How to make TRichEdit behave like WordPad in Windows 7 when changing the font for some non-text characters?

Question

With Sertac Akyuz it seems that the direct reason is related to the \bullet encoding: in my localized Windows, the input \bullet by typing Alt (0149) always gets \fcharset134 and always tries to change the font through EM_SETCHARFORMAT (well, color, size, style really subject to change, but not the family name of the font family).

The simplest workaround is therefore to first reset the encoding and then change the font.

Note: RichEdit (version> = 4.1) should be used!

Note: RichEdit versions can be found on MSDN About Rich Edit Controls , Murray Sargent Blog MSDN versions of RichEdit and Upgrading RichEdit versions to 7.0 . RichEdit versions above 4.1 were mentioned on the last pages. As a test, I copied RICHED20.DLL that comes with Office 2010 along with the Windows 2000 application, and everything works like a charm!

 procedure TMainForm.ButtonFontClick(Sender: TObject); var format: TCharFormat2; begin if dlgFontCdxTxt.Execute then begin FillChar(format, sizeof(format), 0); format.cbSize:= Sizeof(format); format.dwMask:= CFM_CHARSET; format.bCharSet := 1; // or 0; redtTextBlock.Perform(EM_SETCHARFORMAT, SCF_SELECTION, Integer(@format)); FillChar(format, sizeof(format), 0); format.cbSize:= Sizeof(format); format.dwMask:= CFM_FACE; StrPLCopy(format.szFaceName, dlgFontCdxTxt.Font.Name, High(format.szFaceName)); redtTextBlock.Perform(EM_SETCHARFORMAT, SCF_SELECTION, Integer(@format)); end; redtTextBlock.SetFocus; end; 

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According to Wikipedia , WordPad uses the Microsoft RichEdit control, versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 in Windows 95, 98, and Windows 2000, respectively. In Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and later, WordPad uses RichEdit 4.1, including Windows 7.

Say that the rtf document edited in WordPad contains the non-text character Alt (0149), the bullet dot • . (Or U + 2022)

In Windows 2000 SP4 or XP SP2, this bullet point font can only use the default WordPad font. In other words, you cannot change the font for this bullet point interactively in WordPad.

However, in Windows 7 SP1, you can change the font to first changing to "Arial Unicode MS" , and then to any font you want for unlimited time.

In addition, a WordPad document created using WordPad in Windows 7 that contains different dot fonts can be opened and viewed correctly in WordPad in Windows 2000 or XP.

TRichEdit (Delphi XE, Windows 7) can also properly open and view a WordPad document created using WordPad in Windows 7, TRichEdit.Lines.LoadFromFile .

Interactively TRichEdit (Delphi XE, Windows 7) allows you to change the font of the bullet dot to "Arial Unicode MS". However, in TRichEdit, you cannot switch to other fonts interactively.

Therefore, I wonder (1) the reason for the different behavior of WordPad in Windows 7 and (2) can TRichEdit be made to behave the same?

PS: You may need to press Alt (0149) several times to get a point in WordPad. Typing 2022 and Alt + x always works as suggested here .

PS: you need to “activate” fonts in WordPad, as indicated in the answer Why does TFontDialog give fewer fonts than Screen.Fonts?

PS: You can always change the point to different fonts in Word.

sample.rtf (paste into a text file and then change the extension to rtf)

 {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg936\deff0\deflang1033\deflangfe2052{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset134 Arial Unicode MS;}{\f1\fnil\fcharset0 Arial Unicode MS;}{\f2\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f3\fscript\fprq2\fcharset0 Comic Sans MS;}{\f4\fnil\fcharset0 Comic Sans MS;}{\f5\fmodern\fprq1\fcharset0 Consolas;}{\f6\fnil\fcharset0 Consolas;}{\f7\fmodern\fprq1\fcharset0 Lucida Console;}{\f8\fnil\fcharset0 Lucida Console;}{\f9\froman\fprq2\fcharset2 Symbol;}{\f10\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Symbol;}{\f11\fnil\fcharset134 \'cb\'ce\'cc\'e5;}} {\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.21.2510;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\nowidctlpar\sa200\sl276\slmult1\lang2052\f0\fs22 Arial sample text \lang1033\f1\bullet\f2\par \b\f3 Comic sample text \f4\bullet\f2\par \b0\f5 Consolas sample text \f6\bullet\f2\par \f7 Lucida sample text \f8\bullet\f2\par \pard\nowidctlpar\qj\lang2052\f9 symbl sample text \lang1033\f10\u149?\kerning2\fs21\par \pard\sa200\sl276\slmult1\lang2052\kerning0\f11\fs22\par } 

uMainForm.dfm to view TRichEdit string format

 object MainForm: TMainForm Left = 0 Top = 0 Caption = 'MainForm' ClientHeight = 362 ClientWidth = 637 Color = clBtnFace Font.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET Font.Color = clWindowText Font.Height = -11 Font.Name = 'Tahoma' Font.Style = [] OldCreateOrder = False OnCreate = FormCreate PixelsPerInch = 96 TextHeight = 13 object pnlBtn: TPanel Left = 0 Top = 0 Width = 637 Height = 57 Align = alTop Caption = 'pnlBtn' TabOrder = 0 object Button1: TButton Left = 240 Top = 14 Width = 137 Height = 31 Caption = 'Analyze Rich Edit' TabOrder = 0 OnClick = Button1Click end end object pnlClient: TPanel Left = 0 Top = 57 Width = 637 Height = 305 Align = alClient Caption = 'pnlClient' TabOrder = 1 object redtTextBlock: TRichEdit Left = 1 Top = 1 Width = 225 Height = 303 Align = alLeft Font.Charset = GB2312_CHARSET Font.Color = clWindowText Font.Height = -11 Font.Name = 'Tahoma' Font.Style = [] Lines.Strings = ( 'redt1') ParentFont = False TabOrder = 0 end object mmo1: TMemo Left = 226 Top = 1 Width = 410 Height = 303 Align = alClient Lines.Strings = ( 'mmo1') TabOrder = 1 end end object Button2: TButton Left = 36 Top = 14 Width = 171 Height = 31 Caption = 'Font...' TabOrder = 2 OnClick = Button2Click end object dlgFontCdxTxt: TFontDialog Font.Charset = DEFAULT_CHARSET Font.Color = clWindowText Font.Height = -11 Font.Name = 'Tahoma' Font.Style = [] Left = 480 Top = 16 end end 

