WPF text control with colors only

Question

I need a text control where the user is able to edit text and where some parts of the text can have different colors based on the text. Basically, imagine Visual Studio source file editor or any other source file editor which colors the source code. What WPF control is that? None of the three options in WPF I am aware of are not suitable:

TextBox doesn't allow colors

TextBlock doesn't allow users to edit the text

RichTextBox allows too much - I just want colors.

Maybe RichTextBox can have fixed other text formattings (i.e. fonts, bold, italic)? Any thoughts?

The Visual Studio text editor is not a standard control. So you could search for a 3rd party control or build one yourself. — Emond Erno

Mario Vernari Mario Vernari · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-08T07:33:39

Here is a (very) rough example keeping stick with TextBox and TextBlock: just for fun, but worthwhile...

enter image description here

Here is the XAML...

<Grid>
    <TextBlock
        x:Name="Tx1"
        HorizontalAlignment="{Binding Path=HorizontalAlignment, ElementName=Tb1}"
        VerticalAlignment="{Binding Path=VerticalAlignment, ElementName=Tb1}"
        Margin="{Binding Path=Margin, ElementName=Tb1}"
        FontSize="{Binding Path=FontSize, ElementName=Tb1}"
        />

    <TextBox
        x:Name="Tb1"
        HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
        VerticalAlignment="Center"
        Margin="100,0"
        FontSize="24"
        Background="Transparent"
        Foreground="Transparent"
        TextChanged="Tb1_TextChanged"
        />
</Grid>

...and here is some code...

    private void Tb1_TextChanged(object sender, TextChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var inlines = this.Tx1.Inlines;
        inlines.Clear();

        foreach (char ch in this.Tb1.Text)
        {
            if (Char.IsDigit(ch))
            {
                var run = new Run(ch.ToString());
                run.Foreground = Brushes.Blue;
                inlines.Add(run);
            }
            else if (Char.IsLetter(ch))
            {
                var run = new Run(ch.ToString());
                run.Foreground = Brushes.Red;
                inlines.Add(run);
            }
            else
            {
                var run = new Run(ch.ToString());
                run.Foreground = Brushes.LimeGreen;
                inlines.Add(run);
            }
        }
    }

The trick is using a transparent TextBox over a TextBlock, which can be colored by collecting many different Run elements.

WPF text control with colors only

3 Answers