Word Processor Based Upon an Extended RichTextBox Control

• Download demo and source - 169.7 KB

Introduction

This article describes an easy approach to building a simple word processor around an extended version of the Rich Text Box (RTB) control; Microsoft has made available an extended version of the RTB control that greatly eases the requirements for printing the control's text or RTF content. This article and the sample application will use this extended version of the RTF control to demonstrate the following word processor related functions:

• Opening Text, RTF, HTML, or other text files into a RTB control
• Saving Text, RTF, HTML, or other text files from an RTB control
• Implementation of the Page Setup dialog control
• Implementation of the Print Preview dialog control
• Implementation of the Print dialog control
• Setting font properties on selected text or RTF within the RTB control
• Searching for and highlighting text contained within the RTB control
• Searching for and replacing text contained within the RTB control
• Adding Indentation to sections of an RTB's content
• Adding Bullets to sections of an RTB's content
• Implementing Undo/Redo within an RTB
• Implementing Select All, Cut, Copy, and Paste in an RTB control
• Embedding Images into an RTB control
• Setting page and font colors
• Implementing Alignment options in an RTB control

Whilst this project will not lead you to drop MS Word, it is a decent little word processor and to that end, you may find a use for it. I have always kept one of these on hand and have frequently tailored them to do things like provide a custom tool for viewing reports, error logs, and things of that nature when I wanted to integrate that feature into a product so that I could use it in lieu of doing something like shelling out a text file into Notepad. Doing so allows me to control the appearance of the application, the caption in the title bar of the form, etc.

Figure 1: The Editor Application in Use

Getting Started

In order to get started, unzip the attachment and load the solution into Visual Studio 2005. Examine the solution explorer and note the files contained in the project:

Figure 2: The Solution Explorer Showing the Project Files

The solution contains the editor application "RichTextEditor". This application uses an extended rich text box control built by Microsoft and then to that adds in all of the normal document manipulation techniques (such as font selection, indentation, and file IO support). The Microsoft extension to the RichTextBox control is added as a reference to the project; the DLL is included with the download.

Aside from the main application's form (frmMain.cs), this project also includes two additional forms, one to search for a string within the RTB's content, and one to search for and replace strings within the RTB. These forms are frmFind.cs and frmReplace.cs.

Figure 2: Editor Application Find Dialog

Figure 3: Editor Application Find and Replace Dialog

In addition to the form classes mentioned, the solution also contains a folder entitled, "Graphics"; this folder contains a collection of image files that may be used to support the display of icons on application's menus and toolbar.

Project References

Aside from the default references, there are a couple of additional references added. Most notably, the extended rich text box control library is added to allow for the use of the extended rich text box control. Figure 4 shows the references as they exist in the project.

Figure 4: Project References

The Code: Main Form Class

The main form class (frmMain.cs) is pretty easy to follow. It begins with a couple of import statements followed by the class declaration. The code is divided by purpose into four separate regions which are:

• Declarations
• Menu Methods
• Toolbar Methods
• Printing

The imports, namespace, and class declaration sections of code look like this:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using ExtendedRichTextBox;

namespace RichTextEditor
{  
    public partial class frmMain : Form
    {

The class declaration is plain enough and merely inherits the Form base class. I emphasize again that making use of Microsoft's extended rich text box control greatly reduces the amount of code necessary to support all of the methods used within this application.

The constructor is pretty simple; it is used to set the text property of the form and to set the default file name to an empty string:

    // constructor

    public frmMain()      
    {
        InitializeComponent();
           
        currentFile = "";
        this.Text = "Editor:New Document";
    }

The declarations section is also very simple; the section contains both of the variables used throughout the application. The content is as follows:

#region Declaration

    private string currentFile;
    private int checkPrint;

#endregion

The currentFile variable is used to keep track of the path and file name of the file loaded into the extended rich text box control; it is updated whenever the user opens a file, creates and saves a file, or saves a file with a new name and/or file extension.

