The Complete Guide to C# .NET Input Controls

Input controls are a core part of any .NET application. From simple text entry to complex data selection, they define how users interact with your application and how reliably data flows into your business logic. Selecting the right input control can minimize validation errors, simplify data binding, and enhance overall usability.

While basic text boxes work for free-form input, many real-world scenarios require more specialized controls, such as masked inputs for structured data, numeric editors with formatting and constraints, or date and time pickers that handle localization correctly. Implementing these features from scratch can quickly become complex and a maintenance headache.

This guide covers the full range of C# .NET input controls, including text, numeric, date/time, selection, and validation-focused editors. It also highlights how ComponentOne provides advanced input controls across WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, WinUI, and .NET MAUI, enabling consistent behavior and reduced boilerplate across platforms. We will review:

• An Overview of .NET Input Controls
• C# Text Input Controls
• Masked Input Controls
• C# Numeric Input Controls
• C# Date/Time Input Controls
• Selection-Based C# Input Controls
• Custom C# Drop-Down Controls
• Auto-Generated C# .NET Input Forms

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.NET Input Control Overview

At a basic level, input controls include standard elements like text boxes, checkboxes, and radio buttons. More advanced input controls typically extend this model by enforcing input rules (such as masks or numeric ranges) or by providing specialized editors for common data types (such as dates or Boolean values). Generally speaking, input controls provide three basic functions or features:

• Input - edit data by entering new values
• Validation - verifies that the edited data follows specific formats and rules
• Selection - edits data by selecting from a list of possible values

Available .NET input controls vary by platform. The following table shows the native input controls provided by the .NET Frameworks alone (at the time of this publication) and the basic features they offer.

.NET input controls may also provide C# developer features such as formatting, localization, accessibility, data binding, and input validation. These features often require custom code to support them and provide consistent behavior across platforms.

Next, we will break down each type of input control, including some use cases, advanced controls, and examples that showcase the CompontOne Input libraries.

C# Text Input Controls

Text input controls are the most commonly used input elements in .NET applications and form the foundation for collecting free-form user data.

Basic input controls, such as TextBox in WinForms and WPF, Entry in .NET MAUI, and standard HTML text inputs in ASP.NET Core and Blazor, provide basic editing capabilities. However, they offer little built-in enforcement for input structure. Developers typically rely on event handling, custom parsing, or validation logic to restrict input and handle formatting, or they turn to masked input controls.

Available in WinForms, the C1TextBox control provides advanced text input features, including multi-line, auto-complete, suggestions, data binding, and themes. You can download the C1TextBox control as part of the C1.Win.Input package.

Data binding with C1TextBox works similarly to binding any other UI control. This C# example sets the data source and data member to display in the dropdown.

c1TextBox1.DataSource = _data;
c1TextBox1.DataMember = "FirstName";

Masked Input Controls

Masked inputs provide basic validation for text input by enforcing a predefined input pattern, making them well-suited for structured values like phone numbers, postal codes, or product IDs. While WinForms includes a MaskedTextBox control, most other .NET platforms require custom implementations or third-party controls to achieve similar behavior consistently.

Available in WinForms, WPF, WinUI, Blazor, and .NET MAUI, the C1MaskedTextBox control is an advanced textbox control that automatically validates user input against a mask. In addition to the mask characters, you can choose to include prompt characters in the MaskedTextBox.

Not to be confused with masked textboxes, Password TextBoxes provide a similar type of requirement but do not technically operate with a mask. Password boxes hide the user input using a prompt character, like a dot or asterisk.

Password textboxes are available natively in ASP.NET Core, WPF, WinUI, and Blazor. For WinForms and .NET MAUI, you can use the standard TextBox with password enabling properties like IsPassword and PasswordChar.

C# Numeric Input Controls

Numeric input controls are essential for capturing values such as quantities, prices, percentages, and measurements. While numeric data can be entered using basic text boxes, doing so requires additional parsing, validation, and error handling to ensure correctness.

Most .NET platforms do not provide a dedicated numeric editor. WinForms includes NumericUpDown, but its formatting and localization support are limited. In WPF, WinUI, and .NET MAUI, developers typically restrict input through event handlers or converters, then manually validate and format values. Web frameworks, like ASP.NET Core and Blazor, offer <input type=”number”>, but behavior and UI can vary by browser.

Advanced numeric input controls, like C1NumericBox, solve these problems by combining value constraints, formatting, and user-friendly interaction. Features such as min/max ranges, precision control, spin buttons, and culture-aware formatting help prevent invalid input before it reaches application logic.

