Displaying HTML in Rich Text Box

[mobi12]

I want to display HTML content in rich text box.

I am able to convert the HTML by loading it into a web browser control and then selecting all and then pasting on rich text box. It does work except it cannot show any images in the rich text box.

Is there any way to import/show the images as well?

If there is any 3rd party DLL which can convert HTML to RTF format? If it is free then I am happy to use it.

I know Pandoc can convert but it is over 100 MB in size and overkill for my small application.

    Public Function HtmlToRtf(HtmlFilePath As String) As Integer
        Try
            Dim f As New Form With {
            .Height = 500,
            .Width = 700,
            .Text = "HTML imported as RTF"
            }
            Dim x As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText(HtmlFilePath)
            Dim wb As New WebBrowser With {
                .DocumentText = x,
                .Dock = DockStyle.Fill
            }
            While (wb.DocumentText <> x)
                Application.DoEvents()
            End While
            f.Controls.Add(wb)
            wb.Document.ExecCommand("SelectAll", False, Nothing)
            wb.Document.ExecCommand("Copy", False, Nothing)
            rtb.Paste()
            rtb.SelectionStart = 0
            Return 0
        Catch qq As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(qq.ToString, "Error HTML import", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
            Return 1
        End Try
    End Function

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim ofd As New OpenFileDialog With {
            .Filter = "HTML files (*.html)|*.html",
            .FileName = ""
        }
        Dim HtmlFilePath As String = ""
        rtb.SelectionFont = New Font("Arial", 14, FontStyle.Regular)
        If ofd.ShowDialog = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
            HtmlFilePath = ofd.FileName
        Else
            MessageBox.Show("You must specify a filename To open.", "Open Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation)
            Application.Exit()
        End If
        HtmlToRtf(HtmlFilePath)
    End Sub

[jmcilhinney]

Do you have access to Microsoft Word, because it should be able to do it. It's not an ideal solution but it should work. That said, maybe it would have similar trouble with images, given the different ways they are handled in HTML and RTF.

[mobi12]

Yes, I can use Word InterOp but legally I can't distribute my code with it. So I prefer a standalone solution or using any free Nuget package.

[Arnoutdv]

https://www.nuget.org/packages/sautinsoft.htmltortf

[jmcilhinney]

https://www.nuget.org/packages/sautinsoft.htmltortf

Just be aware of the pricing and license for that.

[jmcilhinney]

Yes, I can use Word InterOp but legally I can't distribute my code with it. So I prefer a standalone solution or using any free Nuget package.

I thought that I'd responded to this but apparently not. You can deploy any Interop assembly with your app that you like. You wouldn't be able to deploy the original COM component though. If you deploy the Interop assembly, anyone with Word installed will be able to use your app. If you don't want to make Word a requirement though, that's another matter.

[sapator]

As richtextbox goes I have done something similar with adding and image to the clipboard and do a richtextbox.paste going down the line of .AppendText . An issue tho is that it will replace your clipboard data .

[mobi12]

The problem seems lot more complex than I initially thought. I have written a very crude parser though still have not managed to figure out a way to include images. Embedded images in HTML are encoded in base64 byte arrays within <img src=...> so, need to extract that byte array and paste the image into RTF.

    Public Function ReadHtmlAsRTF(ByVal HtmlFilePath As String) As String
        'EXPERIMENTAL 
        Dim WordContent As String = ""
        Dim lines() As String = File.ReadAllLines(HtmlFilePath)

        Dim zb = New Text.StringBuilder()
        'RTF header
        zb.Append("{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Tahoma;}{\f1\fnil\fcharset0 Calibri;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}}")
        zb.Append("{\colortbl ;\red255\green140\blue0;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red203\green146\blue39;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;}")
        zb.Append("\pard")
        'RTF styles
        Dim RtfTitle As String = "\pard\b\f2\fs36"
        Dim RtfHeading As String = "\pard\b\f2\fs32"
        Dim RtfParagraph As String = "\pard\b0\f1\fs28"
        Dim RtfBullet As String = "\pard\+ "
        Dim RtfHeader As String = "" 
        Dim RtfFooter As String = "\par"

        zb.Append(RtfHeader)

        'REPLACE HTML TAGS WITH RTF TAGS

        For Each h As String In lines
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<html>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</html>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<body>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</body>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<head>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</head>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<h1>", "\f0\fs44", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</h1>", "\f1\fs28\b0\par", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<h2>", "\f2\fs36", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</h2>", "\f1\fs28\b0\par", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<p>", "\f1\fs28", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</p>", "\par", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<br>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<b>", " \b ", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</b>", " \b0 ", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<strong>", " \b ", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</strong>", " \b0 ", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<em>", " \i ", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</em>", " \i0 ", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<li>", "{\pntext\f4\'B7 }", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</li>", "\par", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "&nbsp;", "\par")
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<tbody>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</tbody>", "\par", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<tr>", "\f1\fs28\b0\trowd", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</tr>", "\row", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<td>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "</td>", "\cell", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase)
            h = Regex.Replace(h, "<[^>]+>", "", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase) 'clean remaining tags - must be last line
            zb.Append(h)
        Next

        zb.Append("}")
        WordContent = zb.ToString()
        Return WordContent
    End Function