As mentioned already, a text box should be accompanied by a label that indicates what it is used for. To support this relationship, the Label control provides various properties. An accelerator character is a symbol of the label that provides easy access to its text box. On the label, such a character is underlined. An example would be First Name. The idea is that, if the user presses the Alt key in combination with the label's underlined character, the text box it accompanies would receive focus.

To create an accelerator key, choose one of the label's characters and precede it with an ampersand character when setting its caption. An example would be &First Name. If you want a label to display the accelerator character instead of a plain ampersand, set the label's UseMnemonic property to true, which is already its default value. If you set it to true but need to display an ampersand, type two & characters where the ampersand would be shown.

The UseMnemonic property of a label is only used to indicate that the label would display an accelerator character and the & symbol typed on the label creates that accelerator character. To indicate which text box would receive focus when the accelerator character of the label is invoked, you must make sure you establish an appropriate tab sequence using the Tab Order menu item from the main menu or using the combination of TabStop/TabIndex properties. Typically, the label should have a Tab Order or TabIndex value that is just - 1 of that of the control it serves.

1. On the form, click the txtEmployeeName text box
2. In the Properties window, click AutoCompleteCustomSource and click its ellipsis button
3. In the String Collection Editor, enter the following names:
   Micheline Hammond
   Paul Bertrand Yamaguchi
   Gertrude Monay
   Ernestine Ngaleu
   Andy Barang
   Christophe Yuen
   Jean Michel Kankan
4. Click OK
5. Click AutoCompleteSource, then click the arrow of its combo box and select CustomSource
6. Click AutoCompleteMode, then click the arrow of its combo box and select SuggestAppend
7. On the form, double-click the Calculate label
8. Implement its event as follows:
   

   System::Void lblCalculate_Click(System::Object^ sender, System::EventArgs^ e)
   {
       double monday1 = 0.00, tuesday1 = 0.00, wednesday1 = 0.00,
              thursday1 = 0.00, friday1 = 0.00, saturday1 = 0.00,
              sunday1 = 0.00, monday2 = 0.00, tuesday2 = 0.00,
              wednesday2 = 0.00, thursday2 = 0.00,
       friday2 = 0.00, saturday2 = 0.00, sunday2 = 0.00;
       double totalHoursWeek1, totalHoursWeek2;
   
       double regHours1 = 0.00, regHours2 = 0.00,
              ovtHours1 = 0.00, ovtHours2 = 0.00;
       double regAmount1 = 0.00, regAmount2 = 0.00,
              ovtAmount1 = 0.00, ovtAmount2 = 0.00;
       double regularHours, overtimeHours;
       double regularAmount, overtimeAmount, totalEarnings;
   
       double hourlySalary = 0.00;
   
       // Retrieve the hourly salary
       hourlySalary = double::Parse(txtHourlySalary->Text);
       // Retrieve the value of each day worked
       monday1 = double::Parse(txtWeek1Monday->Text);
       tuesday1 = double::Parse(txtWeek1Tuesday->Text);
       wednesday1 = double::Parse(txtWeek1Wednesday->Text);
       thursday1 = double::Parse(txtWeek1Thursday->Text);
       friday1 = double::Parse(txtWeek1Friday->Text);
       saturday1 = double::Parse(txtWeek1Saturday->Text);
       sunday1 = double::Parse(txtWeek1Sunday->Text);
            
       monday2 = double::Parse(txtWeek2Monday->Text);
       tuesday2 = double::Parse(txtWeek2Tuesday->Text);
       wednesday2 = double::Parse(txtWeek2Wednesday->Text);
       thursday2 = double::Parse(txtWeek2Thursday->Text);
       friday2 = double::Parse(txtWeek2Friday->Text);
       saturday2 = double::Parse(txtWeek2Saturday->Text);
       sunday2 = double::Parse(txtWeek2Sunday->Text);
            
       // Calculate the total number of hours for each week
       totalHoursWeek1 = monday1 + tuesday1 + wednesday1 +
                         thursday1 + friday1 + saturday1 + sunday1;
       totalHoursWeek2 = monday2 + tuesday2 + wednesday2 +
                         thursday2 + friday2 + saturday2 + sunday2;
   
       // The overtime is paid time and half
       double ovtSalary = hourlySalary * 1.5;
   
