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.NET Forum / Windows Forms / WinForm Controls / December 2006Disabling Copy/Paste in a Textbox control in C#
Hi All, I'm writing an application where I don't want it to be super easy for the end-user to 'steal' the intellectual property of the application. Obviously, if they're determined, they'll find a way, but I don't want to hand it over on a silver platter. I made my Textbox controls ReadOnly and that'll handle disable pasting into a Textbox control. However, copying is still enabled (via right-click pop-up menu and CTRL+C/CTRL+INS). How does one disable copying from a textbox control in C#(.net 2.0)? Is there a way to handle the WindowProc event and disregard the WM_COPY message and continue for all other events? I come from a Delphi world and that's how I did way back then/when. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Brian Hi Brian, Yes, .Net Winform provides WndProc method for us to superclass a .Net control. You may inherit from TextBox and override its WndProc. In this proc, you may filter the WM_COPY message. I also recommend you to filter WM_GETTEXT message either, because this will prevent another process to use SendMessage(WM_GETTEXT, ...) to steal your textbox content. This is also what password-mode TextBox does. Below is the sample code in C#: public class MyTextBox : TextBox { const int WM_COPY = 0x301; const int WM_GETTEXT = 0xD; protected override void WndProc(ref Message m) { if (m.Msg != WM_COPY && m.Msg != WM_GETTEXT) { base.WndProc(ref m); } } } To verify if have successfully disabled WM_GETTEXT hack, you may use Spy++ to monitor your customized textbox, if it display "empty" caption for your textbox, it means you have disabled WM_GETTEXT hack, because Spy++ also uses WM_GETTEXT message to get a window's caption. Hope this helps. Best regards, Jeffrey Tan Microsoft Online Community Support ================================================== Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/managednewsgroups/default.aspx#notif ications. Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx. ================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. Hi Brian, Have you reviewed my reply? Does it work for you? If you still need any help, please feel free to tell me, thanks. Best regards, Jeffrey Tan Microsoft Online Community Support ================================================== Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/managednewsgroups/default.aspx#notif ications. Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx. ================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. Hi Jeffrey, I've been wanting to write, but I've come down with a nasty case of food poisoning, and this is the best I've felt in order to write back. Your suggestion/reply seems brilliant and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you very much. I do have a couple of follow-ups though. Suppose I already have a few Textbox's dropped on the form. Is there an easy way to change them into "MyTextbox" (the derived class that you suggested)? Is there a way to create a NoCopyPasteTextBox component in my solution and have it available in the Component Toolbox of VS Studio 2005 Pro? I apologize if these are novice questions, as I mentioned before I'm sort of just getting started on the C#/.NET2 wagon. Thanks, Brian > Hi Brian, > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no > rights. Hi Brian, Food poisoning? I'm sorry to hear that, take care buddy. 1. After creating a customized textbox, I normally press "Ctrl+H" in the VS IDE to open the "Find and Replace" dialog. Then you may replace "System.Windows.Forms.TextBox" with "MyTextbox". This operation will replace all the "System.Windows.Forms.TextBox" type with new created "MyTextbox" type. Note: remember to check the "Match Case", "Match whole word" and "Search hidden text" checkboxes. Also, you specify the search location as "Current project" to ensure the entire project is searched and replaced. 2. Yes, if you want to create a NoCopyPasteTextBox to reuse in other application, you'd better create a separate project for this NoCopyPasteTextBox component. You should add a "Windows Control Library" project into your solution and then place the NoCopyPasteTextBox code in it. To use it in the ToolBox, you may switch to "General" tab in ToolBox and right click to pop up the context menu->"Choose Items..."->Click "Browse..." button. In the "Open" file dialog, you may find the NoCopyPasteTextBox assembly dll in its project bin folder. This steps will add the NoCopyPasteTextBox to the toolbox. Finally, http://www.windowsforms.net/ site contains much information/FAQ/articles of Winform programming. It should be invaluable to you. If you still have anything unclear, please feel free to tell me, thanks. Best regards, Jeffrey Tan Microsoft Online Community Support ================================================== Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/managednewsgroups/default.aspx#notif ications. Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx. ================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. Thanks for the kind words. Fortunately, I'm back to 100% now. Thanks for the awesome answers. Exactly what I was looking for. You should be an MVP. > Hi Brian, > [quoted text clipped - 50 lines] > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no > rights. Hi Brian, Thanks for your suggestion, however, I am already a Micorosft fulltime employee now, so I can not be a MVP the same time :-). If you need further help, please feel free to post, thanks. Best regards, Jeffrey Tan Microsoft Online Community Support ================================================== Get notification to my posts through email? Please refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/managednewsgroups/default.aspx#notif ications. Note: The MSDN Managed Newsgroup support offering is for non-urgent issues where an initial response from the community or a Microsoft Support Engineer within 1 business day is acceptable. Please note that each follow up response may take approximately 2 business days as the support professional working with you may need further investigation to reach the most efficient resolution. The offering is not appropriate for situations that require urgent, real-time or phone-based interactions or complex project analysis and dump analysis issues. Issues of this nature are best handled working with a dedicated Microsoft Support Engineer by contacting Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) at http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/support/default.aspx. ================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. You are a microsoft employee? so why don't you just use the simple way to disable copy and past in a textbox??! txtReadOnlyTextBox.ShortcutsEnabled = false; isn't that a lot easier? regards "Jeffrey Tan[MSFT]" schreef: > Hi Brian, > [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > ================================================== > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. Free MagazinesGet these publications absolutely FREE for up to 12 months. There are no hidden fees and no obligation. Simply choose a title, complete the application form and submit it. Read more ...
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