Find and Replace in WPF Syntax Editor

23 Feb 20237 minutes to read

Essential Edit WPF is now enhanced with Find and Replace feature, which enables users to search a text and replace it with an alternate text. Various options available in text search are:

• Match case
• Match whole word
• Search hidden Text
• Substring
• Prefix

To enable/disable Find and Replace feature, use ShowFindAndReplace property in EditControl.
The following code can be used to set the ShowFindAndReplace property of EditControl class.

XAML

<sfedit:EditControl x:Name="editControl" DocumentSource="C:\Content.txt" FontSize="13" EnableOutlining="False" ShowFindAndReplace="True"/>

C#

editControl.ShowFindAndReplace = true;

The following image displays the Find and Replace Window.

The Find and Replace dialog provides the basic search functionality as mentioned below.

• Quick Find
• Quick Replace
• Find Symbol

Quick Find: Quick Find tab enables to search a text in an open document or a selection for a string.

Find Symbol: Find Symbol tab enables to search for words and the position of the word in the document.

Quick Replace: Quick Replace tab enables to find a text and replace it with an alternative text.

Quick find

Quick Find tab enables users to search all the occurrences of a text in an open document or a selection. Select Quick Find in Find and Replace dialog or use Ctrl+F to enable Quick Find.

The following image displays Quick Find Tab.

Find what: Enter the search text in Find what field to search the text in the document.

Look in: You can choose the search area (the whole document or a selection) in this field.

NOTE

Select an area in the document before opening Find and Replace dialog,Selection is automatically selected in this field. This can also be selected in the drop-down box.

The following image displays look in field in Find and Replace Window.

Find options

Find options are placed under collapsible GroupBox control to have a compact view of the Find and Replace window.

Find and Replace window facilitates you to search the text based on the following options.

• Match case: Performs a case-sensitive search.
• Match whole word: Searches for the text specified with in a word boundary.
• Search up: Searches in lines above the current cursor location.
• Search hidden text: Text from the collapsed region will also be included in search area.

The following image displays Find Options Collapsed window.

Click the Find Next or Enter to search the text in document. The Find Next Button will be enabled only when the search text is entered in Find what field.

The following image displays EditControl Sample Window.

Find symbol

Find symbol tab in Find and Replace window facilitates the users to find all the occurrences of the specified text in the entire Edit Control’s text. Find Symbol tab can be enabled by selecting the drop-down option in the Quick Find tab.

The following image displays Find and Replace Window.

The following image displays Find Symbol Tab in Find and Replace Window.

Find Symbol tab supports the following search options to refine the search results.

• Whole word: Searches the text when the whole word matches.
• Prefix: Locates the line, when the line starts with the search text.
• Substring: Locates the line, when the line contains the search text.
• Match case: Performs a case sensitive search.

Find Symbol Results (Shift+F12): The Whole word, Prefix, Substring options are radio buttons and Sub string will be selected in default.

Find symbol results tab lists all the occurrences of the search text with additional details of line number and position of the text in the line. Double clicking on any item listed in the Find symbol will navigate the cursor to the result selected.

The following image displays EditControl Sample Window.

Click the Find All or Enter to search the text in document.

NOTE

Find Symbol results tab is a dockable so that it can be hidden,pinned or closed as necessary.

The following image displays Find Symbol Results.

The following image displays Find Symbol Results tab in Hidden State Window.

Quick replace

Quick replace tab in Find and replace window enables the users to search a text and replace it with an alternate text. Quick replace tab can be enabled by clicking on the Quick Replace button at the top of the Find and Replace window or by using Ctrl+H key from EditControl.

The following image shows Quick Replace Tab in Find and Replace Window.

1. Quick Replace tab is similar to that of Quick Find except for Replace With field.
2. Replace with: Enter the alternative text to be replaced in this field.
3. Quick replace supports two functionalities as follows:
   • Replace: Replaces the immediate occurrence of text specified in Find what with text specified in Replace with field.
   • Replaces: Replaces all the occurrences of the text specified in Find what with the text specified in the Replace with field.

GoToLine support

EditControl supports GoToLine functionality helps to reach out the line by programmatically or at run time using KeyBoard ShortKey as inspired from the Microsoft Visual Studio Editor. The GoToLine method is used to position the mouse pointer on any specified line. It not only positions the pointer on the appropriate line, but it also scrolls the concerned line as per the user requirement. Some of the common usage of this method associated with the purpose such as:

Edit control method	Description
GoToLine(Int LineNumber)	This function helps to scroll to a particular line, based on user input/requirement
ShowGoToLine()	This function helps to show the GoToLine Window programmatically and current cursor line index will be displayed in it.
ShowGoToLine(int LineNumber)	This function helps to show the GoToLine Window programmatically with the given line number included.

GoToLine method

C#

//Places the Cursor at the given line number
editcontrol.GoToLine(1);

VB.NET

‘Places the Cursor at the given line number
editcontrol.GoToLine(100)

ShowGoToLine

The GoToLine Window is invoked using the ShowGoToLine method. The KeyBoard Shortcut key is Ctrl+G.

C#

// Method used to invoke the GoToLine Dialog Box
editcontrol.ShowGoToLine();

VB.NET

‘Method used to invoke the GoToLine Dialog Box
editcontrol.ShowGoToLine()

The following output shows the GoToLine Dialog Window.

ShowGoToLine with LineNumber

C#

// Method used to invoke the GoToLine Window with user given line number
editcontrol.ShowGoToLine(1000);

VB.NET

‘Method used to invoke the GoToLine Window with user given line number
editcontrol.ShowGoToLine(1000)

Localization for GoToLine

EditControl also provides the Localization support for the GoToLine functionality. This allows to configure the content of the GoToLine window in the multi-lingual according to the cultures.

As explained in the Localization section, you can localize the content of the EditControl using the same steps.

The key text associated with the GoToLine Dialog Window can be localized as follows:

Localization text	Description
OkButtonText	Helps to localize the OK Button Text.
GoToLineHeaderText	Helps to localize the GoToLine Dialog Window Header Text.
LineNumberText	Helps to Localize the Line Number Text
CancelButtonText	Helps to localize the Cancel Button Text.

C#

public MainWindow()
{
//used to assign the culture
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("fr-FR");
InitializeComponent();
}

VB.NET

Public Sub New()
used to assign the culture
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = New System.Globalization.CultureInfo("fr-FR")
InitializeComponent()
End Sub

The following output shows the GoToLine Window localized in French culture.