Unable to Type Korean Characters in WPF TextBox When changing the ReadOnly Property

Yathavakrishnan 40 Reputation points
2025-03-18T15:16:17.72+00:00

We have a WPF application in which the culture is set to Korean. In the application, we have added the InkCanvas to the grid and a text box is added to the canvas. While adding the text box to the canvas, we set its ReadOnly property to true and to false when we double click on the text box. However, when we run the application and double-click the TextBox, we are unable to type Korean characters; only normal keyboard letters are typed. If we don’t set the ReadOnly property, Korean characters can be typed correctly. Could you please help us resolve this issue?"

 <Grid>
     
     <InkCanvas Name="SelectionCanvas">
         
     </InkCanvas>
 </Grid>
 TextBox textBox;
 public MainWindow()
 {
     CultureInfo koreanCulture = new CultureInfo("ko-KR");
     Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = koreanCulture;
     Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = koreanCulture;
     InitializeComponent();
     SelectionCanvas.EditingMode = InkCanvasEditingMode.None;
     textBox = new TextBox();
    
     textBox.IsReadOnly = true;
     textBox.Width = 147;
     textBox.Height = 87;
     InkCanvas.SetLeft(textBox, 480);
     InkCanvas.SetTop(textBox, 185);
     
    
     textBox.GotFocus += TextBox_GotFocus;
     textBox.MouseDoubleClick += TextBox_MouseDoubleClick;
    
     SelectionCanvas.Children.Add(textBox);
 }
 private void TextBox_GotFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
 {
     textBox.IsReadOnly = true;
 }
 private void TextBox_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
 {
     textBox.IsReadOnly = false;
     textBox.SelectAll();
 }
}
Developer technologies | Windows Presentation Foundation
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Accepted answer
  1. Anonymous
    2025-03-19T07:44:26.56+00:00

    Hi, @Yathavakrishnan. Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

    You could solve this by forcing a refresh of the input method

        private void TextBox_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            textBox.IsReadOnly = false;
            textBox.SelectAll();
            //Force refresh input method
            InputMethod.SetIsInputMethodEnabled(textBox, false);
            InputMethod.SetIsInputMethodEnabled(textBox, true);
        }
    

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    1 person found this answer helpful.

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  1. gekka 12,206 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2025-03-19T03:36:53.7+00:00

    A text box created as ReadOnly may not have IME's initial state set to ON.

    It is recommended to set PreferredImestate to be ON.

    textBox = new TextBox();
    textBox.IsReadOnly = true;
    System.Windows.Input.InputMethod.SetPreferredImeState(textBox, System.Windows.Input.InputMethodState.On);
    // or  System.Windows.Input.InputMethod.SetPreferredImeState((Window)this, System.Windows.Input.InputMethodState.On);
    
    private void TextBox_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs e)
    {
        textBox.IsReadOnly = false;
        System.Windows.Input.InputMethod.SetPreferredImeState(textBox, System.Windows.Input.InputMethodState.DoNotCare); // keep last user ime mode
        textBox.SelectAll();
    }
    

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