Touch Improvements to TextBox by emmauss · Pull Request #20848 · AvaloniaUI/Avalonia

emmauss · 2026-03-09T08:52:02Z

What does the pull request do?

This PR adds a lot of improvements for touch controls for textbox. Pointer handling for Touch input has been reworked to feel more natural for touch based devices. New behavior closely matches Android's default touch behavior for text inputs.
The following changes and improvements have been made;

Scroll gesture has priority if its possible to scroll, otherwise moving the pointer across the textbox will move the caret position.
Holding on text will select the word and show selection handles.
Selection handles are larger.
Holding on a selected text region will show the textbox's context menu.
Selection handle control theme has been improved. Default theme uses combined geometry instead of a geometry group. PathIcon replaced with Image
An indicator element is now part of the selection handle control theme. Caret or selection position is now set based on the indicator position, and not the whole handle position.
SelectionHandles properly hide when out of bounds in the textbox. Behavior is more accurate now with the use of the presenter's transformed Clip region.
Text Selector Layer is now below the PopupOverlayLayer,allowing flyouts to show above the selection handles on embedded devices.
Scroll gesture has been updated to send gesture event only when the touch pointer actually moves.
Selection Handles properly detects and adapt to RTL text.

What is the current behavior?

What is the updated/expected behavior with this PR?

How was the solution implemented (if it's not obvious)?

Checklist

Added unit tests (if possible)?
Added XML documentation to any related classes?
Consider submitting a PR to https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/avalonia-docs with user documentation

Breaking changes

TextSelectionHandle control theme is updated.

Obsoletions / Deprecations

Fixed issues

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-09T09:29:34Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0063110-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-13T11:14:35Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0063361-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-13T13:48:44Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0063371-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-16T16:23:29Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0063515-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-17T12:46:21Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0063538-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-17T17:05:28Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0063549-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-18T13:13:54Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0063613-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

MrJul · 2026-03-19T11:18:48Z

+                if(!e.Handled)
+                {
+                    // Gesture may cause an overscroll so we mark the event as handled if it did.
+                    e.Handled = canXScroll || canYScroll;


I'm not sure I understand the logic here, won't that prevent scroll chaining in this case?

Confirmed while testing, scroll chaining does not work correctly anymore.

MrJul · 2026-03-19T11:24:31Z

There's a regression when a selection is active with the context menu open. Previously, double-tapping another word would select it in this case. Now, you need 3 taps instead (one to close the popup, then two for the normal double-tap selection to activate).

Please add a test for this once fixed.

MrJul · 2026-03-19T11:27:34Z

I've tested this with a touch screen, and overall, the changes are quite good :)
However, there are some regressions here.

We need more unit tests overall for this. This is not the easiest area to test, but we should be able to validate most of the behaviors added by this PR. They are too easy to break with future changes otherwise.

…enu show behavior for selection handles

…erscrolled

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-25T16:42:02Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0064039-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-26T12:09:05Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0064077-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-26T12:45:27Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0064079-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

emmauss · 2026-03-26T12:59:23Z

@MrJul Added tests

avaloniaui-bot · 2026-03-27T13:11:16Z

You can test this PR using the following package version. 12.0.999-cibuild0064135-alpha. (feed url: https://nuget-feed-all.avaloniaui.net/v3/index.json) [PRBUILDID]

MrJul

LGTM!

MrJul added the enhancement label Mar 9, 2026

emmauss force-pushed the textbox_touch_improvement branch from 344b20e to c07d2c3 Compare March 13, 2026 10:30

emmauss force-pushed the textbox_touch_improvement branch from bb3444b to 9823926 Compare March 15, 2026 22:17

emmauss force-pushed the textbox_touch_improvement branch from 1523fc7 to 45b9fe2 Compare March 18, 2026 12:33

emmauss marked this pull request as ready for review March 18, 2026 12:37

emmauss changed the title ~~[WIP] Touch Improvements to TextBox~~ Touch Improvements to TextBox Mar 18, 2026

emmauss requested a review from MrJul March 18, 2026 12:41

MrJul reviewed Mar 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

emmauss added 12 commits March 25, 2026 15:59

wip touch improvement textbox

f690777

update text selection handle style

9b4b739

change text selector layer z-index

f47ddbf

fix build issues

3c00eda

fix caret detection in touch mode

88c8b9e

added bottom padding to text handle

f3a57ae

add indicator visual to selection handler theme

2b43dd6

improve text selector indicator handling

dea6430

add support for wrap around in selection handles

7e91069

ensure textbox context menu is shown on hold

da7f2f7

dampen scroll inertia

1c2c47d

increase default tap and double tap sizes for touch and pen

c411348

emmauss added 6 commits March 25, 2026 15:59

make textbox context menu horizontal in touch mode. improve context m…

b3f26b1

…enu show behavior for selection handles

detect overscroll in scroll presenter and handle scroll gesture if ov…

d57beaa

…erscrolled

add rtl detection for selection handles

e1f09dd

improve context flyout behavior in handles

890937b

restore textbox page

f7f1032

addressed review

2c81338

emmauss force-pushed the textbox_touch_improvement branch from 45b9fe2 to 2c81338 Compare March 25, 2026 16:05

emmauss force-pushed the textbox_touch_improvement branch from c2b5d46 to 838793d Compare March 26, 2026 11:34

add touch tests textbox

b225d0c

emmauss force-pushed the textbox_touch_improvement branch from 838793d to b225d0c Compare March 26, 2026 12:11

emmauss requested a review from MrJul March 26, 2026 12:57

keep dragged handle visible, adjust flyout position to visible handle

010970c

MrJul approved these changes Mar 31, 2026

View reviewed changes

MrJul added this pull request to the merge queue Mar 31, 2026

Merged via the queue into master with commit ac28a74 Mar 31, 2026
11 checks passed

MrJul deleted the textbox_touch_improvement branch March 31, 2026 16:04

lui62233 mentioned this pull request Apr 10, 2026

[v12] Touch freezing #21141

Closed

NicholasLachapelle mentioned this pull request Jun 11, 2026

Fix StackOverflow when a NaN offset is set on ScrollViewer #21558

Merged

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What does the pull request do?

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What is the updated/expected behavior with this PR?

How was the solution implemented (if it's not obvious)?

Checklist

Breaking changes

Obsoletions / Deprecations

Fixed issues

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emmauss commented Mar 9, 2026 •

edited

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