How do you change the text color of a readonly TextBox?

Question

I am writing a dictionary with c# and I'm using a textbox to show the definitions. Obviously, I need to set the ReadOnly property to true, but when I do that I'm unable to change the color of the text. Changing the Font however works fine. What should I do?

I'm using this code and setting the color works perfectly fine when the ReadOnly property is false, but doesn't change when it is true:

    private void button5_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        FontDialog fd = new FontDialog();
        fd.ShowColor = true;
        if (fd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
        {
            textBox3.Font = fd.Font;
            textBox3.ForeColor = fd.Color;
        }
    }

Answer 1

The ForeColor property of a read-only TextBox is married to the BackColor property for some reason. So if you "tickle" the BackColor property, it will set the ForeColor property after that:

FontDialog fd = new FontDialog();
fd.ShowColor = true;
if (fd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK) {
  textBox3.Font = fd.Font;
  textBox3.BackColor = textBox3.BackColor;
  textBox3.ForeColor = fd.Color;
}

Answer 2

Assuming the ForeColor is already set to the desired color (possibly in the designer), all that needs to be done is:

tb.BackColor = tb.BackColor;

This will magically trigger and fix the fore color. Although a comment explaining why this line of code is added is probably also needed.

Answer 3

In VS 2017 this is not even needed.

In designer if you have set your ForeColor and BackColor as desired and want to switch ReadOnly on your TextBox to True

• Change BackColor to any random color and compile
• Change BackColor to your desired color and compile