The checkPrint variable is used by the streamlined printing process recommended by Microsoft in the article describing the use of the extended rich text box control. It is used to determine if additional pages exist when the document is sent to the printer (in support of multi-page printing).

The next section of code is the primary block of code used by this application, the Menu Methods region contains all of the methods evoked in response to the selection of a menu option. The Toolbar Methods region follows the Menu Methods region, but all of the methods in the toolbar control section call the methods defined in the Menu Methods region of the code unless the code was so trivial (one line) that it was just as simple to make the call directly as it was to call menu related method. For that reason, this document will not describe the content of the Toolbar Methods region specifically.

The first block of code in the menu region is used to create a new file:

#region Menu Methods

private void NewToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try          
    {            
        if (rtbDoc.Modified == true)              
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult answer;                  
            answer = MessageBox.Show("Save current document before 
                creating new document?", "Unsaved Document", 
                MessageBoxButtons.YesNo, MessageBoxIcon.Question);

            if (answer == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.No)

            {
                currentFile = "";
                this.Text = "Editor: New Document";
                rtbDoc.Modified = false;
                rtbDoc.Clear();
                return;
            }
            else
            {                      
                SaveToolStripMenuItem_Click(this, new EventArgs());
                rtbDoc.Modified = false;
                rtbDoc.Clear();
                currentFile = "";
                this.Text = "Editor: New Document";
                return;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            currentFile = "";
            this.Text = "Editor: New Document";
            rtbDoc.Modified = false;
            rtbDoc.Clear();
            return;
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

In this method, prior to clearing the current document, the status of the current document is checked by means using the controls Modified test; if the document has been modified while it has been open, the test will return true. If the document has been modified, the user is queried with a message box to determine whether or not they want to save (or lose) the modifications made to the current file prior to clearing the file. If they choose to save the changes, the method is exited; else, the document is cleared, and the changes are lost. If the document has not been modified, the method will clear the document without notifying the user. Whenever the document is cleared, the title of the control is updated to indicate that a new (unsaved) document is the current document, and the currentFile variable is set to contain an empty string.

Figure 5: Confirmation Dialog show after user requests new document with saving changes.

The next method is used to open an existing file into the rich text box control:

private void OpenToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)    
{          
    try
    {
        if (rtbDoc.Modified == true)
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult answer;
            answer = MessageBox.Show("Save current file before opening 
                another document?", "Unsaved Document", 
                MessageBoxButtons.YesNo, MessageBoxIcon.Question);
            if (answer == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.No)
            {
                rtbDoc.Modified = false;
                OpenFile();
            }
            else
            {
                SaveToolStripMenuItem_Click(this, new EventArgs());
                OpenFile();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            OpenFile();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

This method works in a manner similar to the "new" method discussed in the previous section. If the file has not been modified or if the user decides not to save the current modifications, the method calls an Open File method which in turn exposes a File Open dialog used to allow the user to navigate to the file they wish to open. The Open File method is next and contains this code:

private void OpenFile()
{
    try
    {
        OpenFileDialog1.Title = "RTE - Open File";
        OpenFileDialog1.DefaultExt = "rtf";
        OpenFileDialog1.Filter = "Rich Text Files|*.rtf|Text 
            Files|*.txt|HTML Files|*.htm|All Files|*.*";
        OpenFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 1;
        OpenFileDialog1.FileName = string.Empty;

        if (OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
        {

            if (OpenFileDialog1.FileName == "")
            {
                return;
            }
            string strExt;
            strExt = System.IO.Path.GetExtension(OpenFileDialog1.FileName);
            strExt = strExt.ToUpper();

            if (strExt == ".RTF")
            {
                rtbDoc.LoadFile(OpenFileDialog1.FileName, 
                    RichTextBoxStreamType.RichText);
            }
            else
            {
                System.IO.StreamReader txtReader;
                txtReader = new 
                    System.IO.StreamReader(OpenFileDialog1.FileName);
                rtbDoc.Text = txtReader.ReadToEnd();
                txtReader.Close();
                txtReader = null;
                rtbDoc.SelectionStart = 0;
                rtbDoc.SelectionLength = 0;
            }

            currentFile = OpenFileDialog1.FileName;
            rtbDoc.Modified = false;
            this.Text = "Editor: " + currentFile.ToString();
        }
        else
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Open File request cancelled by user.", 
                "Cancelled");
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

