TX Text Control .NET for WPF

Toolbox and XAML Designer

Topic

In a WPF project, you add the TextControl and its bars from the toolbox tab TX Text Control 34.0 to the XAML of a window, and the XAML Designer shows them. The first control you add and the connections between the controls are where most problems start. Visual Studio Toolbox and XAML Designer describes how the toolbox works when everything is in place.

The XAML Designer Asks to Restart

When you add the first control of TX Text Control from the toolbox, Visual Studio shows a dialog box with this text:

The following reference has been added to the project:
"TXTextControl.WPF"
In order to use types from the new reference, press OK to restart the XAML Designer. After the XAML Designer restarts, re-create the control on the artboard.

Visual Studio added the reference to TXTextControl.WPF to the project, and the XAML Designer can use its types only after a restart. This happens once, for the first control.

  1. Click OK to restart the XAML Designer.
  2. Choose Build > Build Solution, or Rebuild Solution if the designer still shows an error.
  3. Add the control again from the toolbox.

The Toolbox Tab Is Missing

In a WPF project for .NET 8 or higher, the toolbox has no tab TX Text Control 34.0.

The toolbox items come from the NuGet package: TXTextControl.TextControl.WPF.SDK registers them for WPF projects when it is installed. Visual Studio shows only the items the current project can use. The packages of the Text Control Private NuGet Feed are meant for compiling and contain no design-time components; the designer needs the complete setup on the development machine.

  1. Install the setup of the full or trial version on the development machine. See Installing the Product.
  2. Install TXTextControl.TextControl.WPF.SDK from Text Control Offline Packages, as Installing and Updating Packages describes.
  3. Open the XAML of a window in the designer and look for the tab TX Text Control 34.0.

The Controls Aren't Where They Used to Be

After an upgrade to a new major version, you can't find the controls in the toolbox tab you used before.

The toolbox tab is named after the major version: the items of version 34.0 are in the tab TX Text Control 34.0, those of 33.0 were in TX Text Control 33.0. The items themselves are the same.

  1. Look for the tab TX Text Control 34.0.
  2. If the project still references the previous version, update it as Upgrading from Previous Versions describes.

The Bars Aren't Connected to the Editor

The button bar, the ruler bars or the status bar are in the window, but they don't change with the text, and the buttons have no effect.

The TextControl connects to its bars by name: its properties ButtonBar, RulerBar, VerticalRulerBar and StatusBar are empty, or hold a name that no bar has. A misspelled name leaves the bar unconnected without an error.

  1. Give each bar a name in XAML.
  2. Set the properties of the TextControl to exactly these names, in the Properties window or in XAML.

Connections Are Names explains the connection properties, and Place the Editor in a Window the order in which to add the controls from the toolbox.

The Designer Has No Toolbox Support in an Older Version

In a .NET project with version 30.0, the toolbox and the designer don't support TX Text Control.

Version 30.0 supported .NET 5 and .NET 6 without designer and toolbox support for WPF. Version 31.0 added it with the NuGet packages.

  1. Update to the current version, 34.0, which supports the designer in Visual Studio 2022 and Visual Studio 2026.

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