Mask Type: Time Only

• Dec 02, 2024
• 4 minutes to read

The TimeOnly masks work similar to Date-Time masks and change the editor’s EditValue property type to TimeOnly.

TimeOnly Mask Modes

The DevExpress WPF Data Editors support the following input modes for TimeOnly masks:

• TimeOnly - supports only manual navigation between editable mask parts.
• TimeOnlyAdvancingCaret - enables automatic navigation between mask parts. If a user completes a part of the value, the caret moves to the next editable part.

Enable TimeOnly Masks

To enable a particular TimeOnly mask mode, set the TextEdit.MaskType property (or the TextEditSettings.MaskType for in-place editors) to TimeOnly or TimeOnlyAdvancingCaret. Use the TextEdit.Mask property (or TextEditSettings.Mask for in-place editors) to specify the mask itself.

Mask as a Display Format

TimeOnly masks are similar to the display formats described in the Date and Time Format Strings document. You can use the editor’s mask as a display format specifier. If an editor loses input focus, the display text still uses the specified custom format. To enable this functionality, use the TextEdit.MaskUseAsDisplayFormat property (TextEditSettings.MaskUseAsDisplayFormat for in-place editors).

Predefined Masks

Predefined masks allow users to edit TimeOnly values according to common patterns. The table below lists the available masks.

Standard Mask	Name	Description	Samples Culture: English (U.S.)
t	Short time	The mask matches the pattern specified by the ShortTimePattern property.
T	Long time	The mask matches the pattern specified by the LongTimePattern property.

Custom Masks

Use the following mask specifiers to create custom TimeOnly masks:

Mask Specifier	Description	Sample
f or F	Fractions of a second displayed as one digit.	1 - 9
ff or FF	Fractions of a second displayed as two digits.	01 - 99
fff or FFF	Fractions of a second displayed as three digits.	001 - 999
ffff or FFFF	Fractions of a second displayed as four read-only digits.	0001 - 9999
fffff or FFFFF	Fractions of a second displayed as five read-only digits.	00001 - 99999
ffffff or FFFFFF	Fractions of a second displayed as six read-only digits.	000001 - 999999
fffffff or FFFFFFF	Fractions of a second displayed as seven read-only digits.	0000001 - 9999999
h	Hours in the 12-hours format.	1 - 12
hh	Hours in the 12-hours format, starts with zero for single-digit values.	01 - 12
H	Hours in the 24-hours format.	0 - 23
HH	Hours in the 24-hours format, starts with zero for single-digit values.	00 - 23
m	Minutes.	0 - 59
mm	Minutes, starts with zero for single-digit values.	00 - 59
s	Seconds.	0 - 59
ss	Seconds, starts with zero for single-digit values.	00 - 59
t	The first character of a time designator.	A, P
tt	A time designator.	AM, PM
:	A time separator. The TimeSeparator property returns the time separator for the current culture.	: in the en-US culture
\	The escape character that allows you to insert a following character as a text.	\H\H is interpreted as a HH text
' or "	A read-only custom string.	‘Current time:’

If you use a mask specifier as a single character, it is interpreted as a predefined mask. To use a custom specifier which matches one of the standard specifiers, precede this specifier with the % character (%t).

User Capabilities

• The Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys increase and decrease the focused part of the time value.
• The mouse wheel increases and decreases the focused part of the time value.
• The Space key moves the caret to the next part of the time value.
• The time separator character moves the caret to the next part of the time value.
• The Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys move the caret to the previous or next part of the time value.

Example

The following code sample binds the TextEdit to a TimeOnly field and specifies an input mask:

XAML

<dxe:TextEdit EditValue="{Binding TimeOnlyValue}" 
              MaskType="TimeOnly" Mask="HH:mm:ss:fff" 
              MaskUseAsDisplayFormat="True"/>

C#

public class ViewModel : ViewModelBase {
    public TimeOnly TimeOnlyValue { get; set; } = new TimeOnly(22, 45, 13, 185);
}

VB.NET

Public Class ViewModel
    Inherits ViewModelBase

    Public Property TimeOnlyValue As TimeOnly = New TimeOnly(22, 45, 13, 185)
End Class