Formatting text in a TextBlock

Question

How do I achieve formatting of a text inside a TextBlock control in my WPF application?

e.g.: I would like to have certain words in bold, others in ital

Answer 1

There are various Inline elements that can help you, for the simplest formatting options you can use Bold, Italic and Underline:

<TextBlock>
    Sample text with <Bold>bold</Bold>, <Italic>italic</Italic> and <Underline>underlined</Underline> words.
</TextBlock>

I think it is worth noting, that those elements are in fact just shorthands for Span elements with various properties set (i.e.: for Bold, the FontWeight property is set to FontWeights.Bold).

This brings us to our next option: the aforementioned Span element.

You can achieve the same effects with this element as above, but you are granted even more possibilities; you can set (among others) the Foreground or the Background properties:

<TextBlock>
    Sample text with <Span FontWeight="Bold">bold</Span>, <Span FontStyle="Italic">italic</Span> and <Span TextDecorations="Underline">underlined</Span> words. <Span Foreground="Blue">Coloring</Span> <Span Foreground="Red">is</Span> <Span Background="Cyan">also</Span> <Span Foreground="Silver">possible</Span>.
</TextBlock>

The Span element may also contain other elements like this:

<TextBlock>
    <Span FontStyle="Italic">Italic <Span Background="Yellow">text</Span> with some <Span Foreground="Blue">coloring</Span>.</Span>
</TextBlock>

There is another element, which is quite similar to Span, it is called Run. The Run cannot contain other inline elements while the Span can, but you can easily bind a variable to the Run's Text property:

<TextBlock>
    Username: <Run FontWeight="Bold" Text="{Binding UserName}"/>
</TextBlock>

Also, you can do the whole formatting from code-behind if you prefer:

TextBlock tb = new TextBlock();
tb.Inlines.Add("Sample text with ");
tb.Inlines.Add(new Run("bold") { FontWeight = FontWeights.Bold });
tb.Inlines.Add(", ");
tb.Inlines.Add(new Run("italic ") { FontStyle = FontStyles.Italic });
tb.Inlines.Add("and ");
tb.Inlines.Add(new Run("underlined") { TextDecorations = TextDecorations.Underline });
tb.Inlines.Add("words.");

Answer 2

This is my solution....

    <TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" Style="{DynamicResource InstructionStyle}"> 
        <Run Text="This wizard will take you through the purge process in the correct order." FontWeight="Bold"></Run>
        <LineBreak></LineBreak>
        <Run Text="To Begin, select" FontStyle="Italic"></Run>
        <Run x:Name="InstructionSection" Text="'REPLACED AT RUNTIME'" FontWeight="Bold"></Run>
        <Run Text="from the menu." FontStyle="Italic"></Run>
    </TextBlock>

I am learning... so if anyone has thaughts on the above solution please share! :)

Answer 3

Check out this example from Charles Petzolds Bool Application = Code + markup

//----------------------------------------------
// FormatTheText.cs (c) 2006 by Charles Petzold
//----------------------------------------------
using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Documents;

namespace Petzold.FormatTheText
{
    class FormatTheText : Window
    {
        [STAThread]
        public static void Main()
        {
            Application app = new Application();
            app.Run(new FormatTheText());
        }
        public FormatTheText()
        {
            Title = "Format the Text";

            TextBlock txt = new TextBlock();
            txt.FontSize = 32; // 24 points
            txt.Inlines.Add("This is some ");
            txt.Inlines.Add(new Italic(new Run("italic")));
            txt.Inlines.Add(" text, and this is some ");
            txt.Inlines.Add(new Bold(new Run("bold")));
            txt.Inlines.Add(" text, and let's cap it off with some ");
            txt.Inlines.Add(new Bold(new Italic (new Run("bold italic"))));
            txt.Inlines.Add(" text.");
            txt.TextWrapping = TextWrapping.Wrap;

            Content = txt;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

You need to use Inlines:

<TextBlock.Inlines>
    <Run FontWeight="Bold" FontSize="14" Text="This is WPF TextBlock Example. " />
    <Run FontStyle="Italic" Foreground="Red" Text="This is red text. " />
</TextBlock.Inlines>

With binding:

<TextBlock.Inlines>
    <Run FontWeight="Bold" FontSize="14" Text="{Binding BoldText}" />
    <Run FontStyle="Italic" Foreground="Red" Text="{Binding ItalicText}" />
</TextBlock.Inlines>

You can also bind the other properties:

<TextBlock.Inlines>
    <Run FontWeight="{Binding Weight}"
         FontSize="{Binding Size}"
         Text="{Binding LineOne}" />
    <Run FontStyle="{Binding Style}"
         Foreground="Binding Colour}"
         Text="{Binding LineTwo}" />
</TextBlock.Inlines>

You can bind through converters if you have bold as a boolean (say).

Answer 5

You can do this in XAML easily enough:

<TextBlock>
  Hello <Bold>my</Bold> faithful <Underline>computer</Underline>.<Italic>You rock!</Italic>
</TextBlock>

Answer 6

a good site, with good explanations:

http://www.wpf-tutorial.com/basic-controls/the-textblock-control-inline-formatting/

here the author gives you good examples for what you are looking for! Overal the site is great for research material plus it covers a great deal of options you have in WPF

Edit

There are different methods to format the text. for a basic formatting (the easiest in my opinion):

    <TextBlock Margin="10" TextWrapping="Wrap">
                    TextBlock with <Bold>bold</Bold>, <Italic>italic</Italic> and <Underline>underlined</Underline> text.
    </TextBlock>

Example 1 shows basic formatting with Bold Itallic and underscored text.

Following includes the SPAN method, with this you van highlight text:

   <TextBlock Margin="10" TextWrapping="Wrap">
                    This <Span FontWeight="Bold">is</Span> a
                    <Span Background="Silver" Foreground="Maroon">TextBlock</Span>
                    with <Span TextDecorations="Underline">several</Span>
                    <Span FontStyle="Italic">Span</Span> elements,
                    <Span Foreground="Blue">
                            using a <Bold>variety</Bold> of <Italic>styles</Italic>
                    </Span>.
   </TextBlock>

Example 2 shows the span function and the different possibilities with it.

For a detailed explanation check the site!

Examples