wxPython - TextCtrl Class

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In a GUI interface, the input is most commonly collected in a text box where the user can type using the keyboard. In wxPython, an object of wx.TextCtrl class serves this purpose. It is a control in which the text can be displayed and edited. The TextCtrl widget can be a single line, multi-line or a password field. TextCtrl class constructor takes the following form −

wx.TextCtrl(parent, id, value, pos, size, style)

The style parameter takes one or more constants from the following list −

Given below are the most commonly used parameters of style.

S.N.	Parameters & Description
1	wx.TE_MULTILINE The text control allows multiple lines. If this style is not specified, the line break characters should not be used in the controls value.
2	wx.TE_PASSWORD The text will be echoed as asterisks
3	wx.TE_READONLY The text will not be user-editable
4	wxTE_LEFT The text in the control will be left-justified (default)
5	wxTE_CENTRE The text in the control will be centered
6	wxTE_RIGHT The text in the control will be right-justified

The important methods of wx.TextCtrl class are −

Given below are the most commonly used methods of wx.TextCtrl

S.N.	Methods & Description
1	AppendText() Adds text to the end of text control
2	Clear() Clears the contents
3	GetValue() Returns the contents of the text box
4	Replace() Replaces the entire or portion of text in the box
5	SetEditable() Makes the text box editable or read-only
6	SetMaxLength() Sets maximum number of characters the control can hold
7	SetValue() Sets the contents in the text box programmatically
8	IsMultiLine() Returns true if set to TE_MULTILINE

The following event binders are responsible for event handling related to entering text in TextCtrl box −

Example

In the following example, four objects of wx.TextCtrl class with different attributes are placed on the panel.

self.t1 = wx.TextCtrl(panel) 
self.t2 = wx.TextCtrl(panel,style = wx.TE_PASSWORD) 
self.t3 = wx.TextCtrl(panel,size = (200,100),style = wx.TE_MULTILINE) 
self.t4 = wx.TextCtrl ( panel, value = "ReadOnly Text",
   style = wx.TE_READONLY | wx.TE_CENTER ) 

While the first is a normal text box, the second is a password field. The third one is a multiline text box and the last text box is non-editable.

EVT_TEXT binder on first box triggers OnKeyTyped() method for each key stroke in it. The second box is having its MaxLength set to 5. EVT_TEXT_MAXLEN binder sends OnMaxLen() function running as soon as the user tries to type more than 5 characters. The multiline text box responds to Enter key pressed because of EVT_TEXT_ENTER binder.

The complete code is as follows −

import wx
  
class Mywin(wx.Frame): 
   def __init__(self, parent, title): 
      super(Mywin, self).__init__(parent, title = title,size = (350,250))
		
      panel = wx.Panel(self) 
      vbox = wx.BoxSizer(wx.VERTICAL) 
         
      hbox1 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL) 
      l1 = wx.StaticText(panel, -1, "Text Field") 
		
      hbox1.Add(l1, 1, wx.EXPAND|wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      self.t1 = wx.TextCtrl(panel) 
		
      hbox1.Add(self.t1,1,wx.EXPAND|wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      self.t1.Bind(wx.EVT_TEXT,self.OnKeyTyped) 
      vbox.Add(hbox1) 
		
      hbox2 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL)
      l2 = wx.StaticText(panel, -1, "password field") 
		
      hbox2.Add(l2, 1, wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      self.t2 = wx.TextCtrl(panel,style = wx.TE_PASSWORD) 
      self.t2.SetMaxLength(5) 
		
      hbox2.Add(self.t2,1,wx.EXPAND|wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      vbox.Add(hbox2) 
      self.t2.Bind(wx.EVT_TEXT_MAXLEN,self.OnMaxLen)
		
      hbox3 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL) 
      l3 = wx.StaticText(panel, -1, "Multiline Text") 
		
      hbox3.Add(l3,1, wx.EXPAND|wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      self.t3 = wx.TextCtrl(panel,size = (200,100),style = wx.TE_MULTILINE) 
		
      hbox3.Add(self.t3,1,wx.EXPAND|wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      vbox.Add(hbox3) 
      self.t3.Bind(wx.EVT_TEXT_ENTER,self.OnEnterPressed)  
		
      hbox4 = wx.BoxSizer(wx.HORIZONTAL) 
      l4 = wx.StaticText(panel, -1, "Read only text") 
		
      hbox4.Add(l4, 1, wx.EXPAND|wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      self.t4 = wx.TextCtrl(panel, value = "ReadOnly  
         Text",style = wx.TE_READONLY|wx.TE_CENTER) 
			
      hbox4.Add(self.t4,1,wx.EXPAND|wx.ALIGN_LEFT|wx.ALL,5) 
      vbox.Add(hbox4) 
      panel.SetSizer(vbox) 
        
      self.Centre() 
      self.Show() 
      self.Fit()  
		
   def OnKeyTyped(self, event): 
      print event.GetString() 
		
   def OnEnterPressed(self,event): 
      print "Enter pressed" 
		
   def OnMaxLen(self,event): 
      print "Maximum length reached" 
		
app = wx.App() 
Mywin(None,  'TextCtrl demo')
app.MainLoop()

The above code produces the following output −