Figure 6: Open File Dialog

The first part of the File Open method is used to configure and display the Open File Dialog box; this code sets up the filters for the files types (rich text, text, or html), sets the dialog box title, and a selects an extension filter (RTF). Once this is done, the dialog box is displayed, if the user accepts the dialog box without specifying a file name, the method will exit. If a file name exists, the code extracts the file extension from the file name, places the extension in a local string variable, converts it to upper case and then checks to see if the file is an RTF file or another type of file. If the file selected by the user is an RTF file, the method calls the control's Load File method and passes it the file name and format. If the file is not an RTF file, a stream reader is instanced and passed the path to the file, the control is then fed the content of the file by means of the stream reader's read to end method. The reader is then closed and disposed of and the cursor is moved to the beginning of the document and the selection length is set to zero (if you do not do this, the whole document will initialize as entirely selected).

After the file is loaded, the currentFile variable is updated to contain the current file path and name, the modified property of the control is set to false, and the caption bar is updated to show the name of the file currently under edit in the rich text box control.

The next item up is the Save menu option; it contains the following code:

private void SaveToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (currentFile == string.Empty)
        {
            SaveAsToolStripMenuItem_Click(this, e);
            return;
        }

        try
        {
            string strExt;
            strExt = System.IO.Path.GetExtension(currentFile);
            strExt = strExt.ToUpper();
            if (strExt == ".RTF")
            {
                rtbDoc.SaveFile(currentFile);
            }
            else
            {
                System.IO.StreamWriter txtWriter;
                txtWriter = new System.IO.StreamWriter(currentFile);
                txtWriter.Write(rtbDoc.Text);
                txtWriter.Close();
                txtWriter = null;
                rtbDoc.SelectionStart = 0;
                rtbDoc.SelectionLength = 0;
            }
            this.Text = "Editor: " + currentFile.ToString();
            rtbDoc.Modified = false;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "File Save 
                Error");
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The Save function first checks to see if the currentFile variable is empty; if it is, the content of the rich text box control has not been saved previously and the method will call the Save As menu option to provide the user with an interface to define a file name and storage location for the current unnamed file. If the file is named (and has a current storage location), the method will check the file extension to determine the appropriate method for storing the file. It will then save the content to the file location. This all works very similarly to the approach used to open the file. However, instead of opening a file, the approach is used to call the rich text box control's Save File method if the file is a rich text file, or to instance a stream writer and write the file content out as text to the file location if the file is plain text or HTML.

With both the file open and file save methods used, if the file is anything other than a rich text file, the application will attempt to open or save it with a stream reader or stream writer; this will allow the application to work with any text file, not just RTF, TXT, or HTML extensions. That would permit you to use it with custom file types or other things such as license files or error log files.

The next method addresses the Save As menu option; its code is as follows:

private void SaveAsToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{

    try
    {
        SaveFileDialog1.Title = "RTE - Save File";
        SaveFileDialog1.DefaultExt = "rtf";
        SaveFileDialog1.Filter = "Rich Text Files|*.rtf|Text 
            Files|*.txt|HTML Files|*.htm|All Files|*.*";
        SaveFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 1;

        if (SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
        {

            if (SaveFileDialog1.FileName == "")
            {
                return;
            }

            string strExt;
            strExt = System.IO.Path.GetExtension(SaveFileDialog1.FileName);
            strExt = strExt.ToUpper();

