HTML syntax highlight using Rich-Text Format (RTF)

In case you want to display HTML with highlighted/colored syntax the simplest way to go is use WinForms RichTextBox, all is needed is to add RTF color tags surrounding HTML elements.
This helper class goal is exactly that, given a string containing HTML code it will return an RTF formatted string with the HTML elements colored.
 
I have used Alun Evans code as base, improving its coloring support and performance.
See it's usage in HtmlRenderer project.

Features

  • Rich coloring adjusted to Visual Studio HTML coloring.
  • Support to for 6 custom colors – element, attribute, comment, chars, values, style.
  • Handle plain input – HTML text without not in RTF format.
  • Handle RTF formatted input – text that has already in RTF format that just need coloring.
  • Handle if input already contains RTF color table.
  • High performance (as much as RTF format allows).

 

Sample

clip_image001.png
 

Code

See it on Gists.
 

/// <summary>      
/// HTML syntax  highlighting using Rich-Text formatting.<br/>      
/// - Handle plain  input or already in RTF format.<br/>      
/// - Handle if  input already contains RTF color table.<br/>      
/// - Rich coloring  adjusted to Visual Studio HTML coloring.<br/>      
/// - Support to  provide custom colors.<br/>      
/// - High  performance (as much as RTF format allows).<br/>      
///  </summary>      
/// <remarks>      
/// The MIT License  (MIT) Copyright (c) 2014 Arthur Teplitzki.<br/>      
/// Based on work  by Alun Evans 2006  (http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/15038/C-Formatting-Text-in-a-RichTextBox-by-Parsing-the).      
///  </remarks>      
public static class  HtmlSyntaxHighlighter      
{      
    #region Fields/Consts      

    /// <summary>      
    /// RTF header field      
    /// </summary>      
    private const string Header = "rtf";

    /// <summary>      
    /// RTF color table      
    /// </summary>      
    private const string ColorTbl = "colortbl";

    /// <summary>      
    /// cf0 = default      
    /// cf1 = dark red        
    /// cf2 = bright red      
    /// cf3 = green      
    /// cf4 = blue          
    /// cf5 = blue          
    /// cf6 = purple                
    /// </summary>      
    private const string DefaultColorScheme =  "red128green0blue0;red240green0blue0;red0green128blue0;red0green0blue255;red0green0blue255;red128green0blue171;";   

    /// <summary>      
    /// Used to test if a char requires more  than 1 byte      
    /// </summary>      
    private static readonly char[] _unicodeTest  = new char[1];      

    #endregion      

    /// <summary>      
    /// Process the given text to create RTF  text with HTML syntax highlighting using default Visual Studio  colors.<br/>      
    /// The given text can be plain HTML or  already parsed RTF format.      
    /// </summary>      
    /// <param name="text">the  text to create color RTF text from</param>      
    /// <returns>text with RTF formatting  for HTML syntax</returns>      
    public static string Process(string text)      
    {      
        return Process(text,  DefaultColorScheme);      
    }      

    /// <summary>      
    /// Process the given text to create RTF  text with HTML syntax highlighting using custom colors.<br/>      
    /// The given text can be plain HTML or  already parsed RTF format.      
    /// </summary>      
    /// <param name="text">the  text to create color RTF text from</param>      
    /// <param  name="element">the color for HTML elements</param>      
    /// <param  name="attribute">the color for HTML attributes</param>      
    /// <param  name="comment">the color for HTML comments</param>      
    /// <param name="chars">the  color for HTML special chars:  (<![CDATA[<,>,",',=,:]]>)</param>      
    /// <param  name="values">the color for HTML attribute or styles  values</param>      
    /// <param name="style">the  color for HTML style attribute</param>      
    /// <returns>text with RTF formatting  for HTML syntax</returns>      
    public static string Process(string text,  Color element, Color attribute, Color comment, Color chars, Color values, Color  style)      
    {      
        return Process(text,  CreateColorScheme(element, attribute, comment, chars, values, style));      
    }      


    #region Private/Protected methods      

    /// <summary>      
    /// Process the given text to create RTF  text with HTML syntax highlighting.      
    /// </summary>      
    /// <param name="text">the  text to create color RTF text from</param>      
    /// <param  name="colorScheme">the color scheme to add to RTF color  table</param>      
    /// <returns>text with RTF formatting  for HTML syntax</returns>      
    private static string Process(string text,  string colorScheme)      
    {      
        var sb = new StringBuilder(text.Length  * 2);      

        // add color table used to set color in  RTL formatted text      
        bool rtfFormated;      
        int i = AddColorTable(sb, text,  colorScheme, out rtfFormated);      