       // If the employee worked under 40 hours, there is no overtime
            if (totalHoursWeek1 < 40)
            {
                   regHours1 = totalHoursWeek1;
                   regAmount1 = hourlySalary * regHours1;
                   ovtHours1 = 0.00;
                   ovtAmount1 = 0.00;
            } // If the employee worked over 40 hours, calculate the overtime
            else if (totalHoursWeek1 >= 40)
            {
                   regHours1 = 40;
                   regAmount1 = hourlySalary * 40;
                   ovtHours1 = totalHoursWeek1 - 40;
                   ovtAmount1 = ovtHours1 * ovtSalary;
            }
   
           if (totalHoursWeek2 < 40)
           {
                   regHours2 = totalHoursWeek2;
                   regAmount2 = hourlySalary * regHours2;
                   ovtHours2 = 0.00;
                   ovtAmount2 = 0.00;
           }
           else if (totalHoursWeek2 >= 40)
           {
                   regHours2 = 40;
                   regAmount2 = hourlySalary * 40;
                   ovtHours2 = totalHoursWeek2 - 40;
                   ovtAmount2 = ovtHours2 * ovtSalary;
           }
   
           regularHours = regHours1 + regHours2;
           overtimeHours = ovtHours1 + ovtHours2;
           regularAmount = regAmount1 + regAmount2;
           overtimeAmount = ovtAmount1 + ovtAmount2;
           totalEarnings = regularAmount + overtimeAmount;
   
           txtRegularTime->Text = regularHours.ToString("F");
           txtOvertime->Text = overtimeHours.ToString("F");
           txtRegularAmount->Text = regularAmount.ToString("F");
           txtOvertimeAmount->Text = overtimeAmount.ToString("F");
   
           txtNetPay->Text = totalEarnings.ToString("F");
   }

9. Return to the form and double-click the Close label
10. Implement it as follows:

    System::Void lblClose_Click(System::Object^  sender, System::EventArgs^  e)
    {
    	Close();
    }

11. Execute the application to see the result
     
    
12. Close the form and return to your programming environment

A text box can be configured to display only lowercase characters, only uppercase characters, or a mix. This characteristic is controlled by the CharacterCasing property, which is an enumerator that holds the same name. The default value of this property is Normal, which indicates that the control can use a mix of lowercase and uppercase characters. If you set this property to Lower, all existing characters, if any, in the control would be converted to lowercase and all future characters typed in the control would be automatically converted to lowercase. If you set this property to Upper, all existing characters, if any, in the control would be converted to uppercase and all future characters typed in the control would be automatically converted to uppercase.

Text typed in a text box appears with its corresponding characters unless you changed the effect of the CharacterCasing property from its default Normal value. This allows the user to see, and be able to read, the characters of the control. If you prefer to make them un-readable, you can use the PasswordChar property. Although this property is a char type of data, changing it actually accomplishes two things:

• If you type a character in its field in the Properties window, for example if you type *, any character typed in it would be un-readable
• Any character in the control would be replaced by the value of this property. You can use any alphabetic character or digit to represent the characters that would be typed but you must provide only one character.

The text box is based on the TextBox class whose immediate parent is TextBoxBase. Like every .NET Framework class, it has a constructor that can be used to dynamically create the control. The TextBoxBase class provides other methods derived from the control’s parent or from ancestor classes.

After creating a text box, it may be empty, the user can start typing in it to fill it with text. You can programmatically assign it a string to occupy it. Another way you can put or add text to the control is to paste the content of the clipboard, using text from another control. The syntax of the Paste() method is:

public:
    void Paste();

The selection of text from a text box control can be performed either by you or by a user. To select part of the text, you can specify the starting point using the SelectionStart property. After the starting position, you can specify the number of characters to include in the selection. This is done using the SelectionLength property. The SelectionStart and the SelectionLength properties allow you to programmatically select text. The user, on the other hand, also knows how to select part of the text of the control. These operations can also be performed using the Select() method. Its syntax is:

public:
    void Select(int start, int length);

Alternatively, the user may want to select the whole content of the control. To programmatically select the whole text of a text box control, call the SelectAll() method. Its syntax is:

public:
    void SelectAll();

After the text, in part or in whole, has been selected, you or the user can manipulate it. For example, you can copy the selection to the clipboard. This is done using the Copy() method. Its syntax is:

public:
    void Copy();

To delete part of the text, the user can cut it. You can programmatically do this using the Cut() method. Its syntax is:

public: void Cut();

To delete the whole contents of the text box, you can call the Clear() method. Its syntax is:

public:
    void Clear();

Any operation performed on the text box can be undone using the Undo() method whose syntax is:

public:
    void Undo();