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112 lines
9.7 KiB
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112 lines
9.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "RichTextBox Overview"
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description: Learn how the Windows Presentation Foundation RichTextBox control lets users display or edit content like text, images, and tables. See XAML and C# examples.
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ms.date: "03/30/2017"
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dev_langs:
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- "csharp"
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- "vb"
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helpviewer_keywords:
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- "controls [WPF], RichTextBox"
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- "RichTextBox control [WPF], about RichTextBox control"
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ms.assetid: c94548b2-c1e9-4b62-b10c-dd8740eb23d8
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---
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# RichTextBox Overview
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The <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> control enables you to display or edit flow content including paragraphs, images, tables, and more. This topic introduces the <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> class and provides examples of how to use it in both [!INCLUDE[TLA#tla_xaml](../../../includes/tlasharptla-xaml-md.md)] and C#.
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<a name="textbox_or_richtextbox"></a>
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## TextBox or RichTextBox?
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Both <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> and <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> allow users to edit text, however, the two controls are used in different scenarios. A <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> is a better choice when it is necessary for the user to edit formatted text, images, tables, or other rich content. For example, editing a document, article, or blog that requires formatting, images, etc is best accomplished using a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>. A <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> requires less system resources than a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> and it is ideal when only plain text needs to be edited (i.e. usage in forms). See [TextBox Overview](textbox-overview.md) for more information on <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox>. The table below summarizes the main features of <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> and <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>.
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|Control|Real-time Spellchecking|Context Menu|Formatting commands like <xref:System.Windows.Documents.EditingCommands.ToggleBold%2A> (Ctr+B)|<xref:System.Windows.Documents.FlowDocument> content like images, paragraphs, tables, etc.|
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|-------------|------------------------------|------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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|<xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox>|Yes|Yes|No|No.|
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|<xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>|Yes|Yes|Yes|Yes|
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> [!NOTE]
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> Although <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> does not support formatting related commands like <xref:System.Windows.Documents.EditingCommands.ToggleBold%2A> (Ctr+B), many basic commands are supported by both controls such as <xref:System.Windows.Documents.EditingCommands.MoveToLineEnd%2A>.
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The features from the table above are covered in more detail later.
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<a name="creating_a_richtextbox"></a>
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## Creating a RichTextBox
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The code below shows how to create a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> that a user can edit rich content in.
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[!code-xaml[RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip#BasicRichTextBoxExampleWholePage](~/samples/snippets/csharp/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip/CSharp/BasicRichTextBoxExample.xaml#basicrichtextboxexamplewholepage)]
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Specifically, the content edited in a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> is flow content. Flow content can contain many types of elements including formatted text, images, lists, and tables. See [Flow Document Overview](../advanced/flow-document-overview.md) for in depth information on flow documents. In order to contain flow content, a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> hosts a <xref:System.Windows.Documents.FlowDocument> object which in turn contains the editable content. To demonstrate flow content in a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>, the following code shows how to create a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> with a paragraph and some bolded text.
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[!code-xaml[RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip#RichTextBoxWithContentExampleWholePage](~/samples/snippets/csharp/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip/CSharp/RichTextBoxWithContentExample.xaml#richtextboxwithcontentexamplewholepage)]
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[!code-csharp[RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_procedural_snip#BasicRichTextBoxWithContentCodeOnlyExample](~/samples/snippets/csharp/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_procedural_snip/CSharp/BasicRichTextBoxWithContentExample.cs#basicrichtextboxwithcontentcodeonlyexample)]
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[!code-vb[RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_procedural_snip#BasicRichTextBoxWithContentCodeOnlyExample](~/samples/snippets/visualbasic/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_procedural_snip/visualbasic/basicrichtextboxwithcontentexample.vb#basicrichtextboxwithcontentcodeonlyexample)]
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The following illustration shows how this sample renders.
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Elements like <xref:System.Windows.Documents.Paragraph> and <xref:System.Windows.Documents.Bold> determine how the content inside a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> appears. As a user edits <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> content, they change this flow content. To learn more about the features of flow content and how to work with it, see [Flow Document Overview](../advanced/flow-document-overview.md).
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> [!NOTE]
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> Flow content inside a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> does not behave exactly like flow content contained in other controls. For example, there are no columns in a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> and hence no automatic resizing behavior. Also, built in features like search, viewing mode, page navigation, and zoom are not available within a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>.
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<a name="realtime_spellechecking"></a>
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## Real-time Spell Checking
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You can enable real-time spell checking in a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> or <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>. When spellchecking is turned on, a red line appears underneath any misspelled words (see picture below).
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See [Enable Spell Checking in a Text Editing Control](how-to-enable-spell-checking-in-a-text-editing-control.md) to learn how to enable spellchecking.
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<a name="context_menu"></a>
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## Context Menu
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By default, both <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> and <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> have a context menu that appears when a user right-clicks inside the control. The context menu allows the user to cut, copy, or paste (see illustration below).
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You can create your own custom context menu to override the default one. See [Position a Custom Context Menu in a RichTextBox](how-to-position-a-custom-context-menu-in-a-richtextbox.md) for more information.
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<a name="detect_when_content_changes"></a>
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## Editing Commands
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Editing commands enable users to format editable content inside a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>. Besides basic editing commands, <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> includes formatting commands that <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> does not support. For example, when editing in a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>, a user could press Ctr+B to toggle bold text formatting. See <xref:System.Windows.Documents.EditingCommands> for a complete list of commands available. In addition to using keyboard shortcuts, you can hook commands up to other controls like buttons. The following example shows how to create a simple tool bar containing buttons that the user can use to change text formatting.
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[!code-xaml[RichTextBox_InputPanel_snip#RichTextBoxWithToolBarExampleWholePage](~/samples/snippets/csharp/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBox_InputPanel_snip/CS/Window1.xaml#richtextboxwithtoolbarexamplewholepage)]
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The following illustration shows how this sample displays.
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<a name="editing_commands"></a>
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## Detect when Content Changes
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Usually the <xref:System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.TextBoxBase.TextChanged> event should be used to detect whenever the text in a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.TextBox> or <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> changes rather then <xref:System.Windows.UIElement.KeyDown> as you might expect. See [Detect When Text in a TextBox Has Changed](how-to-detect-when-text-in-a-textbox-has-changed.md) for an example.
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<a name="save_load_and_print_richtextbox_content"></a>
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## Save, Load, and Print RichTextBox Content
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The following example shows how to save content of a <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox> to a file, load that content back into the <xref:System.Windows.Controls.RichTextBox>, and print the contents. Below is the markup for the example.
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[!code-xaml[RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip#SaveLoadPrintRTBExampleWholePage](~/samples/snippets/csharp/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip/CSharp/SaveLoadPrintRTB.xaml#saveloadprintrtbexamplewholepage)]
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Below is the code behind for the example.
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[!code-csharp[RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip#SaveLoadPrintRTBCodeExampleWholePage](~/samples/snippets/csharp/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip/CSharp/SaveLoadPrintRTB.xaml.cs#saveloadprintrtbcodeexamplewholepage)]
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[!code-vb[RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip#SaveLoadPrintRTBCodeExampleWholePage](~/samples/snippets/visualbasic/VS_Snippets_Wpf/RichTextBoxMiscSnippets_snip/VisualBasic/SaveLoadPrintRTB.xaml.vb#saveloadprintrtbcodeexamplewholepage)]
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## See also
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- [How-to Topics](richtextbox-how-to-topics.md)
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- [TextBox Overview](textbox-overview.md)
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