Using the RichTextEdit control

You can add a RichTextEdit control to a window to enhance your application with word processing capabilities.

Users can enter text in a RichTextEdit control, format it, save it to a file, and print it. You can also enable a pop-up menu from which users can control the appearance of the control and import documents.

1. In the Window painter, select Insert>Control>RichTextEdit and click the window.

You modify the appearance of a RichTextEdit control by setting its properties. Some of the properties you can set are:

• The toolbars that appear in the control

• The visibility of nonprinting characters and graphics

1. Select the control, then select the Document tab in the Properties view.

2. Choose the appropriate properties to display toolbars.

3. Choose the appropriate properties if you want to display nonprinting characters such as tabs, spaces, and returns.

   For information about other options on the Document properties page, select Help from the property page’s pop-up menu.

There are times when you might want to import a file into the RichTextEdit control and not give the user the opportunity to alter it. You can make a control read-only by setting the Enabled and Popup Menu properties.

1. Select the control, then select the General tab in the Properties view.

2. Make sure the Enabled check box is cleared.

3. Select the Document tab.

4. Make sure the PopMenu check box is cleared.

If you enable the pop-up menu property, users can customize the appearance of the RichTextEdit control.

From the pop-up menu, users can:

• Perform editing tasks (cut, copy, paste, and clear)

• Insert a file into the RichTextEdit control

• Display and modify the Rich Text Object dialog box

  

  The General property page on the user’s Rich Text Object dialog box presents many of the same options as the Document property page in the development environment.

For more information about the RichTextEdit control, see the chapter on implementing rich text in Application Techniques.