What's New in TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms 17.0
Tables received the most attention in TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms 17.0: users select whole columns and rectangular ranges of cells, and cells can be merged, split, named and given colored borders. Beyond tables, the version added page borders, PDF documents signed with a certificate, a transparent look for selections and a connection to the new TX Spell .NET with a spell checking dialog box and context menu.
Version 17.0 was released in November 2011, together with TX Spell .NET 2.0, then a new product, as the press release Press Release: TX Text Control 17.0 and TX Spell .NET 2.0 Released announced.
Version 17.0 at a Glance
| Area | What is new |
|---|---|
| Selections | Table columns and ranges of cells, a transparent blue selection |
| Tables | Merged and split cells, named cells, colored cell borders |
| Page borders | Borders around the pages of a section, set in code or in the page settings dialog box |
| Digital signatures with an X.509 certificate | |
| Spell checking | The TX Spell .NET component with a dialog box and a context menu |
| HTML | Import with the parsing rules of HTML5 |
Selections
- Columns and cell ranges. Selections can span table columns and rectangular ranges of cells, which users format and copy to the clipboard. TableColumn.Select selects a column in code; the new TableColumn class also gives the column's Width, Position and CellFormat, and Table.Columns returns the columns of a table.
- Selection look. Selected text is shown with a transparent blue bitmap. TextControl.SelectionViewMode switches back to the classic view, which inverts the text.
Selections and Caret Position covers selections in the current version.
Tables
- Merged cells. Table.MergeCells merges the selected cells into one cell with their width and content, and Table.SplitCells splits merged cells again. Cells can only be merged when more than one cell of a single table is selected; Table.CanMergeCells and Table.CanSplitCells tell whether it is possible.
- Named cells. TableCell.Name stores any string with a cell. The name is saved only in the TX Text Control format.
- Colored cell borders. Each border of a cell can have its own color, set with LeftBorderColor, TopBorderColor, RightBorderColor and BottomBorderColor of TableCellFormat, or by users in the built-in table attributes dialog box. All text filters and the TX Text Control format keep the colors.
Tables and Table Formulas shows how to work with tables in the current version.
Page Borders
The pages of a section can have a border. SectionFormat.PageBorder takes a PageBorder object that defines the top, left, right and bottom line, each with its own width, color and distance. The distance is measured from the edge of the page or, with MeasureFromText, from the text. SurroundHeader and SurroundFooter include the header and the footer, and FirstPageOnly and OmitFirstPage limit the border to the first page or leave it out there. Users define the border in the page settings dialog box. See Sections and Page Layout.
Digital Signatures
PDF documents can be signed with an X.509 certificate, which, according to the press release, can come from a PFX, DER or Base64 CER file, from raw data or from the local certificate store. SaveSettings.DigitalSignature takes a DigitalSignature object, which holds the certificate and the other data needed to sign the file when it is saved. Digital Signatures covers signing in the current version.
Spell Checking
TextControl works together with the TX Spell .NET component, which finds and corrects misspelled words in the document:
- Connection. TextControl.SpellChecker connects the component, and IsSpellCheckingEnabled activates it. The component handles the
SpellCheckTextevent internally.ServerTextControlhas the sameSpellCheckerproperty. - Dialog box. TextControl.SpellCheckDialog opens a dialog box that steps through the misspelled words of the main text, the headers and footers and the text frames.
- Context menu. When users right-click a misspelled word, a context menu offers corrections. TextControl.SpellCheckContextMenuStrip specifies the menu.
Integrating TX Spell .NET for Windows Forms shows how to connect the current version.
HTML Import
The HTML import filter parses documents with the rules of the W3C specification of HTML5.
Upgrade to Version 17.0
Version 17.0 has no update notes.
New Classes, Properties, Methods and Events
The classes and members below are the ones that the What's New documentation of version 17.0 lists for TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms. Names are relative to the TXTextControl namespace, each name links to its current reference page, and "(obsolete)" marks a member that is obsolete today. The version's own list names Table and TableCellFormat as new classes, but both existed before: Table.Select dates from version 10.1, and TableRow.CellFormat returned a TableCellFormat in version 12.0, so neither is listed under New Classes.
New Classes
Members by Class
Next Steps
- Version 18.0: the features of the next version.
- Version 16.0: table headers, the spell checker interface, text parts and ribbon support through InputFormat.
- Tables and Table Formulas: create and format tables.