            if (strExt == ".RTF")
            {
                rtbDoc.SaveFile(SaveFileDialog1.FileName, 
                    RichTextBoxStreamType.RichText);
            }
            else
            {
                System.IO.StreamWriter txtWriter;
                txtWriter = new 
                    System.IO.StreamWriter(SaveFileDialog1.FileName);
                txtWriter.Write(rtbDoc.Text);
                txtWriter.Close();
                txtWriter = null;
                rtbDoc.SelectionStart = 0;
                rtbDoc.SelectionLength = 0;
            }

            currentFile = SaveFileDialog1.FileName;
            rtbDoc.Modified = false;
            this.Text = "Editor: " + currentFile.ToString();
            MessageBox.Show(currentFile.ToString() + " saved.", 
                "File Save");
        }
        else
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Save File request cancelled by user.", 
                "Cancelled");
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

Figure 7: File Menu Options

By now this should look pretty familiar; in the code, a Save As file dialog box is configured and then displayed to the user. The dialog will permit the user to save the file as RTF, TXT, or HTML. If the user saves the file as RTF, the control's save file method is used to store the contents of the file whilst preserving the RTF formatting. If the user selects another option, the file will be saved as plain text using a text writer. In either case, after the file is saved, the currentFile variable is updated, the application's title bar is updated, and the document's modified property is set to false.

The next item in the code is the menu's Exit call. It is used to terminate the application. Prior to closing the application, this method checks to see if the current document has been modified and, if it has, it alerts the user and asks whether or not the document should be saved prior to closing it and the application. The code is as follows:

private void ExitToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (rtbDoc.Modified == true)
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult answer;
            answer = MessageBox.Show("Save this document before 
                closing?", "Unsaved Document", 
                MessageBoxButtons.YesNo, MessageBoxIcon.Question);
            if (answer == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Yes)
            {
                return;
            }
            else
            {
                rtbDoc.Modified = false;
                Application.Exit();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            rtbDoc.Modified = false;
            Application.Exit();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
} 

The next menu option addressed is the edit menu's Select All function. Select All is a method embedded in the rich text box control and therefore it may be called directly without writing any additional code to make the select all happen; to use it, just call it as follows:

private void SelectAllToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        rtbDoc.SelectAll();
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Unable to select all document content.", 
            "RTE - Select", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
            MessageBoxIcon.Error);
    }
} 

Following the edit menu's Select All function, we have the cut, copy, and paste methods. Just as the Select All method exists within the rich text box control, so do these and therefore, you can call them directly in a manner similar to that used in Select All, for that reason, I am not going to show them here but you can see the calls made in the example application if you'd care to take a look at them.

Figure 8: Edit Menu Options

Next up is the menu option used to select the current font. This code merely uses a standard font dialog box to set the rich text box control's selection font property to the font selected by the user through the font dialog. The code used to do this is as follows:

private void SelectFontToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (!(rtbDoc.SelectionFont == null))
        {
            FontDialog1.Font = rtbDoc.SelectionFont;
        }
        else
        {
            FontDialog1.Font = null;
        }
        FontDialog1.ShowApply = true;
        if (FontDialog1.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
        {
            rtbDoc.SelectionFont = FontDialog1.Font;
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

Figure 9: Font Dialog in Use

Similarly the font color menu option is used to display a standard color dialog to the user; if the user selects a color from the dialog, the foreground color property of the document will be updated to contain the selected color. As the rich text box control works primarily with selected text (that is, what you change in terms of selecting a font or changing a color), this function will alter the color only of the selected text. If no text is selected, the color at the insertion point will hold the foreground color selection and typing from the insertion point will show text in the newly selected color.

