Text vertical alignment in WPF TextBlock

Question

How do I assign vertical center alignment to the text inside a TextBlock? I found TextAlignment property but it is for horizontal text alignment. How do I do it for vertical text alignment?

Applicative

@shr and others : note that TextAlignment only affects horizontal alignment, not vertical alignment (as the question refers to). – Mlle

Answer 1

A Textblock itself can't do vertical alignment

The best way to do this that I've found is to put the textblock inside a border, so the border does the alignment for you.

<Border BorderBrush="{x:Null}" Height="50">
    <TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Some Text" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
</Border>

Note: This is functionally equivalent to using a grid, it just depends how you want the controls to fit in with the rest of your layout as to which one is more suitable

Marylandmarylee

+1 The height of the border must be set for the vertical alignment to take effect. – Latrice

Also, the TextBlock can't have a height specified, or it won't center vertically. – Sakhuja

@gav - TextAlignment only does horizontal alignment... the question is about vertical alignment – Marylandmarylee

@TimLloyd - I'm not sure that's always true. I've got this set-up, the border has height "Auto" and it's working fine. It's in a grid cell with starred row heights (and other things in the row). – Northeastward

This does not work. I suspect that it vertically aligns the text control in the centre rather than the text. – Chap

Answer 2

While Orion Edwards Answer works for any situation, it may be a pain to add the border and set the properties of the border every time you want to do this. Another quick way is to set the padding of the text block:

<TextBlock Height="22" Padding="3" />

Stephanystephen

i think this is most brilliant answer. – Cajuput

This only works if the font has a size of 16px doesnt it!? – Lehet

The accepted answer will correctly vertically align the actual borders of the TextBox, but it doesn't appear to have an effect on the actual text within... which I'm pretty sure is the OP's intent. This solution works in lieu of a proper TextVerticalAlignment property and gets my upvote. :) – Rosanarosane

What about dynamic content within the block, wouldn't 2 or 5 lines require different padding, also 10pt vs 24pt fonts – Hatchery

This is probably the most straightforward solution for non-dynamically-sized textblocks – Ascent

Answer 3

The TextBlock doesn't support vertical text alignment.

I work around this by wrapping the text block with a Grid and setting HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" and VerticalAlignment="Center".

Like this:

<Grid>
    <TextBlock 
        HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
        VerticalAlignment="Center"
        Text="Your text" />
</Grid>

Anaphase

+1 Doesn't even need to set the Height for the Grid, as with the Border-based approach. – Prediction

I found this approach works best for me. I am creating dynamic indicator lights by overlaying TextBlock on Ellipse inside a Grid. No need to bind my width and height properties or do anything tricky. – Enactment

Answer 4

You can use label instead of textblock.

<Label Content="Hello, World!">
    <Label.LayoutTransform>
        <RotateTransform Angle="270"/>
    </Label.LayoutTransform>
</Label>

Marked

Nice, the Label has VerticalContentAlignment. Greeeat. +1 – Araxes

Not clear if the OP needed to use a TextBlock or could get away with a Label. Using a Label worked for what I needed. +1 – Ranson

This answers the question how to produce vertical text, not how to apply vertical alignment! – Brainwork

This question is being discussed on meta: meta.#306072 – Selfdelusion

Answer 5

TextBlock doesn't support vertical alignment of its content. If you must use TextBlock then you have to align it with respect to its parent.

However if you can use Label instead (and they do have very similar functionality) then you can position the text content:

<Label VerticalContentAlignment="Center" HorizontalContentAlignment="Center">
   I am centred text!
</Label>

The Label will stretch to fill its bounds by default, meaning the label's text will be centred.

Mlle

For me the only reasonable solution for the Textblock issue. Thanks fors the hint! – Camarilla

Answer 6

If you can do without the text wrapping, I think that replacing the TextBlock with a Label is the most succinct way to do this. Otherwise follow one of the other valid answers.

<Label Content="Some Text" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>

Hallel

Answer 7

The best way to achieve what you're talking about here, is to create a label, which supports VerticalContentAlignment

Then, if you really need some of TextBlock properties which Label doesn't cover, like TextWrapping you can place a TextBlock inside your Label

The result meets both your needs, VerticalContentAlignment and TextWrapping

<Label
   VerticalContentAlignment="Center">
   <TextBlock
             TextWrapping="WrapWithOverflow">
             My text goes here!
   </TextBlock> 
<Label/>

Cardoza

Answer 8

For me, VerticalAlignment="Center" fixes this problem.
This could be because the TextBlockis wrapped in a grid, but then so is practically everything in wpf.

Richter

Answer 9

In my case, I did this to make the TextBlock display nicer.

<Border BorderThickness="3" BorderBrush="Yellow" CornerRadius="10" Padding="2"
    HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Height="30" Width="150">
        <TextBlock FontSize="20" Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,0,0,-5" Text="" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="141" Background="White" />
</Border>

The trick to make the text further from the bottom is to set

Margin="0,0,0,-5"

Gibberish

Answer 10

I've found that modifying the textbox style (ie: controltemplate) and then modifying the PART_ContentHost vertical alignment to Center will do the trick

Pratfall

OP is asking about TextBlocks. They don't have ControlTemplates. – Monda

Answer 11

Just for giggles, give this XAML a whirl. It isn't perfect as it is not an 'alignment' but it allows you to adjust text alignment within a paragraph.

