ex:

richTextBox.BackColor = Color.White;
richTextBox.ReadOnly = true; 

Answer 5

I've just found a great way of doing that. It should work with any Control:

public class DisabledRichTextBox : System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox
{
    // See: http://wiki.winehq.org/List_Of_Windows_Messages

    private const int WM_SETFOCUS   = 0x07;
    private const int WM_ENABLE     = 0x0A;
    private const int WM_SETCURSOR  = 0x20;

    protected override void WndProc(ref System.Windows.Forms.Message m)
    {
        if (!(m.Msg == WM_SETFOCUS || m.Msg == WM_ENABLE || m.Msg == WM_SETCURSOR))
            base.WndProc(ref m);
    }
}

You can safely set Enabled = true and ReadOnly = false, and it will act like a label, preventing focus, user input, cursor change, without being actually disabled.

See if it works for you. Greetings

Answer 6

Create a Custom Richtextbox as below This will produce a Richtextbox with a transparent Backcolor. You can then place this control on a suitably colored panel.

Public Class MyRichTextBox
Inherits RichTextBox
<DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet:=CharSet.Auto)> _
Shared Function LoadLibrary(ByVal lpFileName As String) As IntPtr
End Function
Protected Overloads Overrides ReadOnly Property CreateParams() As CreateParams
    Get
        Dim prams As CreateParams = MyBase.CreateParams
        If LoadLibrary("msftedit.dll") <> IntPtr.Zero Then
            prams.ExStyle = prams.ExStyle Or &H20 'Makes Transparent
            prams.ClassName = "RICHEDIT50W"
        End If
        Return prams
    End Get
End Property