We are pleased to announce the release of the 2020.1 version of our WinForms Controls.  This version includes the massive SyntaxEditor enhancements and updates we’ve been working on that have previously been described as “SyntaxEditor vNext” in the blog, and moves the older WinForms SyntaxEditor API to the same codebase already used by the WPF and UWP SyntaxEditor versions.  This change brings a number of new features to the WinForms SyntaxEditor (including some huge premium add-on language updates) and will allow us to keep all three SyntaxEditor platform implementations in sync as new features are added in the future.

This announcement post contains the detailed list of updates.

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Let’s dig in and see a handful of the larger SyntaxEditor updates.

Cross-Platform Design

The internals of SyntaxEditor have been heavily refactored to support a cross-platform API across the WPF, UWP, and WinForms platforms. This allows SyntaxEditor features for the three platforms to be kept in sync moving forward.  The 2019.1 WPF and UWP versions of SyntaxEditor already have this codebase in place.

Carets and Selection

Multiple Selections

Multiple selections, each with their own caret, are now supported. A new selection can be added by holding the Ctrl key when clicking in the text area or clicking on the selection or line number margins.  Most edit actions have been refactored to fully support multiple selections. For instance, pressing Shift+Right Arrow will extend all of the selections by one character. 

Copying text from multiple selections unions the selected text, joining each range's text with a line terminator.  Pasting multi-line text into a view with the same number of selections as text lines being pasted will replace each selection with a related line from the pasted text.

Touch Selection Grippers

Selection grippers will show for the primary selection when touch input is used.

Caret Movement

Carets now support movement at both the start and end of word wrapped lines.

Search Overlay Pane

A new search overlay pane displays over the upper-right of the active editor view when Ctrl+F (find mode) or Ctrl+H (replace mode) are pressed in a multi-line editor.  A toggle mode button on the search overlay pane switches between find and replace modes, and all common search options are supported via toggle buttons and other controls.  The search overlay pane can be closed by clicking the X button or by pressing Esc.

Ctrl+F3 will open the search overlay pane without focusing it, and will search forward for the currently-selected text. Ctrl+Shift+F3 will do the same but will search backwards.

F3 will search for the next match of the previously-used search options. Shift+F3 will search for the previous match of the previously-used search options.

If the SyntaxEditor.IsSearchResultHighlightingEnabled property is true, the search results can be highlighted while the search overlay pane is open. Closing the search overlay pane, clears the search result highlights.

IntelliPrompt

Metro Images

Metro Light and Metro Dark common image sets are now included as options instead of the existing Classic common image set.

Completion Match Highlights

As text is typed while a completion list is open, the text in each item that matches the typed text is highlighted.

Completion Filters

An auto-shrink filter is now available that can optionally trim down the items in the completion list based on typed text.

Other filters can be added to completion lists, rendering as toggle buttons or even tabs.

Completion Matching

Various completion list item matchers and match options have been added, that allow for special item matching logic to be injected.  Numerous built-in item matchers are available such as starts-with, acronym, shorthand, etc.

Quick Info and Parameter Info

The quick info and parameter info tips have been updated to use the current editor background and syntax highlighting colors.

Splitting

The scrollbar splitter button now has a larger appearance.

The view splitter can be dragged to the bottom of the view to remove the split and keep the top view.

Scrolling and Zooming

Touch Scrolling

Smooth inertia-based touch scrolling has been added.

Horizontal Scrolling

Editor views can be scrolled horizontally with Shift+MouseWheel

Better logic was implemented for managing horizontal scroll maximums, especially when scrolling vertically.

Scroll API

New programmatic scroll methods were added that allow for aligning an anchor line to the top/center/bottom of a view with a specified pixel displacement, or scrolling by pixels.

ScrollBar Acceleration

The vertical scrollbar accelerates its scrolling speed the longer you hold the up or down button.

Margins

Line Number Customization

A new line number provider language service was added that allows for complete customization of how line numbers are rendered in the line number margin.  In addition, a property was added to the document that sets the line number for the first line in the document, defaulting to one.

Ruler Margin

A optional new ruler margin was added that is useful for column display when working with fixed-width fonts.

Outlining Margin Highlights

Highlights render over contained lines when hovering over an outlining node in the outlining margin.

Line Modification Marks

Line modification marks now have improved logic that better tracks unsaved, saves, and reverted changes.

Indicator Glyphs

The rendering of built-in indicator glyphs was improved.

Editing

Delimiters

Options for delimiter (bracket) auto-complete and delimiter highlighting are available when delimiter-related language services are registered on the syntax language.