uMainForm.pas to view TRichEdit string format

 unit uMainForm; interface uses Contnrs, Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs, StdCtrls, ComCtrls, ExtCtrls; type TCdxmlStyle = class public FontName: string; Str: string; end; TCdxmlText = class public Styles: TObjectList; constructor Create; end; TMainForm = class(TForm) redtTextBlock: TRichEdit; mmo1: TMemo; pnlBtn: TPanel; pnlClient: TPanel; Button1: TButton; Button2: TButton; dlgFontCdxTxt: TFontDialog; procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject); procedure Button2Click(Sender: TObject); procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject); private { Private declarations } procedure TestLoadFromFile; procedure AnalyzeRichEdit; public { Public declarations } end; var MainForm: TMainForm; implementation {$R *.dfm} uses RichEdit, StrUtils; { TCdxmlText } constructor TCdxmlText.Create; begin Styles := TObjectList.Create; end; var l_HiddenRichEdit: TRichEdit; { TMainForm } procedure TMainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject); begin TestLoadFromFile; AnalyzeRichEdit; end; procedure TMainForm.Button2Click(Sender: TObject); var format: TCharFormat2; begin if dlgFontCdxTxt.Execute then begin FillChar(format, sizeof(format), 0); format.cbSize:= Sizeof(format); format.dwMask:= CFM_FACE; StrPLCopy(format.szFaceName, dlgFontCdxTxt.Font.Name, High(format.szFaceName)); redtTextBlock.Perform(EM_SETCHARFORMAT, SCF_SELECTION, Integer(@format)); end; redtTextBlock.SetFocus; end; procedure TMainForm.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); begin AnalyzeRichEdit; end; procedure TMainForm.TestLoadFromFile; begin redtTextBlock.Clear; redtTextBlock.Lines.LoadFromFile('sample.rtf'); end; procedure TMainForm.AnalyzeRichEdit; var l_MemStream: TMemoryStream; l_Format: TCharFormat2; I, J: Integer; l_CdxmlStyle, l_CdxmlStyleWorker: TCdxmlStyle; l_StyleFont: string; l_CdxmlText: TCdxmlText; begin l_CdxmlStyle := nil; l_CdxmlStyleWorker := nil; mmo1.Clear; l_MemStream := TMemoryStream.Create; redtTextBlock.Lines.SaveToStream(l_MemStream); l_MemStream.Seek(0, soFromBeginning); l_HiddenRichEdit.Lines.LoadFromStream(l_MemStream); l_CdxmlText := TCdxmlText.Create; for I := 0 to Length(TrimRight(l_HiddenRichEdit.Text)) - 1 do begin l_CdxmlStyleWorker := TCdxmlStyle.Create; FillChar(l_Format, sizeof(l_Format), 0); l_Format.cbSize:= Sizeof(l_Format); l_Format.dwMask:= CFM_FACE; l_HiddenRichEdit.SelStart := I; l_HiddenRichEdit.SelLength := 1; l_HiddenRichEdit.Perform(EM_GETCHARFORMAT, SCF_SELECTION, Integer(@l_Format)); l_CdxmlStyleWorker.FontName := l_Format.szFaceName; l_CdxmlStyleWorker.Str := AnsiReplaceStr(l_HiddenRichEdit.SelText, #13, #13#10); if l_CdxmlStyle = nil then begin l_CdxmlText.Styles.Add(l_CdxmlStyleWorker); l_CdxmlStyle := l_CdxmlStyleWorker; end else if (l_CdxmlStyleWorker.FontName <> l_CdxmlStyle.FontName ) then begin l_CdxmlText.Styles.Add(l_CdxmlStyleWorker); l_CdxmlStyle := l_CdxmlStyleWorker; end else begin l_CdxmlStyle.Str := l_CdxmlStyle.Str + l_CdxmlStyleWorker.Str; end; end; for I := 0 to l_CdxmlText.Styles.Count - 1 do begin l_CdxmlStyle := TCdxmlStyle(l_CdxmlText.Styles[I]); mmo1.Lines.Add(l_CdxmlStyle.Str + ':' + l_CdxmlStyle.FontName); end; end; initialization l_HiddenRichEdit := TRichEdit.CreateParented(HWND_MESSAGE); end. 

Answer 1

One thing to check is to check if the richedit controls used by WordPad and TRichEdit are the same. I would recommend you check out (Spy ++) Spyxx.exe to make sure the control has the same class and the same styles. If they match, I would also check that the controls receive the same messages, again using Spy ++. I assume that the controls do not match or they are not configured the same way.

If they are not the same control, then you should be able to use the same control as WordPad (provided that it is part of the standard Windows user controls). And use Spy ++ to set the style just like WordPad. In addition, you may need to send him the same messages.