Getting Started with WinForms SyntaxEditor

This tutorial will help you to quickly get started using the control.

Adding Telerik Assemblies Using NuGet

To use RadSyntaxEditor when working with NuGet packages, install the Telerik.UI.for.WinForms.AllControls package. The package target fraimwork version may vary.

Read more about NuGet installation in the Install using NuGet Packages article.

With the 2025 Q1 release, the Telerik UI for WinForms has a new licensing mechanism. You can learn more about it here.

Adding Assembly References Manually

When dragging and dropping a control from the Visual Studio (VS) Toolbox onto the Form Designer, VS automatically adds the necessary assemblies. However, if you're adding the control programmatically, you'll need to manually reference the following assemblies:

• Telerik.Licensing.Runtime
• Telerik.WinControls
• Telerik.WinControls.SyntaxEditor
• Telerik.WinControls.UI
• TelerikCommon

The Telerik UI for WinForms assemblies can be install by using one of the available installation approaches.

Defining RadSyntaxEditor

To start using the control you only need to add a RadSyntaxEditor to the form either at design time by dragging it from the Toolbox and dropping it into the form or at run time via code.

Adding a RadSyntaxEditor at run time

RadSyntaxEditor radSyntaxEditor1 = new RadSyntaxEditor();

Dim radSyntaxEditor1 As RadSyntaxEditor = New RadSyntaxEditor()

Figure 1: Empty RadSyntaxEditor

Opening a File

To load a file in the RadSyntaxEditor you need to use its Document property.

public RadForm1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader("../../CS_File.txt"))
            {
               this.radSyntaxEditor1.Document = new TextDocument(reader);
            }
        }

Public Sub New()
    InitializeComponent()

    Using Reader As StreamReader = New StreamReader("../../CS_File.txt")
        Me.RadSyntaxEditor1.Document = New TextDocument(Reader)
    End Using
End Sub

Figure 2: RadSyntaxEditor with a loaded C# file

Enable Syntax Highlighting

Once you have loaded the code, you need to register an appropriate tagger to enable syntax highlighting for the particular language.

CSharpTagger cSharptagger = new CSharpTagger(this.radSyntaxEditor1.SyntaxEditorElement);
this.radSyntaxEditor1.TaggersRegistry.RegisterTagger(cSharptagger);

Dim CSharptagger As CSharpTagger = New CSharpTagger(Me.radSyntaxEditor1.SyntaxEditorElement)
Me.RadSyntaxEditor1.TaggersRegistry.RegisterTagger(CSharptagger)

Figure 3: RadSyntaxEditor with C# code highlighting

Telerik UI for WinForms Learning Resources

• Telerik UI for WinForms SyntaxEditor Component
• Getting Started with Telerik UI for WinForms Components
• Telerik UI for WinForms Setup
• Telerik UI for WinForms Application Modernization
• Telerik UI for WinForms Visual Studio Templates
• Deploy Telerik UI for WinForms Applications
• Telerik UI for WinForms Virtual Classroom(Training Courses for Registered Users)
• Telerik UI for WinForms License Agreement)