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Essential HTMLUI supports rendering Web pages in order to create interactive applications. Like popular Web browsers, Essential HTMLUI comes with advanced options to work with Web-related issues like navigating through a history of documents, etc. Essential HTMLUI is completely independent from Internet Explorer; this provides full independence in controlling the appearance and settings of the control.
HTML Files Accessible in the URL
Any HTML file from the user's drive can be loaded into the HTMLUI control by specifying the location of the document. The HTMLUI control can also load MHTML files from a local drive. Users can customize the HTMLUI control to load documents into it by dragging and dropping them into the control.
HTML Files from the User Drive
Essential HTMLUI can render HTML contents in the form of text. Also, it is possible to change HTML contents easily at run time with the help of the HTMLUI control. Another feature available in Essential HTMLUI is that the XML Document object of the document loaded in the control can be extracted and used by the user for other external applications.
HTML from Text
Essential HTMLUI supports linking to various documents either from the user drive or from a URI which helps in developing user-friendly applications. Essential HTMLUI allows the use of the TAB key shortcut to navigate through the links.
Images can be used instead of text as links to other files in the HTMLUI control. The important feature that Essential HTMLUI provides with links is that users can decide the course of action forwarded by the link after being clicked, with the help of built-in events that are developed with the HTMLUI control.
Handling Relative Links
HTML files associated with a project as an embedded resource can be easily loaded in Essential HTMLUI. Methods are enabled with the HTMLUI control that allow HTML documents to be loaded from a memory stream.
HTML Files Loaded from a Memory Stream
Localizing applications can be made easier by using Essential HTMLUI. The layout and run-time customization capabilities afforded by HTMLUI make it the ideal localization framework for your applications. When text or images are changed on account of localization, the control will automatically lay out the user interface to provide the best experience to the user.
Essential HTMLUI can be used to skin and theme applications to provide an experience beyond typical localization. The entire user interface arrangement can be switched on the fly for different locales.
Localization Support
Essential HTMLUI supports the following Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) attributes to be used along with HTML documents.
colorbackground-colortext-alignvertical-aligncursorpaddingpadding-leftpadding-toppadding-rightpadding-bottomborderborder-leftborder-topborder-rightborder-bottomborder-styleborder-left-styleborder-top-styleborder-right-styleborder-bottom-styleborder-widthborder-left-widthborder-top-widthborder-right-widthborder-bottom-widthborder-colorborder-left-colorborder-top-colorborder-right-colorborder-bottom-colorfont-familyfont-stylefont-weightfont-sizetext-decorationwidthheightbackground-imagebackground-repeat
Extensive Cascading Style Sheet Attributes Support
Essential HTMLUI can display XML documents transformed to HTML using XSLT. In an XSL transformation, both the XML document and an XSLT style sheet are read. Based on the instructions found in the XSLT style sheet, a new HTML document is generated in the output which is then loaded into the HTMLUI control.
Load XML Documents using XLST
Essential HTMLUI supports rendering HTML pages from Web pages, which helps in the creation of interactive applications involving simple pages. Also, the control supports History options just like the popular Web browsers, which help in navigating through the previous HTML pages loaded in the HTMLUI control.
Render Documents from the Web
Scripting inside an HTML document makes the document self-contained and work independently. Essential HTMLUI supports embedded scripts in HTML code. A user can also define script code in external documents. Scripting is supported in three languages: C#, Visual Basic, and JScript.
Scripting
Bubbling events architecture is the use of a common event handler declared for a parent HTML element that can be used in handling the same event for all of its child HTML elements. This helps in reducing the task of declaring event handlers for all the elements in a document, thereby reducing the length and complexity of the code.
Bubbling Event Arguments
Essential HTMLUI comes with some events that can be used to access the state of the control at run time. The event handlers for these events are custom developed to help users make the application more informatory and interactive. These events are so powerful that the status and the course of the application can be decided at run time.
Interactive Control Events
Essential HTMLUI exposes design properties like an element's size, location, etc. Also, users can change the visibility of HTML elements at run time. Powerful graphical applications with the use of HTML documents are feasible with Essential HTMLUI because of these interactive formatting features.
Accessing Design Properties
Essential HTMLUI supports custom representation of elements by handling events. This serves as a powerful medium for the customization of display elements.
Element Events in HTMLUI
Essential HTMLUI comes with a separate class for creating and applying formats to HTML elements. With the help of this formatting option, UI applications with a modern appearance can be created.
Changing Format of HTML Elements
Essential HTMLUI supports scrolling which helps users in loading large documents inside the HTMLUI control and navigating to desired locations easily. Users can toggle the scrolling control visibility at run time. Easy methods are enabled such that users can scroll quickly through the document to desired positions.
Customized Scrolling
Essential HTMLUI comes with flexible keyboard support with functionalities similar to those featured in popular browsers. Common options like Select All Text, Find specified text, Copy selected text, and tabbing through the control gives Essential HTMLUI a familiar feel and makes it flexible for common tasks.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Selecting the text present in a document is supported in Essential HTMLUI. The selected text can be accessed programmatically and searched, or copied to the clipboard to be used in other applications. In addition to text, HTML elements under the selection region can be accessed and coded for efficient UI solutions.
Text Selection
This is an example of how a document available in Essential HTMLUI is converted to an image and used in other Essential Studio applications.
A hard copy of a document available in Essential HTMLUI can be created with the help of the printing feature that comes with the control. It also features a print preview operation that allows users to preview a document before printing. Documents that extend across several pages can be easily loaded and printed in Essential HTMLUI.
Print and Preview Files
Essential HTMLUI is completely independent of Internet Explorer. This provides full independence in defining the control's appearance and settings. HTMLUI will never be affected by Internet Explorer-related security issues.
HTMLUI Explorer
HTML elements displayed in a document in Essential HTMLUI are exposed as programmatic elements that can be manipulated from the application code. These elements expose standard events such as Click, MouseMove, and MouseDown. The content and appearance of all elements can be changed from within the code.
HTMLUI Programmatic Access
Essential HTMLUI is written in C# and is available with full source code. The source code can be integrated into your development environment for debugging. Samples with source code are provided in C# and VB.NET.