How to Create a Text Editor with Rich Textbox in Visual Basic.NET

Text editors are very important tools for anyone who writes code, documents, or just about anything that involves text. With Visual Basic.NET, it's easy to create your own text editor with a rich textbox that supports different formatting options such as font styles, font sizes, and font colors. In this article, we will discuss the steps to create a text editor with a rich textbox in Visual Basic.NET.

 

Before we get started, let's take a brief look at what a rich textbox in visual basic.Net is. A rich textbox is a text box control that allows users to input and display text with a range of formatting options. These formatting options can include font styles, font sizes, font colors, bold text, italic text, underlined text, and more. Essentially, a rich textbox allows you to create formatted text similar to what you might find in a word processor.

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Visual Basic.NET, open the Visual Studio IDE and click on "Create a new project." Select "Windows Forms App (.NET Framework)" from the list of templates and enter a name for your project. Click on "Create" to create a new project.

 

Step 2: Add a Rich Textbox Control to Your Form

Once your project is created, drag a RichTextBox control from the toolbox onto your form. You can find the RichTextBox control in the "Common Controls" section of the toolbox.

 

Step 3: Add Formatting Options

To add formatting options to your rich textbox control, you will need to use the properties window. Select the rich textbox control on your form, and then click on the "Properties" window in the Visual Studio IDE. From here, you can set properties such as the font style, font size, and font color for your rich textbox control.

 

Step 4: Add Menu Items for Formatting Options

To make it easier for users to access formatting options, you can add menu items to your form that correspond to the formatting options in your rich textbox control. To do this, drag a "MenuStrip" control from the toolbox onto your form. Next, add menu items for formatting options such as "Bold," "Italic," and "Underline." You can do this by right-clicking on the menu strip control and selecting "Add Item."

 

Step 5: Add Code to Handle Menu Item Clicks

Finally, you will need to add code to handle the click events for the menu items you added in step 4. To do this, select the menu item you want to handle and then click on the lightning bolt icon in the Properties window to open the events window. From here, you can double-click on the "Click" event to add code to handle the click event for the menu item.

In the code editor, you can add code to apply the corresponding formatting option to the selected text in the rich textbox control. For example, to apply bold text to the selected text in the rich textbox control, you can use the following code:

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Drawing.Printing
Public Class Form1
Dim cpb As Mystring
Private PrintPageSettings As New PageSettings()
Private MystringToPrint As Mystring
Private PrintFont As New Font("Arial", 12)
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        RichTextBox1.WordWrap = False
        RichTextBox1.ScrollBars = ScrollBars.Both
        RichTextBox1.AcceptsTab = True
        RichTextBox1.DetectUrls = True
    End Sub
Private Sub NewToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles NewToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        If RichTextBox1.Text <> "" Then
            Dim mystr As Mystring
            mystr = MsgBox("Do you want to save the change", MsgBoxStyle.YesNoCancel, "Notepad")
            If mystr = MsgBoxResult.No Then
                RichTextBox1.Text = ""
            ElseIf mystr = MsgBoxResult.Yes Then
                Beep()
            ElseIf mystr = MsgBoxResult.Cancel Then
                Beep()
                Exit Sub
            End If
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub OpenToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles OpenToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        Dim diares As DialogResult
        OpenFileDialog1.Filter = "txt Files (Text Files)|*.txt"
        diares = OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog
        If diares = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then

            RichTextBox1.LoadFile(OpenFileDialog1.FileName, RichTextBoxMystreamType.PlainText)

        End If
    End Sub
Private Sub SaveToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles SaveToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        Dim Result As DialogResult
        SaveFileDialog1.Filter = "txt Files (Text Files)|*.txt"
        Result = SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog
        If Result = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
            RichTextBox1.SaveFile(SaveFileDialog1.FileName, RichTextBoxMystreamType.PlainText)
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub undoToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles EndoToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        RichTextBox1.Undo()
    End Sub

    Private Sub CutToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CutToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        cpb = RichTextBox1.SelectedText
        RichTextBox1.Text = RichTextBox1.Text.Remove(RichTextBox1.SelectionStart, RichTextBox1.SelectionLength)
    End Sub

    Private Sub CopyToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CopyToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        cpb = RichTextBox1.SelectedText
    End Sub

    Private Sub PasteToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles PasteToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        RichTextBox1.Text = RichTextBox1.Text & cpb
    End Sub

    Private Sub DeleteToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ClearToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        RichTextBox1.Text = RichTextBox1.Text.Remove(RichTextBox1.SelectionStart, RichTextBox1.SelectionLength)
    End Sub

    Private Sub FontToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles FontToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        Dim Result As DialogResult
        Result = FontDialog1.ShowDialog
        If Result = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
            RichTextBox1.Font = FontDialog1.Font

        End If
    End Sub

Private Sub FontColorToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles FontColorToolMystripMenuItem.Click
        If ColorDialog1.ShowDialog <> Windows.Forms.DialogResult.Cancel Then
            RichTextBox1.SelectionColor = ColorDialog1.Color


        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub WordWrapToolMystripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles WordWrapToolMystripMenuItem.Click

        Static x As Integer
        If x = 0 Then
            RichTextBox1.WordWrap = True
            WordWrapToolMystripMenuItem.CheckState = CheckState.Checked
            RichTextBox1.ScrollBars = ScrollBars.Vertical
            x = x + 1
        ElseIf x = 1 Then
            RichTextBox1.WordWrap = False
            WordWrapToolMystripMenuItem.CheckState = CheckState.Unchecked
            RichTextBox1.ScrollBars = ScrollBars.Both
            x = 0

        End If
    End Sub
Private Sub ExitToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ExitToolStripMenuItem.C
End
Private Sub ZoomInToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ZoomInToolStripMenuIt
txtNotepad.ZoomFactor = 2.0F
End Sub
Private Sub ZoomOutToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ZoomOut ToolStripMenu
txtNotepad.ZoomFactor 1.0F
End Sub

Conclusion
Creating a text editor with a rich textbox in Visual Basic.NET is a straightforward
process. By following these simple steps, you can create a text editor that
supports formatting options such as font styles, font sizes, and font colors.
Whether you're creating a code editor or a document editor, a rich textbox
control can provide the flexibility and functionality you need to create a
professional-looking application.

VB.Net