private void FontColorToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        ColorDialog1.Color = rtbDoc.ForeColor;
        if (ColorDialog1.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
        {
            rtbDoc.SelectionColor = ColorDialog1.Color;
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The next three sections of code are the methods used to set the selected text's bold, italic, or underline properties. Each section is set up to work such that, if the selected text is bold, selecting the bold option will remove the bolding (or italics, or underline). (As they all basically work the same, I am only showing bold here)

private void BoldToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (!(rtbDoc.SelectionFont == null))
        {
            System.Drawing.Font currentFont = rtbDoc.SelectionFont;
            System.Drawing.FontStyle newFontStyle;

            newFontStyle = rtbDoc.SelectionFont.Style ^ 
                FontStyle.Bold;

            rtbDoc.SelectionFont = new Font(currentFont.FontFamily, 
                currentFont.Size, newFontStyle);
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The Normal font menu option returns the selected text to a normal, unadorned format:

private void NormalToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (!(rtbDoc.SelectionFont == null))
        {
            System.Drawing.Font currentFont = rtbDoc.SelectionFont;
            System.Drawing.FontStyle newFontStyle;
            newFontStyle = FontStyle.Regular;
            rtbDoc.SelectionFont = new Font(currentFont.FontFamily, 
                currentFont.Size, newFontStyle);
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The menu option used to set the page color is used to expose a color dialog box to the user; if the user selects a color form the dialog, the back color of the rich text box control is set to that color. The code to support this function is as follows:

private void PageColorToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender,
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        ColorDialog1.Color = rtbDoc.BackColor;
        if (ColorDialog1.ShowDialog() == 
            System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
        {
            rtbDoc.BackColor = ColorDialog1.Color;
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
        }
    }

Figure 10: Color Dialog in Use

The Undo and Redo functions are used to back up or restore changes made to the content of the control during an edit; the rich text box control supports the Undo and Redo function directly so all you need to do in order to add undo and redo support is merely evoke the method directly from the control to: make the call, test to determine whether or not the control can execute the undo or redo request, and, if it is supported, call the method:

private void mnuUndo_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (rtbDoc.CanUndo)
        {
            rtbDoc.Undo();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

private void mnuRedo_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (rtbDoc.CanRedo)
        {
            rtbDoc.Redo();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The next three sections of code address setting the document's horizontal alignment property to support left, centered, or right justification of the selected text. Each of these alignment control options is directly supported by the control:

private void LeftToolStripMenuItem_Click_1(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        rtbDoc.SelectionAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

private void CenterToolStripMenuItem_Click_1(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        rtbDoc.SelectionAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

private void RightToolStripMenuItem_Click_1(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        rtbDoc.SelectionAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Right;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

Figure 11: Alignment Options

Adding and removing bullets is also directly supported by the control, the Bullet Indent property sets the gap between the bullet and the text, the Selection Bullet property merely instructs the control to add or remove the bullet from the selected text:

private void AddBulletsToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        rtbDoc.BulletIndent = 10;
        rtbDoc.SelectionBullet = true;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

private void RemoveBulletsToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        rtbDoc.SelectionBullet = false;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

Figure 12: Bullet Options

Setting the indentation level for the selected text is also directly supported by the control:

private void mnuIndent0_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        rtbDoc.SelectionIndent = 0;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

Figure 13: Indentation Options

The application contains a separate dialog box used to find a text string within the current document; if the user selects the find menu option, the application will create and display a new instance of the search form (frmFind.cs):

private void FindToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        frmFind f = new frmFind(this);
        f.Show();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

Similarly, if the user selects the find and replace menu option, the application will create and display a new instance of the find and replace form (frmReplace.cs):

private void FindAndReplaceToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        frmReplace f = new frmReplace(this);
        f.Show();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The print document is set to contain the content of the current rich text box control as the print document; in order to support print preview, page setup, and printing, given the modifications made to the extended rich text box control, all that needs to be done is to pass the print document to each of the related standard dialog boxes:

private void PreviewToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        PrintPreviewDialog1.Document = PrintDocument1;
        PrintPreviewDialog1.ShowDialog();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

private void PrintToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        PrintDialog1.Document = PrintDocument1;
        if (PrintDialog1.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
        {
            PrintDocument1.Print();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

private void mnuPageSetup_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        PageSetupDialog1.Document = PrintDocument1;
        PageSetupDialog1.ShowDialog();
    }

