C# - displaying lots of text in WinForm

Question

I want to be able to display process update information to a user. The way I want to do this is by having a control on the main winform that (at a yet undecided process) keeps the user informed via text of what the status is. I want this text to scrollup (within a control) as more text is added.

What is the best way to achieve this?

Answer 1

Well, a multiline TextBox or RichTextBox will do the job just fine. Use its AppendText() method.

I cannot judge the value of this info from your question. In general, avoid assuming the user is interested in implementation details, especially when there's a lot of it. A ProgressBar is almost always the most appropriate progress indicator. Maybe a Label or a StatusStrip to give some context.

Beware of the cost of Control.BeginInvoke() to update the controls.

Answer 2

Use a multiline TextBox, like so:

myTextBox.Multiline = true;

And update it while scrolling to the bottom, like so:

myTextBox.Text += "My message" + System.Environment.NewLine;
myTextBox.SelectionStart = myTextBox.Text.Length;
myTextBox.ScrollToCaret();

Answer 3

Thanks for the answers guys....works a charm!