Windows provides several edit control styles. An individual edit control can have several styles at the same time. If you use stand-alone tools to develop dialog boxes, you may not need to specify edit control styles explicitly. However, if you create an edit control for your application using the CreateWindow or CreateWindowEx function, you must specify these edit control styles.
Every edit control specifies a combination of style values that define the appearance and features of the edit control. The style values can establish the appearance of a single-line or multiline edit control, align the text in the control, and determine if and how text appears in the edit control. The number and type of styles the application uses depend on the type and purpose of the edit control.
Edit control styles supported by Windows CE are described in the following table.
| Style | Description |
|---|---|
| ES_AUTOHSCROLL | Automatically scrolls text to the right by 10 characters when the user types a character at the end of the line. When the user presses the enter key, the control scrolls all text back to position zero. |
| ES_AUTOVSCROLL | Scrolls text up one page when the user presses the ENTER key on the last line. |
| ES_CENTER | Centers text in a multiline edit control. |
| ES_COMBOBOX | Indicates that the edit control is part of a combo box. |
| ES_LEFT | Left-aligns text. |
| ES_LOWERCASE | Converts all characters to lowercase as they are typed into the edit control. |
| ES_MULTILINE | Designates a multiline edit control. The default is a single-line edit control.
When the multiline edit control is in a dialog box, the default response to pressing the ENTER key is to activate the default button. To use the ENTER key as a carriage return, use the ES_WANTRETURN style. When the multiline edit control is not in a dialog box and the ES_AUTOVSCROLL style is specified, the edit control shows as many lines as possible and scrolls vertically when the user presses the ENTER key. If you do not specify ES_AUTOVSCROLL, the edit control shows as many lines as possible and beeps if the user presses the ENTER key when no more lines can be displayed. If you specify the ES_AUTOHSCROLL style, the multiline edit control automatically scrolls horizontally when the caret goes past the right edge of the control. To start a new line, the user must press the ENTER key. If you do not specify ES_AUTOHSCROLL, the control automatically wraps words to the beginning of the next line when necessary. A new line is also started if the user presses the ENTER key. The window size determines the position of the word wrap. If the window size changes, the word wrapping position changes and the text is redisplayed. Multiline edit controls can have scroll bars. An edit control with scroll bars processes its own scroll bar messages. Note that edit controls without scroll bars scroll as described in the previous paragraphs and process any scroll messages sent by the parent window. |
| ES_NOHIDESEL | Negates the default behavior for an edit control. The default behavior hides the selection when the control loses the input focus and inverts the selection when the control receives the input focus. If you specify ES_NOHIDESEL, the selected text is inverted, even if the control does not have the focus. |
| ES_NUMBER | Allows only digits to be typed into the edit control. |
| ES_OEMCONVERT | Converts text typed in the edit control from the Windows character set to the OEM character set, and then converts it back to the Windows set. This style is most useful for edit controls that contain file names. |
| ES_PASSWORD | Displays an asterisk (*) for each character typed into the edit control. You can use the EM_SETPASSWORDCHAR message to change the character that is displayed. |
| ES_READONLY | Prevents the user from typing or editing text in the edit control. |
| ES_RIGHT | Right-aligns text in a multiline edit control. |
| ES_UPPERCASE | Converts all characters to uppercase as they are typed into the edit control. |
| ES_WANTRETURN | Specifies that a carriage return be inserted when the user presses the ENTER key while typing text into a multiline edit control in a dialog box. If you do not specify this style, pressing the ENTER key has the same effect as pressing the dialog box's default push button. This style has no effect on a single-line edit control. |
| WS_TABSTOP | Turns control into a tab stop, which allows the user to select the control by tabbing through the controls in a dialog box. |