    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The next method is a little more interesting; it is used to embed an image file into the extended rich text box document. This method uses an open file dialog box set to filter for the extensions used for bitmaps, jpegs, and gif files. The user may navigate to the file that they want to embed into the document (placing it at the insertion point defined by the cursor).

private void InsertImageToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, 
    System.EventArgs e)
{
    OpenFileDialog1.Title = "RTE - Insert Image File";
    OpenFileDialog1.DefaultExt = "rtf";
    OpenFileDialog1.Filter = "Bitmap Files|*.bmp|JPEG Files|*.jpg|GIF 
        Files|*.gif";
    OpenFileDialog1.FilterIndex = 1;
    OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog();

    if (OpenFileDialog1.FileName == "")
    {
        return;
    }

    try
    {
        string strImagePath = OpenFileDialog1.FileName;
        Image img;
        img = Image.FromFile(strImagePath);
        Clipboard.SetDataObject(img);
        DataFormats.Format df;
        df = DataFormats.GetFormat(DataFormats.Bitmap);
        if (this.rtbDoc.CanPaste(df))
        {
            this.rtbDoc.Paste(df);
        }
    }
    catch
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Unable to insert image format selected.", 
            "RTE - Paste", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
            MessageBoxIcon.Error);
    }
} 

Figure 14: Embedding an Image File

Once the user selects a file through the open file dialog, the method will create an image using the Image.FromFile method. This image is then placed into the clipboard and subsequently pasted into the document.

The next bit of code in the application is used to update the toolbar icons whenever the selection changes in the rich text box control; this is used to keep the selected state of the toolbar buttons straight depending upon what is selected in the control.

#region
Toolbar Methods

private void tbrSave_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    SaveToolStripMenuItem_Click(this, e);
}

… 

The last section of the main form's code is contained in the printing region. The calls used to print, due to the use of the extended rich text box control are very simple:

private void PrintDocument1_BeginPrint(object sender, 
    System.Drawing.Printing.PrintEventArgs e)
{
    checkPrint = 0;
} 

The Begin Print method is used to set the checkPrint variable back to zero at the start of each new print job.

The Print Page method evokes the extended rich text box control's print method to send the entire or selected section of the current document to the printer. The call also checks to see if more than a single page exists and it will continue to print until all of the pages have been passed to the printer. The code used to print is as follows:

private void PrintDocument1_PrintPage(object sender, 
    System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs e)
{

    checkPrint = rtbDoc.Print(checkPrint, rtbDoc.TextLength, e);

    if (checkPrint < rtbDoc.TextLength)
    {
        e.HasMorePages = true;
    }
    else
    {
        e.HasMorePages = false;
    }
}

Figure 15: Print Preview

The print section wraps up the rest of the main form class.

Code: The Find and Replace Form

The find and replace form is supported with the frmReplace.cs class. The find class is defined in frmFind.cs but since it contains two methods (find and find next) which are also contained in the find and replace form, I will only discuss the code contained in the find and replace form.

The find and replace form supports four methods:

• Find
• Find Next
• Replace
• Replace All

The find method is pretty straightforward; it will search the entire document for the first occurrence of the search term defined by the user on the form. It will search in one of two ways: with or without matching the case of the search term. Depending upon whether or not the user has checked the Match Case check box on the form, the application will search for the text using either the Ordinal or OrdinalIgnoreCase method. With the binary method, the search term must match exactly (including case), with the string compare method, the strings just need to match. The StartPosition integer value is set to the value returned by from the IndexOf call; IndexOf is passed the search term and search type, the entire body of text contained in the rich text box control (as the article to search), the search term entered by the user, and the strings compare method). IndexOf will return the index position of the found text if the text is in fact found, if nothing is found, it will return a zero. If the starting position value is zero, the user will be notified that the search term was not found, else, the application will highlight the found text in the document, pan to its location, and set the focus back to the main form (which in turn makes the highlighting visible to the user).

