How to: Specify Default Document Formatting

Sep 15, 2023
2 minutes to read

You can use one of the following approaches to specify default document formatting.

Set Default Formatting to the RichEditControl

The static RichEditControlCompatibility.DefaultFontSize and RichEditControlCompatibility.DefaultFontName properties set the default font settings for all RichEditControl instances in the application. Specify these properties before initialization of all controls, in the Main method, as illustrated in the following code.

View Example

Program.cs
Program.vb

csharp

static void Main()
{
    Application.EnableVisualStyles();
    Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
    DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.RichEditControlCompatibility.DefaultFontSize = 8;
    DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.RichEditControlCompatibility.DefaultFontName = "Tahoma";
    Application.Run(new Form1());
}

<STAThread> _
Shared Sub Main()
    Application.EnableVisualStyles()
    Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(False)
    DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.RichEditControlCompatibility.DefaultFontSize = 8
    DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.RichEditControlCompatibility.DefaultFontName = "Tahoma"
    Application.Run(New Form1())
End Sub

Set Default Formatting to the Specific Document

For the document loaded in the RichEditControl, you can specify default formatting characteristics individually using the Document.DefaultCharacterProperties and Document.DefaultParagraphProperties settings. These settings override the RichEditControlCompatibility settings.

View Example

Form1.vb
Form1.cs

Private Sub RichEditControl1_EmptyDocumentCreated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    richEditControl1.Document.DefaultCharacterProperties.ForeColor = Color.Red
    richEditControl1.Document.DefaultParagraphProperties.Alignment = DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native.ParagraphAlignment.Center
    richEditControl1.Document.AppendText("Document created at " & Date.Now.ToLongTimeString())
End Sub

csharp

private void RichEditControl1_EmptyDocumentCreated(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    richEditControl1.Document.DefaultCharacterProperties.ForeColor = Color.Red;
    richEditControl1.Document.DefaultParagraphProperties.Alignment = DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native.ParagraphAlignment.Center;
    richEditControl1.Document.AppendText("Document created at " + DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString());
}

Tip

To copy default document formatting from one document to another, use the Assign method. The code snippet below copies default document formatting characteristics from the document loaded in the richEditControl2 control to the document contained in the richEditControl1 :

C#
VB.NET

csharp

richEditControl1.Document.DefaultCharacterProperties.Assign(richEditControl2.Document.DefaultCharacterProperties);
richEditControl1.Document.DefaultParagraphProperties.Assign(richEditControl2.Document.DefaultParagraphProperties);

richEditControl1.Document.DefaultCharacterProperties.Assign(richEditControl2.Document.DefaultCharacterProperties)
richEditControl1.Document.DefaultParagraphProperties.Assign(richEditControl2.Document.DefaultParagraphProperties)