Hyperlinks and Bookmarks

• Feb 24, 2021
• 5 minutes to read

Hyperlinks

Create a Hyperlink

The following members allow you to create a Hyperlink in code:

Member	Description
SubDocument.FindAll	Searches for every range that contains the given text string.
HyperlinkCollection.Create	Creates a new item in the HyperlinkCollection.
Hyperlink.NavigateUri	Specifies the URI for the hyperlink to navigate to.
DocumentHyperlink.ToolTip	Specifies a tooltip - a text displayed when the mouse hovers over a hyperlink.

The code snippet below finds a specific range in the document and converts it to a hyperlink with a given URI and a tooltip:

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/bookmarks-and-hyperlinks-simple-example-t548777

Form1.cs

Document document = richEditControl1.Document;

//Find the specific text string in a document
DocumentRange[] foundRanges = document.FindAll("DevExpress WinForms Rich Text Editor",
SearchOptions.CaseSensitive);
if (foundRanges.Length > 0)
{
    //Create a hyperlink from a found range
    document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges[0]);

    //Set the URI and the tooltip for the created hyperlink
    document.Hyperlinks[0].NavigateUri = "https://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WinForms/Rich_Editor/";
    document.Hyperlinks[0].ToolTip = "WinForms Rich Text Editor";
}

Form1.vb

Dim document As Document = richEditControl1.Document

'Find the specific text string in a document
Dim foundRanges() As DocumentRange = document.FindAll("DevExpress WinForms Rich Text Editor", SearchOptions.CaseSensitive)
If foundRanges.Length > 0 Then
    'Create a hyperlink from a found range
    document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges(0))

    'Set the URI and the tooltip for the created hyperlink
    document.Hyperlinks(0).NavigateUri = "https://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WinForms/Rich_Editor/"
    document.Hyperlinks(0).ToolTip = "WinForms Rich Text Editor"
End If

Set Hyperlink Options

Use the HyperlinkOptions class properties to complete the following tasks:

• Change modifier flags required to activate a hyperlink (HyperlinkOptions.ModifierKeys);
• Show/hide the hyperlink tooltip (HyperlinkOptions.ShowToolTip);
• Disable/enable automatic URI correction (HyperlinkOptions.EnableUriCorrection).

The code snippet below shows how to specify these properties in code:

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/bookmarks-and-hyperlinks-simple-example-t548777

Form1.cs

hyperlinkOptions = richEditControl1.Options.Hyperlinks;

hyperlinkOptions.EnableUriCorrection = false;
hyperlinkOptions.ModifierKeys = Keys.Shift;
hyperlinkOptions.ShowToolTip = true;

Form1.vb

hyperlinkOptions = richEditControl1.Options.Hyperlinks

hyperlinkOptions.EnableUriCorrection = False
hyperlinkOptions.ModifierKeys = Keys.Shift
hyperlinkOptions.ShowToolTip = True

Note

The HYPERLINK field represents hyperlinks in the RichEditDocumentServer, therefore the DocumentCapabilitiesOptions.Fields property affects the hyperlink loading process when importing the document. Set the RichEditControlCompatibility.LoadHyperlinkAsField property to false before calling the InitializeComponent method to correct this behavior and allow loading hyperlinks when loading fields are disabled.

Remove a Hyperlink

Call the HyperlinkCollection.Remove(Hyperlink) to delete the hyperlink. The HyperlinkCollection.RemoveAt(Int32) method deletes the hyperlink at the specified index in the collection.

The code sample below locates and removes all hyperlinks in the first section:

C#

using (RichEditDocumentServer wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
{
    Document document = wordProcessor.Document;
    ReadOnlyHyperlinkCollection hyperlinks = document.Hyperlinks.Get(document.Sections[0].Range);
    if (hyperlinks != null)
    {
        foreach (Hyperlink hyperlink in hyperlinks)
        {
            document.Hyperlinks.Remove(hyperlink);
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Using wordProcessor As New RichEditDocumentServer()
    Dim document As Document = wordProcessor.Document
    Dim hyperlinks As ReadOnlyHyperlinkCollection = document.Hyperlinks.Get(document.Sections(0).Range)
    If hyperlinks IsNot Nothing Then
        For Each hyperlink As Hyperlink In hyperlinks
            document.Hyperlinks.Remove(hyperlink)
        Next hyperlink
    End If
End Using

