# Read only TextEditor should not have caret **URL:** \ **Category:** General JUCE discussion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731 "2014-04-21T20:05:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lalala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/lalala/32/8577_2.png) [@lalala](https://forum.juce.com/u/lalala)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731/1 "2014-04-21T20:05:23Z")
What would you think about always hiding the caret when a textEditor is readOnly? I find it really confusing to see a blinking caret, as it gives the feeling that we can type text in it. the 'load file browser' FileChooser of the dialogs demo is a good example of that..   ---
**Author:** ![jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jules](https://forum.juce.com/u/jules)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731/2 "2014-04-21T20:12:59Z")
Just call setCaretVisible (false) if you don't want one. I'm sure there are people who'd need to make it visible, so I don't think it'd make sense to disallow this. ---
**Author:** ![lalala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/lalala/32/8577_2.png) [@lalala](https://forum.juce.com/u/lalala)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731/3 "2014-04-21T20:50:24Z")
ok, fair enough. but appart from that default behaviour, note that setCaretVisible (true) tests if the editor is read only, and make the caret visible only if it is not read only :)   ---
**Author:** ![jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jules](https://forum.juce.com/u/jules)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 10:03am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731/4 "2014-04-22T10:03:40Z")
Ah, yes, that's a bit inconsistent! Ok, thanks for letting me know, I'll maybe sanity-check it when I get a moment. ---
**Author:** ![rebbur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@rebbur](https://forum.juce.com/u/rebbur)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731/5 "2014-04-23T06:24:14Z")
Often you would want to allow a user to select and copy the readonly text. So always hiding the caret is not a solution. ---
**Author:** ![Tortyfoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5e9695/32.png) [@Tortyfoo](https://forum.juce.com/u/Tortyfoo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 7:10am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731/6 "2014-04-23T07:10:09Z")
I actually use TextEditor in read-only mode and don't want to allow the user to be able select text or display a pop-up menu. Had hidden caret as above and disabled PopupMenu with setPopupMenuEnabled (false); but can't see an easy way to disable selection. Separate issue is on Android it will auto display the keyboard which as it is read-only would prefer it didn't. ---
**Author:** ![lalala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/forum.juce.com/lalala/32/8577_2.png) [@lalala](https://forum.juce.com/u/lalala)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://forum.juce.com/t/read-only-texteditor-should-not-have-caret/12731/7 "2014-04-23T07:45:08Z")
Well, I think that selection should be allowed and well supported even if the carret is not shown. Like if you select this forum text in your web-browser, it will work fine, and no carret is shown.