Free Languages
SyntaxEditor includes over 20 free syntax language implementations that can be used in your applications, everything from C# and VB, to HTML, CSS, Java, and more.
Plain Text Language
The plain text language is included as a syntax language to use when no other language is applicable. Since the ICodeDocument.Language property cannot be set to a null value, the plain text language is the ideal language to use when a document doesn't need a language implementation assigned.
The plain text language can be retrieved via the SyntaxLanguage.PlainText property.
Open Source Languages with a Dynamic Lexer
There are a number of open source languages included that use a dynamic lexer.
The languages each have a language project that can be opened and edited using the Language Designer tool. That tool allows you to modify information about a language in a language project and generate code for the language based on the project. Language project files are located in this folder relative to the Sample Browser project's root:
\ProductSamples\SyntaxEditorSamples\Languages\Projects
Important
The language projects all specify a relative code generation output path that may not be present on other machines. The Language Designer will warn you with an error when building the language projects if the path does not exist on your machine. In that case, simply change to the code generation output path to another location that is valid for your machine.
Each of the languages that have language projects in the folder above have had a language definition file code-generated by the Language Designer tool. The language definition files can be distributed with your applications and loaded at run-time. Language definition files are located in this folder relative to the Sample Browser project's root:
\ProductSamples\SyntaxEditorSamples\Languages\Definitions
This is the list of languages included:
| Language Name | Project Filename | Definition Filename |
|---|---|---|
| Assembly | Assembly.langproj | Assembly.langdef |
| Batch File | BatchFile.langproj | BatchFile.langdef |
| C | C.langproj | C.langdef |
| C# | CSharp.langproj | CSharp.langdef |
| C++ | Cpp.langproj | Cpp.langdef |
| CSS | Css.langproj | Css.langdef |
| HTML | Html.langproj | Html.langdef |
| INI File | IniFile.langproj | IniFile.langdef |
| Java | Java.langproj | Java.langdef |
| JavaScript | JavaScript.langproj | JavaScript.langdef |
| Lua | Lua.langproj | Lua.langdef |
| Markdown | Markdown.langproj | Markdown.langdef |
| MSIL | Msil.langproj | Msil.langdef |
| Pascal | Pascal.langproj | Pascal.langdef |
| Perl | Perl.langproj | Perl.langdef |
| PHP | Php.langproj | Php.langdef |
| PowerShell | PowerShell.langproj | PowerShell.langdef |
| Python | Python.langproj | Python.langdef |
| RTF | Rtf.langproj | Rtf.langdef |
| Ruby | Ruby.langproj | Ruby.langdef |
| SQL | Sql.langproj | Sql.langdef |
| VB | VB.langproj | VB.langdef |
| VBScript | VBScript.langproj | VBScript.langdef |
| XAML | Xaml.langproj | Xaml.langdef |
| XML | Xml.langproj | Xml.langdef |
Creating a New Language
Don't see a language listed above that fits your needs? No problem!
One option if one of the languages above is close to your language syntactically, is to copy the related language project file, and open your copied language project in the Language Designer tool to change its lexer configuration and other features appropriately.
Another option is to use the Language Designer tool to create a new language project from scratch. It has a bunch of helpful features to get you up and running quickly with a custom syntax language implementation.
Be sure to read through the Language Creation Guide for details on what a syntax language is and what features are available to be added to a language. That is essential information for building your own syntax language.