Triple Clicks

Added support for triple-clicks to select an entire view line. Dragging the pointer on the final click will extend the selection by view line.

Text Rendering

Text rendering now properly handles cultural editing concepts like complex glyphs, bi-directional text, etc.

.NET Languages Add-on

The C# parser and resolver were updated to support C# 7.3 syntax, and the VB parser and resolver were updated to support VB 15.8 syntax.  Much-improved resolver logic is now present that is far more accurate than in previous versions.

The IntelliPrompt completion list now shows toggle button filters for the various kinds of items displayed in the list.

Web Languages Add-on

Added advanced syntax language implementations for the JavaScript and JSON languages.

Python Language Add-on

This new add-on implements an advanced syntax language for the Python language.

Almost 100 Samples

We've added so many SyntaxEditor samples to this new version that we had to create a brand new Sample Browser app design to support them all!

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2019.1 version of our UWP Controls.  This version includes the massive SyntaxEditor enhancements and updates we’ve been working on that have previously been described as “SyntaxEditor vNext” in the blog.

This announcement post contains the detailed list of updates in the 2019.1 version.  Please be aware that Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709) or later and usage of the Microsoft's free 'Win2D.uwp' NuGet package are now required.

We also have published a maintenance release for the 2018.1 version.  All of the updates are listed in this announcement post, and are included in the 2019.1 version codebase as well.

Download Buy Now

Let’s dig in and see a handful of the larger SyntaxEditor updates.

Cross-Platform Design

The internals of SyntaxEditor have been heavily refactored to support a cross-platform API across the WPF, UWP, and WinForms platforms. This allows SyntaxEditor features for the three platforms to be kept in sync moving forward.  The 2019.1 WPF version of SyntaxEditor is already out and the WinForms version will follow later this year.

Text Rendering

Text rendering is many times faster than in the previous versions, making an enormous leap forward in performance.

Text rendering now properly handles cultural editing concepts like complex glyphs, bi-directional text, etc.

Carets and Selection

Multiple Selections

Multiple selections, each with their own caret, are now supported. A new selection can be added by holding the Ctrl key when clicking in the text area or clicking on the selection or line number margins.  Most edit actions have been refactored to fully support multiple selections. For instance, pressing Shift+Right Arrow will extend all of the selections by one character. 

Copying text from multiple selections unions the selected text, joining each range's text with a line terminator.  Pasting multi-line text into a view with the same number of selections as text lines being pasted will replace each selection with a related line from the pasted text.

Caret Movement

Carets now support movement at both the start and end of word wrapped lines.

Virtual space is now supported at the end of lines when a new option is enabled.  Block selections can be made in virtual space at the end of lines, even without line end virtual space being enabled. This prevents the caret from snapping to an offset when making a block selection, which can sometimes be problematic.

Drag/Drop

Text drag and drop support has been added, allowing text to be quickly moved around the editor.

Search Overlay Pane

A new search overlay pane displays over the upper-right of the active editor view when Ctrl+F (find mode) or Ctrl+H (replace mode) are pressed in a multi-line editor.  A toggle mode button on the search overlay pane switches between find and replace modes, and all common search options are supported via toggle buttons and other controls.  The search overlay pane can be closed by clicking the X button or by pressing Esc.

Ctrl+F3 will open the search overlay pane without focusing it, and will search forward for the currently-selected text. Ctrl+Shift+F3 will do the same but will search backwards.

F3 will search for the next match of the previously-used search options. Shift+F3 will search for the previous match of the previously-used search options.

If the SyntaxEditor.IsSearchResultHighlightingEnabled property is true, the search results can be highlighted while the search overlay pane is open. Closing the search overlay pane, clears the search result highlights.

IntelliPrompt

Vector Images

The Metro Light and Metro Dark common image sets are now in vector form and render beautifully in high DPI.

Completion Filters

Completion filters have been updated so when there are multiple active filters with the same ICompletionFilter.GroupName, any one of those filters can includes an item.  Toggle button completion filters were changed to appear unchecked when they aren't active, which is more natural.

Ctrl Key Opacity Changes

The logic for making IntelliPrompt popups and the new search overlay pane semi-transparent when the Ctrl key is held has been refactored and improved.  A brief delay was added before the opacity change occurs.

Splitting

Splitting the editor to show two stacked views is now possible.

The view splitter can be dragged to the bottom of the view to remove the split and keep the top view.

Scrolling and Zooming

Touch Scrolling

Smooth inertia-based touch scrolling has been added.