Bookmarks

Create a Bookmark

The following code snippet creates a Bookmark and a hyperlink which navigates to the created bookmark using API from the table below:

Member	Description
SubDocument.BeginUpdate	Enables document modification.
BookmarkCollection.Create	Creates a bookmark at the given document position.
DocumentHyperlink.Anchor	Connects a bookmark with a specific hyperlink.
SubDocument.EndUpdate	Finalizes the document update.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/bookmarks-and-hyperlinks-simple-example-t548777

Form1.cs

Document document = richEditControl1.Document;
document.BeginUpdate();
DocumentPosition pos = document.Range.Start;

//Create a bookmark to a given position
document.Bookmarks.Create(document.CreateRange(pos, 1), "Top");

//Insert the hyperlink anchored to the created bookmark:
DocumentRange[] foundRanges = document.FindAll("To the Top", SearchOptions.CaseSensitive);
if (foundRanges.Length > 0)
{
    document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges[0]);
    document.Hyperlinks[1].Anchor = "Top";
}
document.EndUpdate();

Form1.vb

Dim document As Document = richEditControl1.Document
document.BeginUpdate()
Dim pos As DocumentPosition = document.Range.Start

'Create a bookmark to a given position
document.Bookmarks.Create(document.CreateRange(pos, 1), "Top")

'Insert the hyperlink anchored to the created bookmark:
Dim foundRanges() As DocumentRange = document.FindAll("To the Top", SearchOptions.CaseSensitive)
If foundRanges.Length > 0 Then
    document.Hyperlinks.Create(foundRanges(0))
    document.Hyperlinks(1).Anchor = "Top"
End If
document.EndUpdate()

The animation below shows the result:

Note

If a new bookmark name duplicates the existing one, an InvalidOperationException exception is thrown with the message obtained from the XtraRichEditStringId.Msg_DuplicateBookmark resource string that reads “Bookmark with that name already exists in the document”. Use the BookmarkOptions.ConflictNameResolution property to programmatically process bookmarks with duplicate names which may appear in your document.

Visualize the Bookmark

Use the following properties to highlight bookmarks within the document:

• BookmarkOptions.Visibility - to enable/disable bookmark highlighting;
• BookmarkOptions.Color - to set the highlighting color.

With these properties specified, the bookmarks are displayed the following way:

Export Bookmarks to the PDF format

You can specify what bookmarks can be displayed in the Bookmarks panel when you export the document to PDF format. Set the BookmarkOptions.DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane property to one of the DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.PdfBookmarkDisplayMode enumeration values, as shown below:

C#

richEditDocumentServer.Options.Bookmarks.DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane = PdfBookmarkDisplayMode.TocBookmarks;

VB.NET

richEditDocumentServer.Options.Bookmarks.DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane = PdfBookmarkDisplayMode.TocBookmarks

Use the BookmarkOptions.DisplayUnreferencedPdfBookmarks property to determine whether to show bookmarks without references (i.e., without hyperlinks anchored to these bookmarks) in the Bookmarks navigation pane. The DisplayBookmarksInPdfNavigationPane property set PdfBookmarkDisplayMode.None controls the unreferenced bookmarks when the DisplayUnreferencedPdfBookmarks property is set to true.

Remove a Bookmark

Utilize the BookmarkCollection.Remove(Bookmark) method to delete the bookmark.

The code sample below shows how to locate and remove bookmarks in the 6th paragraph:

C#

using DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native;


using (RichEditDocumentServer wordProcessor = new RichEditDocumentServer())
{
    Document document = wordProcessor.Document;
    ReadOnlyBookmarkCollection bookmarks =
       document.Bookmarks.Get(document.Paragraphs[5].Range);
    if (bookmarks != null)
    {
        foreach (Bookmark bookmark in bookmarks)
        {
            document.Bookmarks.Remove(bookmark);

        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native


Using wordProcessor As New RichEditDocumentServer()
  Dim document As Document = wordProcessor.Document
  Dim bookmarks As ReadOnlyBookmarkCollection =
     document.Bookmarks.Get(document.Paragraphs(5).Range)
  If bookmarks IsNot Nothing Then
    For Each bookmark As Bookmark In bookmarks
        document.Bookmarks.Remove(bookmark)
    Next bookmark
  End If
End Using