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Using Rich Edit 2.0 With BCB

Rich Edit 2.0 is an updated version of the Rich Edit control. It includes additional features such as:

Support for more Rich Text Format (RTF) codes (RTF 1.5?).
Multi-level undo/redo. You can ask the control what is about to be undone/redone and display it for the user.
Auto-URL detection -- automatically underlines and highlights in blue text URL links such as text beginning with "http://', "ftp://", etc. Your program can be notified when the user clicks/double-clicks on the text and, with just a little code, start the user's browser and link to the URL.
Additional visual character formatting using an extended version of the CHARFORMAT structure (CHARFORMAT2) that supports: User-defined character background colors; strike-out character format; super- and subscripted text; a second functional underline style (dotted); and the ability to show revisions by different authors in different colors.
Additional non-visual character formatting using CHARFORMAT2 that supports a "link" format that notifies the parent control of mouse movements over the text. Although this is probably used to support the Auto-URL detection mentioned above, you could use it to get notification when the cursor moves over or is clicked on your own special text.
Additional paragraph formatting using an extended version of the PARAFORMAT structure (PARAFORMAT2) that supports: Vertical spacing before and after a paragraph; and single, 1 1/2, double, and user-defined line spacing within a paragraph.
Presumably, bug fixes. I have no examples, but one can always hope.

Disclaimer: The above list is based primarily on the online documentation available at Microsoft's developer site (MSDN). I have tested only some of this functionality. Before getting all excited over some feature that you absolutely must have but dread to code up yourself, visit MSDN and make sure that the above is correct. On the other hand, some functionality seems to be supported that the documentation is incorrect, both on MSDN and in the header files. As an example, the dotted underline style is supported in my Win98 version of Rich Edit 2.0 despite all statements to the contrary. The bottom line is: If you need the functionality and it is mentioned anywhere, try it -- but do not count on it until you have confirmed that it works.

Rich Edit 2.0 Availability Information

Rich Edit 1.0 is implemented in riched32.dll. The newer version is implemented in riched20.dll. To see if you already have version 2.0, search your drive for riched20.dll.

Unfortunately for those who do not already have it, I have been unable to determine where it comes from. I did find the following unhelpful comment on the Microsoft Developer site (MSDN):

"Windows 95: Windows 95 ships only RICHED32.DLL. However, RICHED20.DLL is compatible with Windows 95 and may be present if an application that uses rich edit 2.0 has been installed on the system."

My best guess is that it comes with Internet Explorer 4.0. My second guess is that it comes with the Common Controls 4.0 update (40comupd.exe) which is available free from Microsoft's site. If you have a better guess or, better yet, have solved the mystery, please, please let me know.

Updated Rich Edit 2.0 Availability Information

Kenneth R. de Camargo, Jr., reports definite origins on a "clean machine" of either Office 97 or the Win95 service pack.

Gerard Patel reports that he "can confirm that you can get the thing [riched20.dll] for free by downloading the 4 mb Word Viewer 97. A little overkill maybe<g>."

I believe that it is included in Windows98.

Sample Code Availability

Both BCB 1.0 & 3.0 use Rich Edit 1.0. An example of adapting the VCL TRichEdit class to use the Rich Edit 2.0 control is available in the Code Samples section of this site. Among other things, the sample demonstrates how to:

Implement multi-level undo/redo.
Simplify forward and reverse searches.
Identify RTF and binary files.
Track the current insert/overstrike state.
Recognize and execute URL links.
Implement new text formatting (character background color, superscript, subscript, link, dotted underline, etc.).
Allow setting of a single character-formatting attribute, e.g., bold, without resetting other formatting attributes.

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