Getting Started with WPF WatermarkTextBox

This tutorial will walk you through the required steps for using RadWatermarkTextBox.

• Adding Telerik Assemblies Using NuGet
• Adding Assembly References Manually
• Setting the WatermarkContent

Adding Telerik Assemblies Using NuGet

To use RadWatermarkTextBox when working with NuGet packages, install the Telerik.Windows.Controls.for.Wpf.Xaml package. The package name may vary slightly based on the Telerik dlls set - Xaml or NoXaml

Read more about NuGet installation in the Installing UI for WPF from NuGet Package article.

With the 2025 Q1 release, the Telerik UI for WPF has a new licensing mechanism. You can learn more about it here.

Adding Assembly References Manually

If you are not using NuGet packages, you can add a reference to the following assemblies:

• Telerik.Licensing.Runtime
• Telerik.Windows.Controls

Adding RadWatermarkTextBox to the Project

Example 1: Defining RadWatermarkTextBox

<telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox/> 

Figure 1: Defining RadWatermarkTextBox

Setting the WatermarkContent

RadWatermarkTextBox supports setting its WatermarkContent or WatermarkTemplate for visualizing the needed information. These mechanisms are covered in details in the Features topic.

Example 2: Setting the WatermarkContent

<telerik:RadWatermarkTextBox WatermarkContent="Please enter your name"/> 

Figure 2: Setting the WatermarkContent

Setting a Theme

The controls from our suite support different themes. You can see how to apply a theme different than the default one in the Setting a Theme help article.

Changing the theme using implicit styles will affect all controls that have styles defined in the merged resource dictionaries. This is applicable only for the controls in the scope in which the resources are merged.

To change the theme, you can follow the steps below:

• Choose between the themes and add reference to the corresponding theme assembly (ex: Telerik.Windows.Themes.Windows8.dll). You can see the different themes applied in the Theming examples from our WPF Controls Examples application.

• Merge the ResourceDictionaries with the namespace required for the controls that you are using from the theme assembly. For RadWatermarkTextBox, you will need to merge the following resources:

  • Telerik.Windows.Controls

Example 3 demonstrates how to merge the ResourceDictionaries so that they are applied globally for the entire application.

Example 3: Merge the ResourceDictionaries

    <Application.Resources> 
        <ResourceDictionary> 
            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries> 
                <ResourceDictionary Source="/Telerik.Windows.Themes.Windows8;component/Themes/System.Windows.xaml"/> 
                <ResourceDictionary Source="/Telerik.Windows.Themes.Windows8;component/Themes/Telerik.Windows.Controls.xaml"/> 
            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries> 
        </ResourceDictionary> 
    </Application.Resources> 

Figure 3 shows RadWatermarkTextBox with the Windows8 theme applied.

Figure 3: RadWatermarkTextBox with the Windows8 theme

See also

• Overview
• Features

Telerik UI for WPF Learning Resources

• Telerik UI for WPF WatermarkTextBox Component
• Getting Started with Telerik UI for WPF Components
• Telerik UI for WPF Installation
• Telerik UI for WPF and WinForms Integration
• Telerik UI for WPF Visual Studio Templates
• Setting a Theme with Telerik UI for WPF
• Telerik UI for WPF Virtual Classroom (Training Courses for Registered Users)
• Telerik UI for WPF License Agreement