Why there is no PlaceHolder like property in XAML TextBox - windows-phone-8

Question

Is there any "placeholder type" property availble for textbox in xaml in windows phone 8

Answer 1

There is the PhoneTextBox in the official Windows Phone Toolkit, covered here.
Sample code:
<toolkit:PhoneTextBox Hint="Password"/>
To add toolkit to your project :
Type the following into your package manager console :
PM> Install-Package WPtoolkit
And
xmlns:toolkit="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone.Controls.Toolkit"
inside <phone:PhoneApplicationPage tag in the xaml page

Answer 2

Try like this below code:
<TextBox x:Name="InvoiceDate" Text="" Width="300" TextAlignment="Left" Height="30" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" />
<TextBlock IsHitTestVisible="False" Text="Men att läsa" Width="300" TextAlignment="Left" Height="30" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Padding="5, 5, 5, 5" Foreground="LightGray">
<TextBlock.Style>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}">
<Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Collapsed"/>
<Style.Triggers>
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Text, ElementName=InvoiceDate}" Value="">
<Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Visible"/>
</DataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</TextBlock.Style>
</TextBlock>

Answer 3

There is no placeholder property for TextBox. I use the following solution to work around this for a username textbox:
XAML:
<Grid>
<TextBlock Name="UsernamePlaceholder" Text="Username" />
<TextBox Name="UsernameTextBox" Text="" GotFocus="TextBox_GotFocus" LostFocus="TextBox_LostFocus"/>
</Grid>
Code:
private void TextBox_GotFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
UsernamePlaceholder.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
}
private void TextBox_LostFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
if (sender is TextBox)
{
var textbox = sender as TextBox;
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(textbox.Text))
{
UsernamePlaceholder.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
}
}
}
This basically replaces the TextBox with a Grid-element, containing a TextBox and a TextBlock (working as placeholder). Then when the textbox is focused, the textblock is hidden, and when it looses focus the textblock is shown if the textbox is empty.

Answer 4

My solution is based on the answer of PKENO
XAML (UserControl):
<UserControl x:Class="FestivalProject.Controls.TextBoxPH"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
mc:Ignorable="d">
<TextBox x:Name="testTextBox" Margin="0" LostFocus="testTextBox_LostFocus" GotFocus="testTextBox_GotFocus"/>
</UserControl>
Code behind UserControl:
public partial class TextBoxPH : UserControl
{
private String _Text;
public String Text
{
get { return _Text; }
set {
_Text = testTextBox.Text = value;
}
}
private String _PlaceHolder;
public String PlaceHolder
{
get { return _PlaceHolder; }
set {
_PlaceHolder =testTextBox.Text = value;
}
}
public TextBoxPH()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void testTextBox_LostFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(testTextBox.Text)) testTextBox.Text = PlaceHolder;
}
private void testTextBox_GotFocus(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
if (testTextBox.Text.Equals(PlaceHolder, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) testTextBox.Text = string.Empty;
}
}
XAML (in Window):
<txtPH:TextBoxPH Margin="5" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" PlaceHolder="PlaceholderText"/>
Probably not the most efficient way, but it works.