Any way to make a WPF textblock selectable

Question

How to allow TextBlock s text to be selectable  I tried to get it to work by displaying the text using a read-only TextBox styled to look like a textblock but this will not work in my case because a TextBox does not have inlines  In other words  how to make it selectable

User · Answer

public MainPage         this InitializeComponent                                  Make Start result text copiable     TextBlockStatusStart IsTextSelectionEnabled   true

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There is an alternative solution that might be adaptable to the RichTextBox oultined in this blog post - it used a trigger to swap out the control template when the use hovers over the control - should help with performance

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Use a TextBox with these settings instead to make it read only and to look like a TextBlock control   lt TextBox Background  quot Transparent quot           BorderThickness  quot 0 quot           Text  quot  Binding Text  Mode OneWay  quot           IsReadOnly  quot True quot           TextWrapping  quot Wrap quot    gt

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Adding to  torvin s answer and as  Dave Huang mentioned in the comments if you have TextTrimming  CharacterEllipsis  enabled the application crashes when you hover over the ellipsis   I tried other options mentioned in the thread about using a TextBox but it really doesn t seem to be the solution either as it doesn t show the  ellipsis  and also if the text is too long to fit the container selecting the content of the textbox  scrolls  internally which isn t a TextBlock behaviour   I think the best solution is  torvin s answer but has the nasty crash when hovering over the ellipsis    I know it isn t pretty  but subscribing unsubscribing internally to unhandled exceptions and handling the exception was the only way I found of solving this problem  please share if somebody has a better solution     public class SelectableTextBlock   TextBlock       static SelectableTextBlock                 FocusableProperty OverrideMetadata typeof SelectableTextBlock   new FrameworkPropertyMetadata true            TextEditorWrapper RegisterCommandHandlers typeof SelectableTextBlock   true  true  true               remove the focus rectangle around the control         FocusVisualStyleProperty OverrideMetadata typeof SelectableTextBlock   new FrameworkPropertyMetadata  object null               private readonly TextEditorWrapper  editor       public SelectableTextBlock                  editor   TextEditorWrapper CreateFor this            this Loaded     sender  args    gt                this Dispatcher UnhandledException -  Dispatcher UnhandledException              this Dispatcher UnhandledException    Dispatcher UnhandledException                     this Unloaded     sender  args    gt                this Dispatcher UnhandledException -  Dispatcher UnhandledException                        private void Dispatcher UnhandledException object sender  DispatcherUnhandledExceptionEventArgs e                if   string IsNullOrEmpty e  Exception  StackTrace                         if  e Exception StackTrace Contains  System Windows Controls TextBlock GetTextPositionFromDistance                                  e Handled   true

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I ve implemented SelectableTextBlock in my opensource controls library  You can use it like this    lt jc SelectableTextBlock Text  Some text    gt

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Really nice and easy solution  exactly what I wanted     I bring some small modifications  public class TextBlockMoo   TextBlock        public String SelectedText            public delegate void TextSelectedHandler string SelectedText       public event TextSelectedHandler OnTextSelected      protected void RaiseEvent                 if  OnTextSelected    null  OnTextSelected SelectedText               TextPointer StartSelectPosition      TextPointer EndSelectPosition      Brush  saveForeGroundBrush      Brush  saveBackGroundBrush       TextRange  ntr   null       protected override void OnMouseDown MouseButtonEventArgs e                base OnMouseDown e            if   ntr  null                 ntr ApplyPropertyValue TextElement ForegroundProperty   saveForeGroundBrush                ntr ApplyPropertyValue TextElement BackgroundProperty   saveBackGroundBrush                      Point mouseDownPoint   e GetPosition this           StartSelectPosition   this GetPositionFromPoint mouseDownPoint  true                          protected override void OnMouseUp MouseButtonEventArgs e                base OnMouseUp e           Point mouseUpPoint   e GetPosition this           EndSelectPosition   this GetPositionFromPoint mouseUpPoint  true             ntr   new TextRange StartSelectPosition  EndSelectPosition               keep saved          saveForeGroundBrush    Brush  ntr GetPropertyValue TextElement ForegroundProperty            saveBackGroundBrush    Brush  ntr GetPropertyValue TextElement BackgroundProperty              change style          ntr ApplyPropertyValue TextElement BackgroundProperty  new SolidColorBrush Colors Yellow             ntr ApplyPropertyValue TextElement ForegroundProperty  new SolidColorBrush Colors DarkBlue             SelectedText    ntr Text

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Create ControlTemplate for the TextBlock and put a TextBox inside with readonly property set  Or just use TextBox and make it readonly  then you can change the TextBox Style to make it looks like TextBlock

