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RepositoryItemTextEdit.NullValuePrompt Property

Gets or sets a grayed out hint displayed when the editor’s value is null or empty. This property is in effect for standalone editors and for editors embedded in toolbars and Ribbon controls. Not supported for in-place editors embedded in grid and tree list controls. Not supported for read-only editors.

Namespace: DevExpress.XtraEditors.Repository

Assembly: DevExpress.XtraEditors.v24.1.dll

NuGet Package: DevExpress.Win.Navigation

Declaration

[DXCategory("Behavior")]
public virtual string NullValuePrompt { get; set; }

Property Value

Type Default Description
String System.String.Empty

A string that specifies the text displayed grayed out when the edit value is empty.

Remarks

Use the NullValuePrompt property to display a hint in an editor when its value is not set.

textEdit1.Properties.NullValuePrompt = "Enter text to search...";

NullValuePrompt

Use the RepositoryItem.NullText property to present the editor’s null value with custom text.

textEdit1.Properties.NullText = "<empty>";

NullText

The following table compares these two properties in more detail.

 

NullValuePrompt property

NullText property

Supported editors

  • Standalone editors

  • Editors embedded in toolbars and Ribbon

Note: Editors embedded in grid and treelist controls do not support the NullValuePrompt.

All in-place and standalone editors

Conditions, when the property’s text is displayed.

For any editor, when its edit value equals :

For DateEdit, when its value is:

For any editor, when its edit value equals :

  • null

  • System.DBNull.Value

For DateEdit, when its value is:

Read-only editors

NullValuePrompt is hidden in read-only editors

NullText is displayed in read-only editors

Focused editors

NullValuePrompt keeps displaying when an editor is focused in certain cases, provided that the RepositoryItemTextEdit.ShowNullValuePrompt option equals EditorFocused. See this topic to learn more.

NullText is automatically hidden when an editor is focused

Text color

SystemColors.GrayText

The foreground color specified by the RepositoryItem.Appearance property.

The editor’s Text property.

The NullValuePrompt property doesn’t affect the editor’s BaseEdit.Text property.

The NullText property’s value, when displayed, affects the editor’s BaseEdit.Text property.

The SearchControl displays the default “Enter text to search…” string even if you have not set the NullValuePrompt property manually. To hide this text, assign a whitespace character to the NullValuePrompt property.

The following code snippets (auto-collected from DevExpress Examples) contain references to the NullValuePrompt property.

Note

The algorithm used to collect these code examples remains a work in progress. Accordingly, the links and snippets below may produce inaccurate results. If you encounter an issue with code examples below, please use the feedback form on this page to report the issue.

See Also