        // Scan through RTF data adding RTF  color tags      
        bool inComment = false;      
        bool inHtmlTag = false;      
        bool inAttributeVal = false;      
        for (; i < text.Length; i++)      
        {      
            var c = text[i];      
            var c2 = text.Length > i + 1 ?  text[i + 1] : (char)0;      

            if (!inComment && c ==  '<')      
            {      
                if (text.Length > i + 3  && c2 == '!' && text[i + 2] == '-' && text[i + 3] ==  '-')      
                {      
                    // Comments tag      
                    sb.Append("cf3").Append(c);      
                    inComment = true;      
                }      
                else      
                {      
                    // Html start/end tag      
                    sb.Append("cf4").Append(c);      
                    if (c2 == '/')      
                    {      
                        sb.Append(c2);      
                        i++;      
                    }      
                    sb.Append("cf1  ");      
                    inHtmlTag = true;      
                }      
            }      
            else if (c == '>')      
            {      
                //Check for comments tags      
                if (inComment && text[i  - 1] == '-' && text[i - 2] == '-')      
                {      
                    sb.Append(c).Append("cf0 ");      
                    inComment = false;      
                }      
                else if (!inComment)      
                {      
                    sb.Append("cf4").Append(c).Append("cf0 ");      
                    inHtmlTag = false;      
                    inAttributeVal = false;      
                }      
            }      
            else if (inHtmlTag &&  !inComment && c == '/' && c2 == '>')      
            {      
                sb.Append("cf4").Append(c).Append(c2).Append("cf0  ");      
                inHtmlTag = false;      
                i++;      
            }      
            else if (inHtmlTag &&  !inComment && !inAttributeVal && c == ' ')      
            {      
                sb.Append(c).Append("cf2  ");      
            }      
            else if (inHtmlTag &&  !inComment && c == '=')      
            {      
                sb.Append("cf4").Append(c).Append("cf6 ");      
            }      
            else if (inHtmlTag &&  !inComment && inAttributeVal && c == ':')      
            {      
                sb.Append("cf0").Append(c).Append("cf5 ");      
            }      
            else if (inHtmlTag &&  !inComment && inAttributeVal && c == ';')      
            {      
                sb.Append("cf0").Append(c).Append("cf6 ");      
            }      
            else if (inHtmlTag &&  !inComment && (c == '"' || c == '''))      
            {      
                sb.Append("cf4").Append(c).Append("cf6 ");      
                inAttributeVal =  !inAttributeVal;      
            }      
            else if (!rtfFormated && c  == 'n')      
            {      
                sb.Append(c).Append("par  ");      
            }      
            else if (!rtfFormated && (c  == '{' || c == '}'))      
            {      
                sb.Append('').Append(c);      
            }      
            else if (!rtfFormated)      
            {      
                _unicodeTest[0] = c;      
                if  (Encoding.UTF8.GetByteCount(_unicodeTest, 0, 1) > 1)      
                    sb.Append("u" +  Convert.ToUInt32(c) + "?");      
                else      
                    sb.Append(c);      
            }      
            else      
            {      
                sb.Append(c);      
            }      
        }      

        // close the RTF if we added the header  ourselves      
        if (!rtfFormated)      
            sb.Append('}');      

        // return the created colored RTF      
        return sb.ToString();      
    }      

    /// <summary>      
    /// Add color table used to set color in  RTL formatted text.      
    /// </summary>      
    /// <param name="sb">the  builder to add the RTF string to</param>      
    /// <param name="text">the  original RTF text to build color RTF from</param>      
    /// <param  name="colorScheme">the color scheme to add to RTF color  table</param>      
    /// <param  name="rtfFormated">return if the given text is already in RTF  format</param>      
    /// <returns>the index in the given  RTF text to start scan from</returns>      
    private static int  AddColorTable(StringBuilder sb, string text, string colorScheme, out bool  rtfFormated)      
    {      
        // Search for color table, if exists  replace it, otherwise add our      
        rtfFormated = true;      
        int idx = text.IndexOf(ColorTbl,  StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);      
        if (idx != -1)      
        {      
            sb.Append(text, 0, idx);      

            // insert our color table at our  chosen location                      
            sb.Append(ColorTbl).Append(";").Append(colorScheme).Append("}");      

            // skip the existing color table      
            idx = text.IndexOf('}', idx);      
        }      
        else      
        {      
            // find index of start of header if  exists      
            idx = text.IndexOf(Header,  StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);      
            if (idx != -1)      
            {      
                // append the existing header      
                idx += Header.Length;      
                sb.Append(text, 0, idx);      
                while (text[idx] != ''  && text[idx] != '{' && text[idx] != '}')      
                    sb.Append(text[idx++]);      
            }      
            else      
            {      
                // not RTF text, add the RTF  header as well      
                idx = 0;      
                sb.Append("{").Append(Header);      
                rtfFormated = false;      
            }      

            // insert the color table at our  chosen location                      
            sb.Append("{").Append(ColorTbl).Append(";").Append(colorScheme).Append("}");      
        }      
        return idx;      
    }      

    /// <summary>      
    /// Create RTF colortbl formatted string  for the given colors.      
    /// </summary>      
    private static string  CreateColorScheme(Color element, Color attribute, Color comment, Color chars,  Color values, Color style)      
    {      
        var sb = new  StringBuilder(DefaultColorScheme.Length);      
        AppendColorValue(sb, element);      
        AppendColorValue(sb, attribute);      
        AppendColorValue(sb, comment);      
        AppendColorValue(sb, chars);      
        AppendColorValue(sb, values);      
        AppendColorValue(sb, style);      
        return sb.ToString();      
    }      

    /// <summary>      
    /// Append single color in RTF colortbl  format.      
    /// </summary>      
    private static void  AppendColorValue(StringBuilder sb, Color color)      
    {      
        sb.Append("red").Append(color.R)      
            .Append("green").Append(color.R)      
            .Append("blue").Append(color.R)      
            .Append(';');      
    }      

    #endregion      
}      
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