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TextBlock does not have a template  So inorder to achieve this  we need to use a TextBox whose style is changed to behave as a textBlock     lt Style x Key  TextBlockUsingTextBoxStyle  BasedOn   x Null   TargetType   x Type TextBox   gt       lt Setter Property  Foreground  Value   DynamicResource  x Static SystemColors ControlTextBrushKey     gt       lt Setter Property  Background  Value  Transparent   gt       lt Setter Property  BorderBrush  Value   StaticResource TextBoxBorder    gt       lt Setter Property  BorderThickness  Value  0   gt       lt Setter Property  Padding  Value  1   gt       lt Setter Property  AllowDrop  Value  true   gt       lt Setter Property  FocusVisualStyle  Value   x Null    gt       lt Setter Property  ScrollViewer PanningMode  Value  VerticalFirst   gt       lt Setter Property  Stylus IsFlicksEnabled  Value  False   gt       lt Setter Property  Template  gt           lt Setter Value gt               lt ControlTemplate TargetType   x Type TextBox   gt                   lt TextBox BorderThickness   TemplateBinding BorderThickness   IsReadOnly  True  Text   TemplateBinding Text   Background   x Null   BorderBrush   x Null     gt               lt  ControlTemplate gt           lt  Setter Value gt       lt  Setter gt   lt  Style gt

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According to Windows Dev Center      TextBlock IsTextSelectionEnabled property        Updated for UWP apps on Windows 10  For Windows 8 x articles  see   the archive        Gets or sets a value that indicates whether text selection is enabled   in the TextBlock  either through user action or calling   selection-related API

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new TextBox      Text   text     TextAlignment   TextAlignment Center     TextWrapping   TextWrapping Wrap     IsReadOnly   true     Background   Brushes Transparent     BorderThickness   new Thickness                           Top   0               Bottom   0               Left   0               Right   0

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Apply this style to your TextBox and that s it  inspired from this article     lt Style x Key  SelectableTextBlockLikeStyle  TargetType  TextBox  BasedOn   StaticResource  x Type TextBox    gt       lt Setter Property  IsReadOnly  Value  True   gt       lt Setter Property  IsTabStop  Value  False   gt       lt Setter Property  BorderThickness  Value  0   gt       lt Setter Property  Background  Value  Transparent   gt       lt Setter Property  Padding  Value  -2 0 0 0   gt       lt  -- The Padding -2 0 0 0 is required because the TextBox         seems to have an inherent  Padding  of about 2 pixels          Without the Padding property          the text seems to be 2 pixels to the left         compared to a TextBlock     -- gt       lt Style Triggers gt           lt MultiTrigger gt               lt MultiTrigger Conditions gt                   lt Condition Property  IsMouseOver  Value  False    gt                   lt Condition Property  IsFocused  Value  False    gt               lt  MultiTrigger Conditions gt               lt Setter Property  Template  gt                   lt Setter Value gt                   lt ControlTemplate TargetType   x Type TextBox   gt                       lt TextBlock Text   TemplateBinding Text                                 FontSize   TemplateBinding FontSize                                FontStyle   TemplateBinding FontStyle                                FontFamily   TemplateBinding FontFamily                                FontWeight   TemplateBinding FontWeight                                TextWrapping   TemplateBinding TextWrapping                                Foreground   DynamicResource NormalText                                Padding  0 0 0 0                                           gt                   lt  ControlTemplate gt                   lt  Setter Value gt               lt  Setter gt           lt  MultiTrigger gt       lt  Style Triggers gt   lt  Style gt

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I m not sure if you can make a TextBlock selectable  but another option would be to use a RichTextBox - it is like a TextBox as you suggested  but supports the formatting you want

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I have been unable to find any example of really answering the question   All the answers used a Textbox or RichTextbox   I needed a solution that allowed me to use a TextBlock  and this is the solution I created     I believe the correct way to do this is to extend the TextBlock class   This is the code I used to extend the TextBlock class to allow me to select the text and copy it to clipboard    sdo  is the namespace reference I used in the WPF     WPF Using Extended Class   xmlns sdo  clr-namespace iFaceCaseMain    lt sdo TextBlockMoo x Name  txtResults  Background  Black  Margin  5 5 5 5         Foreground  GreenYellow  FontSize  14  FontFamily  Courier New  gt  lt  TextBlockMoo gt    Code Behind for Extended Class   public partial class TextBlockMoo   TextBlock        TextPointer StartSelectPosition      TextPointer EndSelectPosition      public String SelectedText            public delegate void TextSelectedHandler string SelectedText       public event TextSelectedHandler TextSelected       protected override void OnMouseDown MouseButtonEventArgs e                base OnMouseDown e           Point mouseDownPoint   e GetPosition this           StartSelectPosition   this GetPositionFromPoint mouseDownPoint  true                          protected override void OnMouseUp MouseButtonEventArgs e                base OnMouseUp e           Point mouseUpPoint   e GetPosition this           EndSelectPosition   this GetPositionFromPoint mouseUpPoint  true            TextRange otr   new TextRange this ContentStart  this ContentEnd           otr ApplyPropertyValue TextElement ForegroundProperty  new SolidColorBrush Colors GreenYellow             TextRange ntr   new TextRange StartSelectPosition  EndSelectPosition           ntr ApplyPropertyValue TextElement ForegroundProperty  new SolidColorBrush Colors White             SelectedText   ntr Text          if    TextSelected    null                         TextSelected SelectedText                       Example Window Code       public ucExample IInstanceHost host  ref String WindowTitle  String ApplicationID  String Parameters                InitializeComponent              Used to add selected text to clipboard           this txtResults TextSelected    txtResults TextSelected             void txtResults TextSelected string SelectedText                Clipboard SetText SelectedText

