How To: Create New Linked Style

• Nov 15, 2018
• 2 minutes to read

This example explains how to create a linked style – a style that can be applied both to the character and paragraph, depending on the range to which it is applied.

To create such a style, perform the following steps:

1. Create new paragraph style;
2. Create new character style;
3. Set the CharacterStyle.LinkedStyle to the newly created paragraph style, or set the ParagraphStyle.LinkedStyle property to the corresponding CharacterStyle object. It is sufficient to set only one of these properties.

Note

All the actions should be performed using the SubDocument.BeginUpdate - SubDocument.EndUpdate paired methods. Otherwise, flickering might occur when starting the application.

The following code snippet demonstrates how to create linked styles.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/winforms-richedit-document-api-e5219

Styles.cs

document.BeginUpdate();
document.AppendText("Line One\nLine Two\nLine Three");
document.EndUpdate();

//Create new paragraph style
ParagraphStyle lstyle = document.ParagraphStyles["MyLinkedStyle"];
if (lstyle == null)
{
    document.BeginUpdate();
    lstyle = document.ParagraphStyles.CreateNew();
    lstyle.Name = "MyLinkedStyle";
    lstyle.LineSpacingType = ParagraphLineSpacing.Double;
    lstyle.Alignment = ParagraphAlignment.Center;
    document.ParagraphStyles.Add(lstyle);

    CharacterStyle lcstyle = document.CharacterStyles.CreateNew();
    lcstyle.Name = "MyLinkedCStyle";
    document.CharacterStyles.Add(lcstyle);
    lcstyle.LinkedStyle = lstyle;

    lcstyle.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.DarkGreen;
    lcstyle.Strikeout = StrikeoutType.Single;
    lcstyle.FontSize = 24;
    document.EndUpdate();

    //Apply created styles 
    //to the text range and to the entire paragraph
    document.Paragraphs[1].Style = lstyle;

    DocumentRange myRange = document.Paragraphs[0].Range;
    CharacterProperties charProps = document.BeginUpdateCharacters(myRange);
    charProps.Style = lcstyle;
    document.EndUpdateCharacters(charProps);
}

Styles.vb

document.BeginUpdate()
document.AppendText("Line One" & vbLf & "Line Two" & vbLf & "Line Three")
document.EndUpdate()

'Create new paragraph style
Dim lstyle As ParagraphStyle = document.ParagraphStyles("MyLinkedStyle")
If lstyle Is Nothing Then
    document.BeginUpdate()
    lstyle = document.ParagraphStyles.CreateNew()
    lstyle.Name = "MyLinkedStyle"
    lstyle.LineSpacingType = ParagraphLineSpacing.Double
    lstyle.Alignment = ParagraphAlignment.Center
    document.ParagraphStyles.Add(lstyle)

    Dim lcstyle As CharacterStyle = document.CharacterStyles.CreateNew()
    lcstyle.Name = "MyLinkedCStyle"
    document.CharacterStyles.Add(lcstyle)
    lcstyle.LinkedStyle = lstyle

    lcstyle.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.DarkGreen
    lcstyle.Strikeout = StrikeoutType.Single
    lcstyle.FontSize = 24
    document.EndUpdate()

    'Apply created styles 
    'to the text range and to the entire paragraph
    document.Paragraphs(1).Style = lstyle

    Dim myRange As DocumentRange = document.Paragraphs(0).Range
    Dim charProps As CharacterProperties = document.BeginUpdateCharacters(myRange)
    charProps.Style = lcstyle
    document.EndUpdateCharacters(charProps)
End If