Control.KeyPress Event
Occurs when a key is pressed while the control has focus.
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)
Key events occur in the following order:
The KeyPress event is not raised by noncharacter keys; however, the noncharacter keys do raise the KeyDown and KeyUp events.
Use the KeyChar property to sample keystrokes at run time and to consume or modify a subset of common keystrokes.
To handle keyboard events only at the form level and not enable other controls to receive keyboard events, set the KeyPressEventArgs.Handled property in your form's KeyPress event-handling method to true.
For more information about handling events, see Consuming Events.
The following code example uses the KeyPress event to prevent characters from entering the control.
' Boolean flag used to determine when a character other than a number is entered. Private nonNumberEntered As Boolean = False ' Handle the KeyDown event to determine the type of character entered into the control. Private Sub textBox1_KeyDown(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) _ Handles textBox1.KeyDown ' Initialize the flag to false. nonNumberEntered = False ' Determine whether the keystroke is a number from the top of the keyboard. If e.KeyCode < Keys.D0 OrElse e.KeyCode > Keys.D9 Then ' Determine whether the keystroke is a number from the keypad. If e.KeyCode < Keys.NumPad0 OrElse e.KeyCode > Keys.NumPad9 Then ' Determine whether the keystroke is a backspace. If e.KeyCode <> Keys.Back Then ' A non-numerical keystroke was pressed. ' Set the flag to true and evaluate in KeyPress event. nonNumberEntered = True End If End If End If 'If shift key was pressed, it's not a number. If Control.ModifierKeys = Keys.Shift Then nonNumberEntered = true End If End Sub 'textBox1_KeyDown ' This event occurs after the KeyDown event and can be used ' to prevent characters from entering the control. Private Sub textBox1_KeyPress(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs) _ Handles textBox1.KeyPress ' Check for the flag being set in the KeyDown event. If nonNumberEntered = True Then ' Stop the character from being entered into the control since it is non-numerical. e.Handled = True End If End Sub 'textBox1_KeyPress
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC
The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.