How do I toggle word-wrap in a EditBox

Question

How can I toggle word-wrap in a multiline EditBox?

I can create it with or without but I don't know which message I should use to toggle the wrapping mode.

Word-wrapping is controlled by a word-break procedure set by the [`EM_SETWORDBREAKPROC`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/Controls/em-setwordbreakproc) window message. Or, maybe you are thinking of "soft" word-wrapping? That is set using the [`EM_FMTLINES`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/controls/em-fmtlines) window message. See [Handling Wordwrap and Line Breaks](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/controls/edit-controls-text-operations#handling-wordwrap-and-line-breaks) for more details. — Remy Lebeau, Jun 26 '19 at 22:06
For EM_FMTLINES MSDN says: "It has no effect on the display of the text within the edit control". It is only for the actual buffer used by WM_GETTEXT. — Anders, Jun 27 '19 at 00:19

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 27 '19 at 05:06

1

Standard Windows control EDITBOX doesn't support toggling word wrap.

Notepad simulates it by creating new EDITBOX and destroying old one. You could verify this with Spy++. Observe how window handle changes after you toggle word wrap.

answered Jun 27 '19 at 05:06

Daniel Sęk

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Anders · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-27T11:34:41.053

The EditBox does not support toggling word-wrap. There is no message you can send and you cannot change the window style because MSDN says:

After the control has been created, these styles cannot be modified, except as noted.

Your only option is to create a new control with the desired style (WS_HSCROLL|ES_AUTOHSCROLL), copy the text into the new control and then destroy the old control.

On Windows 2000 and later you can use EM_GETHANDLE+EM_SETHANDLE to swap the buffers without having to make a copy of the text.

How do I toggle word-wrap in a EditBox

2 Answers2