private void btnFind_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        int StartPosition;
        StringComparison SearchType;

        if (chkMatchCase.Checked == true)
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.Ordinal;
        }
        else
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
        }
        StartPosition = mMain.rtbDoc.Text.IndexOf(txtSearchTerm.Text, 
            SearchType);

        if (StartPosition == 0)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("String: " + 
                txtSearchTerm.Text.ToString() + " not found", 
                "No Matches", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
                MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk);
            return;
        }

        mMain.rtbDoc.Select(StartPosition, txtSearchTerm.Text.Length);
        mMain.rtbDoc.ScrollToCaret();
        mMain.Focus();
        btnFindNext.Enabled = true;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The find next function works in a manner consistent with the find function; the only difference is that it sets the start position to the current position of the selection starting point within the document so that the find next function will not start at the beginning of the document each time it searches:

private void btnFindNext_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        int StartPosition = mMain.rtbDoc.SelectionStart + 2;

        StringComparison SearchType;

        if (chkMatchCase.Checked == true)
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.Ordinal;
        }
        else
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
        }

        StartPosition = mMain.rtbDoc.Text.IndexOf(txtSearchTerm.Text, 
            StartPosition, SearchType);

        if (StartPosition == 0 || StartPosition < 0)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("String: " + 
                txtSearchTerm.Text.ToString() + " not found", 
                "No Matches", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
                MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk);
            return;
        }

        mMain.rtbDoc.Select(StartPosition, 
            txtSearchTerm.Text.Length);
        mMain.rtbDoc.ScrollToCaret();
        mMain.Focus();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
}

The Replace method is quite simple, it merely tests to see if any text is selected and, if it is, it replaces with the replacement text entered into the form by the user, it then moves to the next occurrence of the search term if one exists:

private void btnReplace_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        if (mMain.rtbDoc.SelectedText.Length != 0)
        {
            mMain.rtbDoc.SelectedText = txtReplacementText.Text;
        }

        int StartPosition;
        StringComparison SearchType;

        if (chkMatchCase.Checked == true)
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.Ordinal;
        }
        else
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
        }

        StartPosition = mMain.rtbDoc.Text.IndexOf(txtSearchTerm.Text, 
            SearchType);

        if (StartPosition == 0 || StartPosition < 0)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("String: " + 
                txtSearchTerm.Text.ToString() + " not found", 
                "No Matches", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
                MessageBoxIcon.Asterisk);
            return;
        }

        mMain.rtbDoc.Select(StartPosition, txtSearchTerm.Text.Length);
        mMain.rtbDoc.ScrollToCaret();
        mMain.Focus();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(), "Error");
    }
} 

The Replace All function is a little different in that it uses a the replace method to replace every instance of the search term with the replacement term throughout the entire body of text:

private void btnReplaceAll_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    try
    {
        mMain.rtbDoc.Rtf = Main.rtbDoc.Rtf.Replace(txtSearchTerm.Text.Trim(), 
            txtReplacementText.Text.Trim());

        int StartPosition;
        StringComparison SearchType;

        if (chkMatchCase.Checked == true)
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.Ordinal;
        }
        else
        {
            SearchType = StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase;
        }

        StartPosition = mMain.rtbDoc.Text.IndexOf(txtReplacementText.Text, 
            SearchType);

        mMain.rtbDoc.Select(StartPosition, 
            txtReplacementText.Text.Length);
        mMain.rtbDoc.ScrollToCaret();
        mMain.Focus();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message.ToString(),"Error");
    }
}

Again, the frmFind.cs class is the same as the replace class with the exception being that it does not support the replace and replace all methods.

