Windows Phone 7 (Mango) Tutorial - 26 - What is Input Scope?

Input Scope of a TextBox defines the information related to the scope of the data provided by the input method and use to define the layout of the onscreen keyboard of the device. It is present in the "System.Windows.Input" namespace and exposed in TextBox as a property called "InputScope".

 

You might be wondering what is this property and why should one use it. Ok, let us discuss this in depth with a small sample. After reading this chapter, you will be able to understand it more and use it on your business requirement. Don't forget to share this tutorial links to others as this will help them to learn more.

 

 

Index - Windows Phone 7 (Mango) Tutorial

 

What is Input Scope?

InputScope is a property exposed by TextBox control of Windows Phone 7. It's a property of type InputScope and present in the namespace "System.Windows.Input" and inherits DependencyObject. InputScope takes parameter InputScopeName which is of type InputScopeNameValue.

 

Generally, this can be declared for TextBox similar way as shown in the below code snippet:

 

 

You can also reduce the no. of lines by specifying the value in this format:

 

This property represents the information related to the scope of the data provided by the input method. We will learn more about it in the next point with some sample code.

 

What is Input Scope name Value?

InputScopeNameValue is an enum type which represents the different way of text input pattern. It has a no. of enum values. Let's see the meta data of the enum here. Just read the comments in each line to know more about the enum values.

public enum InputScopeNameValue

{

    EnumString = -5, // The text input pattern for enum string

    Xml = -4, // The text input pattern for xml

    Srgs = -3, // The text input pattern for srgs

    RegularExpression = -2, // Gets or sets a regular expression to be used as a input pattern

    PhraseList = -1, // Gets a collection of phrases to be used as input patterns

    Default = 0, // The default handling of input commands

    Url = 1, // The text input pattern for an URL

    FullFilePath = 2, // The text input pattern for full file path

    FileName = 3, // The text input pattern for a file name

    EmailUserName = 4, // The text input pattern for email username

    EmailSmtpAddress = 5, // The text input pattern for SMTP email address

    LogOnName = 6, // The text input pattern for logon name

    PersonalFullName = 7, // The text input pattern for Personal full name

    PersonalNamePrefix = 8, // The text input pattern for prefix of personal name

    PersonalGivenName = 9, // The text input pattern for person's given name

    PersonalMiddleName = 10, // The text input pattern for middle name of a Person

    PersonalSurname = 11, // The text input pattern for surname of a person

    PersonalNameSuffix = 12, // The text input pattern for suffix of a person name

    PostalAddress = 13, // The text input pattern for complete postal address

    PostalCode = 14, // The text input pattern for postal code/zip code

    AddressStreet = 15, // The text input pattern for Street address

    AddressStateOrProvince = 16, // The text input pattern for state or provience

    AddressCity = 17, // The text input pattern for city name

    AddressCountryName = 18, // The text input pattern for Country name

    AddressCountryShortName = 19, // The text input pattern for short country name

    CurrencyAmountAndSymbol = 20, // The text input pattern for amount and symbol of currency

    CurrencyAmount = 21, // The text input pattern for currency amount

    Date = 22, // The text input pattern for a calendar date

    DateMonth = 23, // The text input pattern for numeric month in a calendar date

    DateDay = 24, // The text input pattern for numeric day in a calendar date

    DateYear = 25, // The text input pattern for numeric year in a calendar date

    DateMonthName = 26, // The text input pattern for name of the month

    DateDayName = 27, // The text input pattern for name of the day

    Digits = 28, // The text input pattern for digits

    Number = 29, // The text input pattern for number

    OneChar = 30, // The text input pattern for a single character

    Password = 31, // The text input pattern for a password

    TelephoneNumber = 32, // The text input pattern for telephone number

    TelephoneCountryCode = 33, // The text input pattern for telephone with country code

    TelephoneAreaCode = 34, // The text input pattern for telephone with area code

    TelephoneLocalNumber = 35, // The text input pattern for local telephone number

    Time = 36, // The text input pattern for time

    TimeHour = 37, // The text input pattern for hour of time

    TimeMinorSec = 38, // The text input pattern for minutes or seconds of time

    NumberFullWidth = 39, // The text input pattern for full width number

    AlphanumericHalfWidth = 40, // The text input pattern for alpha-numeric half-width chars

    AlphanumericFullWidth = 41, // The text input pattern for alpha-numeric full-width chars

    CurrencyChinese = 42, // The text input pattern for Chineese currency

    Bopomofo = 43, // The text input pattern for Chineese phonetic scripts "Bopomofo"

    Hiragana = 44, // The text input pattern for Hiragana script

    KatakanaHalfWidth = 45, // The text input pattern for Katakana half-width chars

    KatakanaFullWidth = 46, // The text input pattern for Katakana full-width chars

    Hanja = 47, // The text input pattern for Hanja chars

    Yomi = 48, // The text input pattern for Yomi chars

    Text = 49, // The text input pattern for text string

    Chat = 50, // The text input pattern for chat string

    Search = 51, // The text input pattern for search string

    NameOrPhoneNumber = 52, // The text input pattern for Name or Phone number

    EmailNameOrAddress = 53, // The text input pattern for Email address

    Private = 54, // The text input pattern for private value

    Maps = 55, // The text input pattern for map input string

    NumericPassword = 56, // The text input pattern for numeric password

    ApplicationEnd = 57, // The text input pattern for application end

    Formula = 57, // The text input pattern for formula

}

 

 

Demonstration

In this section, we will demonstrate some of the enum values of InputScope and check how it changes the onscreen keyboard of the device. Here we will discuss the following 6 input scope values:

 

 

	Default Inputscope:   <TextBlock Text="Default: " FontSize="30"/> <TextBox Width="450" Height="75" InputScope="Default"/> This is the default input scope of a TextBox in Windows Phone 7. If you don't specify, it takes the same input and shows the default keyboard on screen.
	Email SMTP Adress Inputscope:   <TextBlock Text="EmailSmtpAddress: " FontSize="30"/> <TextBox Width="450" Height="75" InputScope="EmailSmtpAddress"/> The above code will show a different onscreen keyboard with the special keys like '@', '.com' etc. which are specific to email address.
	Number Inputscope:   <TextBlock Text="Number: " FontSize="30"/> <TextBox Width="450" Height="75" InputScope="Number"/> If you specify number input scope to your TextBox control, it will only show the numeric keypad in the screen. Other keys will not be visible in the screen. For details, see the screenshot.
	Postal Code Inputscope:   <TextBlock Text="PostalCode: " FontSize="30"/> <TextBox Width="450" Height="75" InputScope="PostalCode"/> Postal Input scope will add some additional keys in the default view of onscreen keyboard. It has numeric keys along with special keys.
	Telephone Country Code Inputscope:   <TextBlock Text="TelephoneCountryCode: " FontSize="30"/> <TextBox Width="450" Height="75" InputScope="TelephoneCountryCode"/> In this input scope type, you will have a numeric keypad in the onscreen keyboard that looks as a telephone keypad.
	Time Inputscope:   <TextBlock Text="Time: " FontSize="30"/> <TextBox Width="450" Height="75" InputScope="Time"/> In this input scope, you will have basic keys to enter the characters require to specify time value. This includes numbers, special characters.

 

 

Here I demonstrated 6 different input scope examples. Change the input scope name value for the other types and see how your onscreen keyboard looks like inside the device. Hope this chapter was helpful for you to understand this property attribute. Use it properly in various cases while developing your application.

 

Reference: MSDN Documentation

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