<TextBlock>
    <TextBlock BaselineOffset="30">One</TextBlock>
    <TextBlock BaselineOffset="20">Two</TextBlock>  
    <Run>Three</Run>            
    <Run BaselineAlignment="Subscript">Four</Run>   
</TextBlock>

Protium

Answer 12

If you can overlook the height of TextBlock, it's better for you to use this:

<TextBlock Height="{Binding}" Text="Your text"
TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="28"/>

Acquire

Answer 13

I found I had to do it slightly different. My problem was that if I changed the font size, the text would move up in the TextBox instead of stay on the bottom with the rest of TextBoxes on the line. By changing the vert alignment from top to bottom I was able to change the font programmatically from size 20 to size 14 & back, keeping text's gravity on the bottom and keeping things neat. Here's how:

Punctate

Answer 14

To expand on the answer provided by @Orion Edwards, this is how you would do fully from code-behind (no styles set). Basically create a custom class that inherits from Border which has its Child set to a TextBox. The example below assumes that you only want a single line and that the border is a child of a Canvas. Also assumes you would need to adjust the MaxLength property of the TextBox based on the width of the Border. The example below also sets the cursor of the Border to mimic a Textbox by setting it to the type 'IBeam'. A margin of '3' is set so that the TextBox isn't absolutely aligned to the left of the border.

double __dX = 20;
double __dY = 180;
double __dW = 500;
double __dH = 40;
int __iMaxLen = 100;

this.m_Z3r0_TextBox_Description = new CZ3r0_TextBox(__dX, __dY, __dW, __dH, __iMaxLen, TextAlignment.Left);
this.Children.Add(this.m_Z3r0_TextBox_Description);

Class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Windows.Controls.Primitives;


namespace ifn0tz3r0Exp
{
    class CZ3r0_TextBox : Border
    {
        private TextBox m_TextBox;

        private SolidColorBrush m_Brush_Green = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.MediumSpringGreen);
        private SolidColorBrush m_Brush_Black = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black);
        private SolidColorBrush m_Brush_Transparent = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Transparent);

        public CZ3r0_TextBox(double _dX, double _dY, double _dW, double _dH, int _iMaxLen, TextAlignment _Align)
        {

            /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
            //TEXTBOX
            this.m_TextBox = new TextBox();
            this.m_TextBox.Text = "This is a vertically centered one-line textbox embedded in a border...";
            Canvas.SetLeft(this, _dX);
            Canvas.SetTop(this, _dY);
            this.m_TextBox.FontFamily = new FontFamily("Consolas");
            this.m_TextBox.FontSize = 11;
            this.m_TextBox.Background = this.m_Brush_Black;
            this.m_TextBox.Foreground = this.m_Brush_Green;
            this.m_TextBox.BorderBrush = this.m_Brush_Transparent;
            this.m_TextBox.BorderThickness = new Thickness(0.0);
            this.m_TextBox.Width = _dW;
            this.m_TextBox.MaxLength = _iMaxLen;
            this.m_TextBox.TextAlignment = _Align;
            this.m_TextBox.VerticalAlignment = System.Windows.VerticalAlignment.Center;
            this.m_TextBox.FocusVisualStyle = null;
            this.m_TextBox.Margin = new Thickness(3.0);
            this.m_TextBox.CaretBrush = this.m_Brush_Green;
            this.m_TextBox.SelectionBrush = this.m_Brush_Green;
            this.m_TextBox.SelectionOpacity = 0.3;

            this.m_TextBox.GotFocus += this.CZ3r0_TextBox_GotFocus;
            this.m_TextBox.LostFocus += this.CZ3r0_TextBox_LostFocus;
            /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
            //BORDER

            this.BorderBrush = this.m_Brush_Transparent;
            this.BorderThickness = new Thickness(1.0);
            this.Background = this.m_Brush_Black;            
            this.Height = _dH;
            this.Child = this.m_TextBox;
            this.FocusVisualStyle = null;
            this.MouseDown += this.CZ3r0_TextBox_MouseDown;
            this.Cursor = Cursors.IBeam;
            /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
        }
        private void CZ3r0_TextBox_MouseDown(object _Sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            this.m_TextBox.Focus();
        }
        private void CZ3r0_TextBox_GotFocus(object _Sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            this.BorderBrush = this.m_Brush_Green;
        }
        private void CZ3r0_TextBox_LostFocus(object _Sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            this.BorderBrush = this.m_Brush_Transparent;
        }
    }
}

Sanjuanitasank

Answer 15

I think is better to use a Label(or TextBlock) into a Label, you can't attach a mouse event directly in the border control, finally it is attached in the TextBlock, this is my recomendation:

<Label 
    Height="32"
    VerticalContentAlignment="Center"
    HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch"
    MouseLeftButtonUp="MenuItem_MouseLeftButtonUp">
    <TextBlock Padding="32 0 10 0">
        Label with click event
    </TextBlock>
</Label>

Polacca

Answer 16

I think it's wise to use a textbox with no border and background as an easy and fast way to reach center aligned textblock

<TextBox
TextWrapping="Wrap"
HorizontalContentAlignment="Center"
VerticalContentAlignment="Center"
Background="{x:Null}"
BorderBrush="{x:Null}"
/>

Ibnsina

Answer 17

  <TextBox AcceptsReturn="True" 
           TextWrapping="Wrap"  
           VerticalContentAlignment="Top" >
  </TextBox>

Pico

The question was for a TextBlock, not TextBox. -1 – Iconography