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While the question does say  Selectable  I believe the intentional results is to get the text to the clipboard  This can easily and elegantly be achieved by adding a Context Menu and menu item called copy that puts the Textblock Text property value in clipboard  Just an idea anyway

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All the answers here are just using a TextBox or trying to implement text selection manually  which leads to poor performance or non-native behaviour  blinking caret in TextBox  no keyboard support in manual implementations etc    After hours of digging around and reading the WPF source code  I instead discovered a way of enabling the native WPF text selection for TextBlock controls  or really any other controls   Most of the functionality around text selection is implemented in System Windows Documents TextEditor system class    To enable text selection for your control you need to do two things    Call TextEditor RegisterCommandHandlers   once to register class event handlers Create an instance of TextEditor for each instance of your class and pass the underlying instance of your System Windows Documents ITextContainer to it   There s also a requirement that your control s Focusable property is set to True   This is it  Sounds easy  but unfortunately TextEditor class is marked as internal  So I had to write a reflection wrapper around it     class TextEditorWrapper       private static readonly Type TextEditorType   Type GetType  System Windows Documents TextEditor  PresentationFramework  Version 4 0 0 0  Culture neutral  PublicKeyToken 31bf3856ad364e35        private static readonly PropertyInfo IsReadOnlyProp   TextEditorType GetProperty  IsReadOnly   BindingFlags Instance   BindingFlags NonPublic       private static readonly PropertyInfo TextViewProp   TextEditorType GetProperty  TextView   BindingFlags Instance   BindingFlags NonPublic       private static readonly MethodInfo RegisterMethod   TextEditorType GetMethod  RegisterCommandHandlers            BindingFlags Static   BindingFlags NonPublic  null  new     typeof Type   typeof bool   typeof bool   typeof bool     null        private static readonly Type TextContainerType   Type GetType  System Windows Documents ITextContainer  PresentationFramework  Version 4 0 0 0  Culture neutral  PublicKeyToken 31bf3856ad364e35        private static readonly PropertyInfo TextContainerTextViewProp   TextContainerType GetProperty  TextView         private static readonly PropertyInfo TextContainerProp   typeof TextBlock  GetProperty  TextContainer   BindingFlags Instance   BindingFlags NonPublic        public static void RegisterCommandHandlers Type controlType  bool acceptsRichContent  bool readOnly  bool registerEventListeners                RegisterMethod Invoke null  new object     controlType  acceptsRichContent  readOnly  registerEventListeners                public static TextEditorWrapper CreateFor TextBlock tb                var textContainer   TextContainerProp GetValue tb            var editor   new TextEditorWrapper textContainer  tb  false           IsReadOnlyProp SetValue editor  editor  true           TextViewProp SetValue editor  editor  TextContainerTextViewProp GetValue textContainer             return editor             private readonly object  editor       public TextEditorWrapper object textContainer  FrameworkElement uiScope  bool isUndoEnabled                 editor   Activator CreateInstance TextEditorType  BindingFlags Instance   BindingFlags NonPublic   BindingFlags CreateInstance               null  new     textContainer  uiScope  isUndoEnabled    null             I also created a SelectableTextBlock derived from TextBlock that takes the steps noted above   public class SelectableTextBlock   TextBlock       static SelectableTextBlock                 FocusableProperty OverrideMetadata typeof SelectableTextBlock   new FrameworkPropertyMetadata true            TextEditorWrapper RegisterCommandHandlers typeof SelectableTextBlock   true  true  true               remove the focus rectangle around the control         FocusVisualStyleProperty OverrideMetadata typeof SelectableTextBlock   new FrameworkPropertyMetadata  object null               private readonly TextEditorWrapper  editor       public SelectableTextBlock                  editor   TextEditorWrapper CreateFor this             Another option would be to create an attached property for TextBlock to enable text selection on demand  In this case  to disable the selection again  one needs to detach a TextEditor by using the reflection equivalent of this code    editor TextContainer TextView   null   editor OnDetach     editor   null

[wpf] Any way to make a WPF textblock selectable?

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