<Textarea>

The Textarea tag renders as a multi-line text input box at run time. Use it for longer text input like descriptions, comments, and biographical information.

Example

<AddForm>
  ...
  <table>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <Label For="txtFirstName" Text="First Name" />
        <Textbox Id="txtFirstName" DataField="FirstName" DataType="String" />
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
       <td>
         <Label For="txtBio" Text="Bio" />
         <Textarea Id="txtBio" DataField="Bio" DataType="String" />
       </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
       <td colspan="2">
         <AddButton Text="Add"/> <CancelButton Text="Cancel"/>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</AddForm>

Properties

Property	Values	Default	Description
ID *	string		Unique identifier for the control within the form
DataField	string		Parameter name for data binding to your form's data commands
DataType	String Int32 Int64 Boolean more...	String	Database type for data commands
AccessKey	string		Keyboard shortcut character (e.g. F for Alt+F)
CharacterCount	None CountDown CountUp	None	Displays a character count near the control
CharacterCountClass	string		CSS class for the character count display
CharacterCountLabel	string		Label text shown next to the character count
Columns	integer		Display width of the control in characters
CssClass	string		CSS class name(s) for styling the control
Enabled	True False	True	When False, the control is disabled (grayed out and not interactive). Different from ReadOnly, which still allows focus and selection
Height	size		Height of the control
HtmlEncode	True False	False	HTML-encodes content before sending to the SubmitCommand
MaxLength	integer		Maximum character count for the CharacterCount feature
Nullable	True False	False	Returns DBNull when the control is blank or whitespace
Placeholder	string		Hint text displayed when the control is empty
ReadOnly	True False	False	Prevents the user from changing the contents
Rows	integer		Number of visible lines displayed in the control
Style	string		Inline CSS (e.g. color: red; border: solid 1px black;)
TabIndex	integer		Tab order for keyboard navigation
ToolTip	string		Text displayed on mouse hover
Visible	True False	True	Shows or hides the control
Width	size		Width of the control
Wrap	True False	True	Whether text wraps within the control

* Required property

Deprecated Properties

These properties use ASP.NET inline styling and are no longer recommended for modern web development. Use the CssClass property to apply CSS classes or the Style property for inline CSS instead.

Property	Values	Description
BackColor	color name | #dddddd	Background color of the control
BorderColor	color name | #dddddd	Border color of the control
BorderStyle	NotSet None Dotted Dashed Solid Double Groove Ridge Inset Outset	Border style of the control
BorderWidth	size	Border width of the control
Font-Bold	True False	Bold text
Font-Italic	True False	Italic text
Font-Names	string	Font family name
Font-Overline	True False	Overline text decoration
Font-Size	XX-Small X-Small Small Medium Large X-Large XX-Large or size	Font size
Font-Strikeout	True False	Strikethrough text decoration
Font-Underline	True False	Underline text decoration
ForeColor	color name | #dddddd	Text color of the control

Property Details

• ID: Name, consisting of letters and numbers, beginning with a letter, that uniquely identifies the control within the form.

• DataField: Name of the parameter in the <SubmitCommand> which will be filled with this control's data when the form is submitted and/or the parameter in the <SelectCommand> which will supply this control's data when the form is loaded. This attribute is required if the control will participate in operations with your form's data commands.

• DataType: The type of data this control is supplying to the data commands. This is a Database type. This attribute is required if the control will participate in operations with your form's data commands.

• CharacterCount: When set to CountUp, the number of characters the user has typed will be displayed just after the control. When set to CountDown, the number of characters remaining will be displayed, calculated based on the MaxLength property. This feature requires JavaScript and jQuery.

• CharacterCountClass: When CharacterCount is CountUp or CountDown, you can style the displayed number and the CharacterCountLabel (if specified) by providing a CSS class name for this property.

• CharacterCountLabel: Text to be displayed next to the character count number. This label is only displayed when CharacterCount is set to CountUp or CountDown.

  TIP

  Precede your label text with a space. Otherwise the text will be flush against the character count number.

• HtmlEncode: When set to True, the content of the control will be HTML-encoded before sending it to the SubmitCommand for processing. This can help protect against scripting attacks but will also enlarge the size of the text that is saved — for instance, < becomes <.

• MaxLength: For use with the CharacterCount feature only. Specifies the maximum number of characters the CharacterCount feature should allow. If not specified, the user's input will not be limited.

  IMPORTANT

  Unlike the Textbox's MaxLength attribute, this does not ensure that no more than the specified number of characters will be entered. You should still use normal validation methods for that.

• Nullable: If True, the control will return a DBNull value if the control is blank or contains just whitespace. If a DBNull value is passed to the control, the control will be set to an empty string.

• Placeholder: The value will be displayed in the textarea when it is empty, providing explanatory text prior to user input. For instance, an About Me textarea might use "Tell us about yourself" as the Placeholder. When the user tabs into the control, the text disappears. If the user tabs out without entering anything, the placeholder text re-appears. This is not a default value and will not be sent to the database.