Add RichEdit to a Web Forms Application

Sep 09, 2024
3 minutes to read

This topic describes how to add the client-side RichEdit control to a Web Forms application.

View Example: RichEdit for ASP.NET Core - How to integrate a control into an ASP.NET Web Forms application

Prerequisites

Make sure you have Node.js and npm installed on your machine.

Requirements

To use the RichEdit control in a Web Forms application, you need to have a Universal, DXperience, or ASP.NET subscription.
Versions of the devexpress npm packages should be identical (their major and minor versions should be the same).

How to Add RichEdit to a Web Forms Application

Install a RichEdit Package

The devexpress-richedit npm package references devextreme-dist as peerDependencies. The peerDependencies packages should be installed manually. This allows developers to control a version of the peerDependencies packages and guarantees that the package is installed once.

Install a RichEdit package with required peerDependencies:

If the package.json file does not exist, create an npm configuration file as follows: npm init -y
Install a RichEdit package with required peerDependencies:

You can find all the libraries in the node_modules folder after the installation is completed.

Create a RichEdit Bundle

Create a RichEdit Bundle.

console

cd node_modules/devexpress-richedit
npm i --save-dev
npm run build-custom
cd ../..

Copy RichEdit Scripts

Copy the bundled script node_modules/devexpress-richedit/dist/custom/dx.richedit.min.js to the Scripts folder.
Copy the bundled css resources node_modules/devexpress-richedit/dist/custom/dx.richedit.css and icons from the node_modules/devexpress-richedit/dist/custom/icons folder to the Content folder.

Register the Scripts on a Page

Add scripts into the <head> tag of the Default.aspx page.

html

<link href="Content/dx.richedit.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="Scripts/dx.richedit.min.js"></script>

Create a JavaScript Function that Initializes a RichEdit

Create the Scripts/richedit-creator.js file with the following content.

javascript

function createRichEdit(exportUrl, documentAsBase64) {
    const options = DevExpress.RichEdit.createOptions();
    options.confirmOnLosingChanges.enabled = false;
    options.exportUrl = exportUrl;
    options.width = '1400px';
    options.height = '900px';
    var richElement = document.getElementById("rich-container");
    const richEdit = DevExpress.RichEdit.create(richElement, options);
    if (documentAsBase64)
        richEdit.openDocument(documentAsBase64, "DocumentName", DevExpress.RichEdit.DocumentFormat.Rtf);
}

Add scripts into the <head> tag of the Default.aspx page.

html

<script src="./richedit-creator.js"></script>

How to set RichEdit options | Client-side API code samples

Create a RichEdit Object

Add a container for RichEdit to the Default.aspx page.
Create a RichEdit Object.

How to set RichEdit options | Client-side API code samples

Save a Document

RichEdit uses post requests to save a document. We recommend that you use the Web API to handle these requests.

Add the following code to the AppStart/RouteConfig.cs file to add a routing for the Web API.
Create the Controllers/RichEditController.cs controller ad populate it with the followig code.

Open a Document

To open a document on RichEdit’s first load, save a document path to a public global variable and pass it to RichEdit’s page.

csharp

public string InitialDocument;
...
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //InitialDocument = Convert.ToBase64String(System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(
        // Server.MapPath($"{documentFolderPath}template.rtf")));
    InitialDocument = "e1xydGYxXGRlZmYwe1xmb250dGJse1xmMCBDYWxpYnJpO319e1xjb2xvcnRibCA7XHJlZDB"
        + "cZ3JlZW4wXGJsdWUyNTUgO1xyZWQyNTVcZ3JlZW4yNTVcYmx1ZTI1NSA7fXtcKlxkZWZjaHAgXGZzMjJ9e1xzdHl"
        + "sZXNoZWV0IHtccWxcZnMyMiBOb3JtYWw7fXtcKlxjczFcZnMyMiBEZWZhdWx0IFBhcmFncmFwaCBGb250O317XCp"
        + "cY3MyXGZzMjJcY2YxIEh5cGVybGluazt9e1wqXHRzM1x0c3Jvd2RcZnMyMlxxbFx0c3ZlcnRhbHRcdHNjZWxsY2J"
        + "wYXQyXHRzY2VsbHBjdDBcY2x0eGxydGIgTm9ybWFsIFRhYmxlO319e1wqXGxpc3RvdmVycmlkZXRhYmxlfXtcaW5"
        + "mb31cbm91aWNvbXBhdFxzcGx5dHduaW5lXGh0bWF1dHNwXGV4cHNocnRuXHNwbHRwZ3BhclxkZWZ0YWI3MjBcc2V"
        + "jdGRcbWFyZ2xzeG4xNDQwXG1hcmdyc3huMTQ0MFxtYXJndHN4bjE0NDBcbWFyZ2JzeG4xNDQwXGhlYWRlcnk3MjB"
        + "cZm9vdGVyeTcyMFxwZ3dzeG4xMjI0MFxwZ2hzeG4xNTg0MFxjb2xzMVxjb2xzeDcyMFxwYXJkXHBsYWluXHFse1x"
        + "mczIyXGNmMFxjczEgRG9jdW1lbnQgdGV4dH1cZnMyMlxjZjBccGFyfQ==";
}