AIChatControl.ContentFormat Property

Gets or sets the format of AI responses (PlainText or Markdown).

Namespace: DevExpress.AIIntegration.WinForms.Chat

Assembly: DevExpress.AIIntegration.WinForms.Chat.v26.1.dll

NuGet Package: DevExpress.AIIntegration.WinForms.Chat

Declaration

C#

[DefaultValue(ResponseContentFormat.PlainText)]
public ResponseContentFormat ContentFormat { get; set; }

VB.NET

<DefaultValue(ResponseContentFormat.PlainText)>
Public Property ContentFormat As ResponseContentFormat

Property Value

Type	Default	Description
ResponseContentFormat	PlainText	A ResponseContentFormat enumeration value that specifies the response format.

Available values:

Name	Description
Markdown	An assistant sends the response as Markdown.
PlainText	An assistant sends the response as plain text.

Remarks

To enable Markdown message rendering:

1. Set the ContentFormat property to Markdown to receive responses as Markdown.
2. Handle the MarkdownConvert event to convert Markdown text into HTML and make responses more readable, structured, and visually appealing.

Warning

Always sanitize AI-generated content before rendering it in the UI.

Example

The following example enables Markdown message rendering. The example uses the Markdig Markdown processing library to convert Markdown text into HTML.

C#

using DevExpress.AIIntegration.Blazor.Chat;
using DevExpress.AIIntegration.Blazor.Chat.WebView;
using Ganss.Xss;
using Markdig;

HtmlSanitizer sanitizer;

public Chat() {
    InitializeComponent();
    sanitizer = new HtmlSanitizer();
    aiChatControl1.ContentFormat = ResponseContentFormat.Markdown;
    aiChatControl1.MarkdownConvert += AiChatControl1_MarkdownConvert;
}

void AiChatControl1_MarkdownConvert(object sender, AIChatControlMarkdownConvertEventArgs e) {
    // Convert Markdown to HTML.
    string html = Markdown.ToHtml(e.MarkdownText);

    // WARNING: The AI agent's content may be untrusted. 
    // Developers must sanitize all HTML before rendering to prevent XSS attacks.
    string safeHtml = sanitizer.Sanitize(html);

    // Assign sanitized HTML for rendering.
    e.HtmlText = (MarkupString)safeHtml;
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.AIIntegration.Blazor.Chat
Imports DevExpress.AIIntegration.Blazor.Chat.WebView
Imports Ganss.Xss
Imports Markdig

Private sanitizer As HtmlSanitizer

Public Sub New()
    InitializeComponent()
    sanitizer = New HtmlSanitizer()
    aiChatControl1.ContentFormat = ResponseContentFormat.Markdown
    AddHandler aiChatControl1.MarkdownConvert, AddressOf AiChatControl1_MarkdownConvert
End Sub

Private Sub AiChatControl1_MarkdownConvert(sender As Object, e As AIChatControlMarkdownConvertEventArgs)
    ' Convert Markdown to HTML.
    Dim html As String = Markdown.ToHtml(e.MarkdownText)

    ' WARNING: The AI agent's content may be untrusted. 
    ' Developers must sanitize all HTML before rendering to prevent XSS attacks.
    Dim safeHtml As String = sanitizer.Sanitize(html)

    ' Assign sanitized HTML for rendering.
    e.HtmlText = DirectCast(safeHtml, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.MarkupString)
End Sub

The following screenshot demonstrates the result:

Refer to the following help topic for additional information: AI Chat Control