Code: Rich Text Box Print Control

The class library contained in the ExtendedRichTextBox.dll was developed at Microsoft; for the purposes of the project, I merely compiled the Microsoft code into the DLL. For a complete description of the content of the class, please refer to this link in your Visual Studio 2005 help files:

ms-help://MS.VSCC.v80/MS.MSDN.v80/MS.KB.v10.en/
    enu_kbvbnetkb/vbnetkb/811401.htm 

Summary

This article and sample application have attempted to demonstrate some of the available techniques useful in creating and managing text and text files through the use of the rich text box control. The control itself was modified using an approach recommended by Microsoft to greatly facilitate the ease with which one may print the contents of the text or rich text file. Further, the application provided an approach to inserting an image into the rich text box as a means of creating a more useful application based upon the rich text box control.

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Help on using the ExtendedRichTextBox.dll genesterno1 11:13 26 Nov '08   Could anyone point me in the right direction. How do I use the ExtendedRichTextBox.dll. I added it as a reference into my project, but I have no clue in how to get a Extended Rich Text Box into my form. Thanks. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink "Microsoft has made available an extended version ..." No, David Bennett has John C 11:57 6 Nov '08   It would behoove you to give at least a little credit where it's due to the author that wrote the ExtendedRichTextBox control: http://blogs.technet.com/david_bennett/archive/2005/04/06/403402.aspx[^] Consider it good karma at the very least. "It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink html_support < great Barron Gillon 9:50 3 Nov '08   This is a really neat tool, but I sure wish it could provide support for HTML beyond converting it to plain text... Has anyone found a decent rtf->HTML->rtf converter? Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: html_support < great John C 11:49 6 Nov '08   Yes, I was just in need of the same thing and ended up purchasing a commercial component: this works very well both ways (i.e. rtf to html and vice versa) and seems to support the entire rtf spec: http://www.easybyte.com/products/rtf2html.html[^] I was originally going to write my own based on samples I found online but it would have been far too time consuming and error prone. "It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it." -Sam Levenson Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Using tool in a web app Ciano3000 14:01 30 Sep '08   How easy would it be to either turn the windows app into a web app or run the windows app from a web app? Also, would the embedding of images work in a (copy/paste) functionality in a web version of this tool. It works great as a windows app. I need to be able to add functionality to have images copied and pasted into a RTE that exists in a web app. Thanks! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Congratulations, Great Job victorbos 5:18 29 May '08   I had always wanted to learn about the RichTextBox. Every time I got started, I was turned off by Microsoft's tedious documentation. You finally helped me see the light of day! Thanks for putting together an elegantly clear project, one that even I could understand, and quickly! Cheers! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Page Colour and other jammmie999 12:19 26 Mar '08   hi how come when you save it only saves the text and nothing else e.g. back colour text colour pics ... it would be great if you could change it to save this Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Can't tab into a rich text control ronnienk 20:32 23 Mar '08   Hi all, I don't seem to be able to tab into a rich text control, my screen scrolls up instead, it takes 2 tabs for me to navigate to the rich text field. I need to reach the editor in a single tab, kindly help me in achieving this. Regards, Naren. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Can't tab into a rich text control nhanksd85 23:05 28 Mar '08   There is a property of richtextbox, I didn't remember clearly, maybe AllowTabCharacter, you set it to TRUE, then the richtextbox can accept tab character! Thanks for reading! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Is ExtendedRichTextBox.dll microsoft own developemt? m_salman 20:59 26 Sep '07   Hi nice topic and i really want to thank to you for putting ur effort here on this forum.i just want to ask that ExtendedRichTextBox.dll is created by yourself or it's developed by Microsoft themselves or its the 3rd party tool thanks in advance kindly reply as soon as possible regards Salman Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (2 votes) Re: Is ExtendedRichTextBox.dll microsoft own developemt? [modified] Laraka 12:52 30 Jan '08   ExtendedRichTextBox.dll does not seem to be a Microsoft offering. A quick google indicates this question has been asked before. The file's properties state the Company is "BXSW". And given that the origin and license of the ExtendedRichTextBox.dll component is unknown (and misrepresented), the code in this article becomes useless for any sort of commercial use, unfortunately. Maybe salysle can enlighten us, please ? This is a great article and it would be nice to be able to use it. modified on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:59:10 PM