WinUIEdit

WinUIEdit

This is an early work-in-progress code editor control for both UWP and WinUI 3. It is a port of the Scintilla editor component. It is written in C++ and works with C#, C++, and any other WinRT-compatible language.

[!NOTE] This control is currently not production ready. Breaking API changes are very likely at this stage.

Quick start

Install either the WinUIEdit NuGet package if using WinUI 3 or the WinUIEdit.Uwp NuGet package if using UWP (WinUI 2).

Add the namespace and code editor control to your page as shown below:

<Page
    xmlns:editor="using:WinUIEditor">
    <editor:CodeEditorControl x:Name="MyEditor" HighlightingLanguage="csharp" />
</Page>

Syntax highlighting is available through the HighlightingLanguage property. To control the editor, use the Editor property. For example, to set the editor text:

MyEditor.Editor.SetText("Vintage tee, brand new phone");

See the Scintilla documentation for complete remarks on all methods.

If using C++/WinRT, add #include <winrt/WinUIEditor.h> to your pch.h file.

Demo

You can download a demo from Microsoft Store here. Expect some occasional glitches and incomplete features.

Advanced usage

CodeEditorControl wraps EditorBaseControl and includes additional features and changes default settings and styles. EditorBaseControl can be used directly if only the original Scintilla control is desired. The Scintilla API is available through a WinRT wrapper exposed by the Editor property, as well as the original window message-based API via the SendMessage method.

Windows version support

The WinUI 3 version of this control should work on Windows 10, version 1809 and later and support ARM64, x64, and x86. The UWP version of this control should work on Windows 10, version 1703 and later. It will run on ARM64, ARM32, x64, and x86.

Development

How to build this project

To switch the build between WinUI 3 and UWP, you will need to modify UseWinUI3.txt to true or false. To do this quickly, use the WinUI3 and Uwp tools. Open WinUIEditor.sln in Visual Studio 2022. Then, set CsDemoUWP or CppDemoUWP as the startup project for UWP or CsDemoWinUI3 or CppDemoWinUI3 for WinUI 3. Now you can build and run the project.

Project file structure

Folder	Description
WinUIEditor	XAML control that hosts the Scintilla port (the C++ project in this folder is also responsible for compiling the scintilla folder code)
scintilla\winui	Scintilla platform code for UWP/WinUI 3
scintilla	Unmodified Scintilla source code with new winui subfolder
lexilla	Lexilla source code (patches noted in WinUIModified.txt)
Tools	Tools to keep the Scintilla code up-to-date and aid in development (see Tools\README)