ComponentOne offers specialized numeric editors across WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, WinUI, and .NET MAUI, allowing developers to work with strongly typed numeric values while reducing boilerplate code and validation complexity. You will find these controls within the Input libraries.

An important feature of numeric input controls is the format. You can set the numeric format using the Format property and a system of standard .NET format strings. Below is a C# Razor example using C1NumericBox for Blazor.

<C1NumericBox Format="##,###.##" Placeholder="Any Text" Style="@_c1Style" TNumeric="double?" Value="999999.99"></C1NumericBox>

Another type of numeric input control is the .NET Slider. This allows users to drag a scroll thumb along a track to select a numeric value. They are most often seen in dashboards and filters. With the advanced C1RangeSlider control, you can provide two draggable thumbs, allowing users to select a numeric range.

C# Date/Time Input Controls

Date and time input controls are commonly used for scheduling, reporting, and filtering data; however, they introduce challenges related to formatting, localization, and user interaction. Manually parsing date and time values from text input is error-prone and highly dependent on regional settings.

Most .NET platforms provide native date and time pickers, such as DateTimePicker in WinForms, DatePicker and TimePicker in WinUI and .NET MAUI, and InputDate<T> in Blazor. While these controls simplify basic selection, their APIs, appearance, and supported features vary significantly across platforms.

Advanced date and time editors enhance usability by combining calendar views, time selection, and constraints such as minimum and maximum values. Support for culture-specific formats, keyboard input, and validation helps ensure consistent behavior regardless of user locale.

An example of an advanced date selection is the C1DateRangePicker. This allows users to quickly select a date range, as is typically seen when booking accommodations, such as hotels and flights, online. They can also be very useful for reporting tools as a date filter.

ComponentOne provides basic DateTime Editors for the entire .NET stack, and date range selectors are supported in ASP.NET Core, Blazor, and WinForms samples.

Selection-Based C# Input Controls

Selection controls are used when users need to choose one or more values from a predefined set of options. Common examples include drop-down lists, combo boxes, list boxes, and auto-complete inputs. These controls help reduce invalid input by constraining choices while improving speed and accuracy.

All .NET platforms provide basic selection controls, such as ComboBox in WinForms, WPF, and WinUI, Picker in .NET MAUI, and <select> elements in ASP.NET Core and Blazor. However, native implementations often lack advanced features such as filtering, virtualization for large datasets, or flexible data binding.

ComponentOne selection controls extend the standard combo box model with features such as auto-complete, data virtualization, and consistent data binding across WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, WinUI, and .NET MAUI, enabling richer selection experiences with less custom code.

The C1MultiColumnComboBox is an advanced combobox that supports multiple columns in the dropdown. This control is available in WinForms.

Modern selection scenarios frequently require searchable drop-downs, incremental filtering, and multi-select support. Implementing these features manually can add complexity and impact performance. The C1MultiSelect control is an advanced drop-down control that supports the selection of multiple items. It’s an exceptionally powerful control with data binding support, and incredibly useful as it can summarize the selected items into a comma-delimited list. You can find this control available in WinForms, WPF, WinUI, and Blazor.

Also related to the C1MultiSelect is the C1TagEditor control. The tag editor provides multiple selections of items through a popular tag-based UX where users can type to add new tags and click close to remove tags.

Custom C# Drop-Down Controls

If you can’t find the exact type of selection that you need, then you will need to write custom code or use a third-party component library. The custom C1DropDown control provides a basic drop-down template that can be used to create any custom UI. This control is supported in WinForms and WPF, and samples include scenarios with tabs, tree views, radio buttons, maps, and more.

In WinForms, you customize the drop-down portion by setting the Control property, and you customize the header text by setting the Text property.

C1DropDownControl dropdownControl = new C1DropDownControl();
// Host a DataGridView control on drop-down form.
dropdownControl.Control = dataGridView;

private void dataGridView_SelectionChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
  dropdownControl.Text = dataGridView.CurrentCell.Value.ToString();
}

Check out the WinForms documentation to learn more.

In WPF, you can set the C1DropDown’s Header and Content properties to customize the header and drop-down content, respectively. Check out the WPF documentation to learn more.

Auto-Generated C# .NET Input Forms

An advanced input feature you will only find in third-party C# libraries is the ability to auto-generate an entire input data entry form based on some data model. These controls, such as the C1InputPanel, save time creating and maintaining data entry forms.

Learn more about ComponentOne InputPanel for .NET.

Conclusion

While every .NET platform provides a basic set of native controls, gaps quickly appear when applications require structured input, advanced formatting, consistent validation, or cross-platform behavior.

If you need additional types of input controls or more advanced features for these basic input controls, then you will need to write custom code or use a third-party component library such as ComponentOne.

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