Transparent TextBox

Question

Using VS, I created a Windows form and added a textbox. I need the textbox to be transparent.

textbox.backcolor = Color.Transparent  

The Build works fine but a runtime error occurs indicating the control is not capable of this. I have seen another method using SetStyles but that also produces errors.

Does someone have a current implementation that works?

Here is MS Doc describing transparency:

Interesting to me is that in VS, the Backcolor property only shows colors from which one chooses. It does not have Transparent that I can see (no pun intended).

Regards,
Lance

Answer 1

Try the following

public class TransparentBackgroundTextBox : TextBox  
{  
    public TransparentBackgroundTextBox()  
    {  
  
        SetStyle(ControlStyles.SupportsTransparentBackColor |  
                 ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer |  
                 ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint |  
                 ControlStyles.ResizeRedraw |  
                 ControlStyles.UserPaint, true);  
        BackColor = Color.Transparent;  
    }  
  
    public sealed override Color BackColor  
    {  
        get => base.BackColor;  
        set => base.BackColor = value;  
    }  
}  

---

Answer 2

Thank you for the quick response. I will give this a try in the morning.

Is this property not available to set using the basic drag & drop TextBox from the VS toolbox?

Regards,
Lance

Answer 3

Fair enough and I guess I already knew the answer to that question. I meant no disrespect.

I appreciate your help.

Best Regards,
Lance