SubDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters(DocumentPosition, Int32) Method

Starts modifying properties of the specified number of characters starting at the specified document position.

Namespace: DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native

Assembly: DevExpress.RichEdit.v24.1.Core.dll

NuGet Packages: DevExpress.RichEdit.Core, DevExpress.Win.Navigation

Declaration

C#

CharacterProperties BeginUpdateCharacters(
    DocumentPosition start,
    int length
)

VB.NET

Function BeginUpdateCharacters(
    start As DocumentPosition,
    length As Integer
) As CharacterProperties

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
start	DocumentPosition	A DocumentPosition, specifying the starting document position.
length	Int32	An integer specifying the number of positions to which formatting is applied.

Returns

Type	Description
CharacterProperties	A CharacterProperties object representing the character formatting of the specified range.

Remarks

Use the SubDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters and the SubDocument.EndUpdateCharacters paired methods to modify character formatting, such as the CharacterPropertiesBase.FontName, CharacterPropertiesBase.FontSize, CharacterPropertiesBase.Bold, CharacterPropertiesBase.ForeColor etc.

To accomplish this, call the SubDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters method for the specified range, use the returned CharacterProperties interface to modify the required properties and call the SubDocument.EndUpdateCharacters method to finalize the modification.

Note

Make sure that the SubDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters method always has its corresponding SubDocument.EndUpdateCharacters method to ensure proper operation of the control.

The following code snippet changes the font and the color of the selected text.

View Example

Formatting.cs

document.BeginUpdate();
document.AppendText("Normal\nFormatted\nNormal");
document.EndUpdate();
// The target range is the second paragraph 
DocumentRange range = document.Paragraphs[1].Range;

// Create and customize an object  
// that sets character formatting for the selected range
CharacterProperties cp = document.BeginUpdateCharacters(range);
cp.FontName = "Comic Sans MS";
cp.FontSize = 18;
cp.ForeColor = Color.Blue;
cp.BackColor = Color.Snow;
cp.Underline = UnderlineType.DoubleWave;
cp.UnderlineColor = Color.Red;

// Finalize modifications  
// with this method call 
document.EndUpdateCharacters(cp);

Formatting.vb

document.BeginUpdate()
document.AppendText("Normal" & vbLf & "Formatted" & vbLf & "Normal")
document.EndUpdate()
' The target range is the second paragraph 
Dim range As DocumentRange = document.Paragraphs(1).Range

' Create and customize an object  
' that sets character formatting for the selected range
Dim cp As CharacterProperties = document.BeginUpdateCharacters(range)
cp.FontName = "Comic Sans MS"
cp.FontSize = 18
cp.ForeColor = Color.Blue
cp.BackColor = Color.Snow
cp.Underline = UnderlineType.DoubleWave
cp.UnderlineColor = Color.Red

' Finalize modifications  
' with this method call
document.EndUpdateCharacters(cp)

Related GitHub Examples

The following code snippets (auto-collected from DevExpress Examples) contain references to the BeginUpdateCharacters(DocumentPosition, Int32) method.

Note

The algorithm used to collect these code examples remains a work in progress. Accordingly, the links and snippets below may produce inaccurate results. If you encounter an issue with code examples below, please use the feedback form on this page to report the issue.

C#

wpf-richedit-document-api/CS/DXRichEditControlAPISample/CodeExamples/ShapesActions.cs#L75

textBoxDocument.AppendText("TextBox Text");
CharacterProperties cp = textBoxDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters(textBoxDocument.Range.Start, 7);
cp.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Orange;

word-document-api-examples/CS/CodeExamples/ShapesActions.cs#L123

// Format the boxed text.
CharacterProperties cp = textBoxDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters(textBoxDocument.Range.Start, 7);
cp.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Orange;

winforms-richedit-document-api/CS/RichEditAPISample/CodeExamples/Shapes.cs#L64

textBoxDocument.AppendText("TextBox Text");
CharacterProperties cp = textBoxDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters(textBoxDocument.Range.Start, 7);
cp.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Orange;

VB.NET

wpf-richedit-document-api/VB/DXRichEditControlAPISample/CodeExamples/ShapesActions.vb#L66

textBoxDocument.AppendText("TextBox Text")
Dim cp As CharacterProperties = textBoxDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters(textBoxDocument.Range.Start, 7)
cp.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Orange

word-document-api-examples/VB/CodeExamples/ShapesActions.vb#L100

' Format the boxed text.
Dim cp As DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native.CharacterProperties = textBoxDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters(textBoxDocument.Range.Start, 7)
cp.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Orange

winforms-richedit-document-api/VB/RichEditAPISample/CodeExamples/Shapes.vb#L59

textBoxDocument.AppendText("TextBox Text")
Dim cp As DevExpress.XtraRichEdit.API.Native.CharacterProperties = textBoxDocument.BeginUpdateCharacters(textBoxDocument.Range.Start, 7)
cp.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Orange