Auto ScrollBar Visibility

The horizontal and vertical scrollbars now support an Auto visibility option that will only display then when necessary.

Horizontal Scrolling

Editor views can be scrolled horizontally with Shift+MouseWheel

Better logic was implemented for managing horizontal scroll maximums, especially when scrolling vertically.

ScrollBar Acceleration

The vertical scrollbar accelerates its scrolling speed the longer you hold the up or down button.

Scroll API

New programmatic scroll methods were added that allow for aligning an anchor line to the top/center/bottom of a view with a specified pixel displacement, or scrolling by pixels.

Margins

Line Number Customization

A new line number provider language service was added that allows for complete customization of how line numbers are rendered in the line number margin.  In addition, a property was added to the document that sets the line number for the first line in the document, defaulting to one.

Ruler Margin

A new optional ruler margin has been added.

Indicator Glyphs

The rendering of built-in indicator glyphs was improved.

TextStylePreview Control

The TextStylePreview control has been added that renders a highlighting style.

.NET Languages Add-on

IntelliPrompt completion list toggle button filters were added for the various kinds of items displayed in the list.  The IntelliPrompt completion filter UI (toggle buttons and tabs) only shows based on the available items in the unfiltered list. For instance, if there are no types in the list, no 'Types' toggle button filter is visible.

Python Language Add-on

IntelliPrompt completion list toggle button filters were added for the various kinds of items displayed in the list.  The IntelliPrompt completion filter UI (toggle buttons and tabs) only shows based on the available items in the unfiltered list. For instance, if there are no classes in the list, no 'Classes' toggle button filter is visible.

Web Languages Add-on

Full XML schema support, including validation and automated IntelliPrompt, has been added to the XML syntax language.

A new v2019.1 WPF controls maintenance release is now ready for download.  This build makes numerous improvements and bug fixes across many products, with some more notable ones discussed below.

See the announcement post for the detailed list of improvements and updates.

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Edit Box Decimal Place Rounding

All numeric edit boxes in Editors now allow you to specify the exact decimal place at which to round numeric values.

SyntaxEditor Touch Interaction

Touch-based input for operations such as scrolling, zooming, and selection have been greatly refined so that they are more natural.

IntelliPrompt Quick Info and Parameter Info

The previous build started supporting the use of syntax highlighting for foreground colors.  A problem was that it was using some app resources for background colors, meaning some scenarios could occur where the foreground text would blend with the background. 

The fix for this problem made in this new build is to use the editor view's background color as the background of the quick info and parameter info tips.  That ensures the foreground colors always render in a readable way in regards to the background.

We are ready to begin beta testing of our Universal Windows version of SyntaxEditor that contains all the updates for our vNext project.

Beta testers will get a first look at all the new features and can give us feedback prior to a final official release.

Beta Testers

We are looking for beta testers who:

• Will actively use supplied preview builds to help ensure the beta is stable.
• Will report suggestions for improvement of new features.
• Will report any bugs that are encountered.
• Ideally is signed up in our Slack workspace, as it’s easiest to communicate through that during testing phases.

Please contact our support team privately via a ticket to sign up for beta testing:

Contact Our Support Team to Sign Up

Please indicate the following in your message:

• Your name and e-mail address.
• If you are already an existing customer, and which syntax language(s) you currently use.
• The platform(s) you’d like to test (Universal Windows).
• If you are already signed up in our Slack workspace.

Thanks for your help and we look forward to working with our testers.

Thanks for your help and we look forward to working with our testers.

The SyntaxEditor vNext work is already launched in the v2019.1 SyntaxEditor for WPF release, and is coming to the SyntaxEditor for UWP as part of this beta, followed by SyntaxEditor for WinForms.

A new v2019.1 WPF controls maintenance release is now ready for download.  This build improves the new search overlay pane, updates how IntelliPrompt quick info and parameter info tips are rendered, and fixes several bugs.

See the announcement post for the detailed list of improvements and updates.

Download Buy Now

Search Overlay Pane

The search overlay pane will now automatically move the selection to the next match as the find text is typed.

In this example, we see how altering the find text causes the selection to instantly move to the next match.

IntelliPrompt Quick Info and Parameter Info

This build updates all IntelliPrompt quick info and parameter info tips to use syntax highlighting for foreground colors and new application-based theme brush resources for the background/border of the info tips themselves.  Previously, info tips always rendered with a light background and generally used fixed colors for foregrounds.

This change was made to ensure that colors used in the info tips more closely resembles the actual syntax highlighting in SyntaxEditor.  It also allows info tips in Metro Dark theme to use a dark background.