Drive the editor from your own UI (menus, ribbons, buttons)

The WinForms HTML Editor's built-in toolbars work well when your app is a Windows Forms shell with room for a ToolStrip, but not every host looks like that. A ribbon-based document app, a WPF shell hosting the control, or a custom command bar may need every editor command - bold, insert image, insert table, find and replace - triggered from buttons that are not ToolStrips at all. Reimplementing dialogs like Insert Image or Find & Replace from scratch would mean duplicating logic the editor already has, fully localized and wired in. This page shows how to hide the factory toolbars and route your own UI's clicks into the editor's existing commands, dialogs included.

Hiding the toolbars and driving your own controls

Some applications have no ToolStrips at all - every command lives in a ribbon, a menu, or another custom control, and the built-in toolbars cannot be shipped as-is. Hide the editor's two factory toolbars the same way as for any custom toolbar. The remaining question is the other direction: how do your own buttons run the editor's commands, especially the ones that pop dialogs - Insert Image, Insert Hyperlink, Insert Table, Find & Replace? Reimplementing those dialogs is unnecessary; they are already localized and wired into the editor's services.

WinFormHtmlEditor.ToolbarItemOverrider exposes one OnXxxButtonClicked(object sender, EventArgs e) method per built-in command. Calling one runs the exact same code path the matching factory button runs, dialog included. The signature is the standard .NET event-handler signature, so any control event that matches it - Button.Click, ToolStripMenuItem.Click, a third-party ribbon control's Click event - can be attached directly.

Wiring the ribbon

private void ContractEditorForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {     htmlEditor1.Toolbar1.Visible = false;     htmlEditor1.Toolbar2.Visible = false;     var ov = htmlEditor1.ToolbarItemOverrider;     // Home tab.     ribbonBoldButton.Click += ov.OnBoldButtonClicked;     ribbonItalicButton.Click += ov.OnItalicButtonClicked;     ribbonUnderlineButton.Click += ov.OnUnderlineButtonClicked;     // Insert tab - these pop the editor's dialogs.     ribbonImageButton.Click += ov.OnImageButtonClicked; // Image dialog     ribbonHyperlinkButton.Click += ov.OnHyperLinkButtonClicked; // Hyperlink dialog     ribbonTableButton.Click += ov.OnTableInsertButtonClicked; // Table dialog     // Review tab.     ribbonFindButton.Click += ov.OnSearchButtonClicked; // Find/Replace dialog     ribbonSpellCheckButton.Click += ov.OnCheckSpellingButtonClicked; }

Private Sub ContractEditorForm_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)     htmlEditor1.Toolbar1.Visible = False     htmlEditor1.Toolbar2.Visible = False     Dim ov = htmlEditor1.ToolbarItemOverrider     ' Home tab.     ribbonBoldButton.Click += ov.OnBoldButtonClicked     ribbonItalicButton.Click += ov.OnItalicButtonClicked     ribbonUnderlineButton.Click += ov.OnUnderlineButtonClicked     ' Insert tab - these pop the editor's dialogs.     ribbonImageButton.Click += ov.OnImageButtonClicked ' Image dialog     ribbonHyperlinkButton.Click += ov.OnHyperLinkButtonClicked ' Hyperlink dialog     ribbonTableButton.Click += ov.OnTableInsertButtonClicked ' Table dialog     ' Review tab.     ribbonFindButton.Click += ov.OnSearchButtonClicked ' Find/Replace dialog     ribbonSpellCheckButton.Click += ov.OnCheckSpellingButtonClicked End Sub

The complete handler list

The ToolbarItemOverrider exposes a handler for every built-in action:

• Formatting: OnBoldButtonClicked, OnItalicButtonClicked, OnUnderlineButtonClicked, OnStrikeThroughButtonClicked, OnSubscriptButtonClicked, OnSuperScriptButtonClicked, OnFormatResetButtonClicked.
• Insert: OnImageButtonClicked, OnHyperLinkButtonClicked, OnTableInsertButtonClicked, OnSymbolInsertButtonClicked, OnHorizontalRuleButtonClicked, OnYouTubeVideoInsertButtonClicked.
• Layout: OnAlignLeftButtonClicked, OnAlignCenterButtonClicked, OnAlignRightButtonClicked, OnIndentButtonClicked, OnOutdentButtonClicked, OnOrderedListButtonClicked, OnUnOrderedListButtonClicked.
• Color and style: OnFontForeColorButtonClicked, OnTextHighlightColorButtonClicked, OnBodyStyleButtonClicked.
• Document I/O: OnNewButtonClicked, OnOpenButtonClicked, OnSaveButtonClicked, OnPrintButtonClicked.
• Edit operations: OnCutButtonClicked, OnCopyButtonClicked, OnPasteButtonClicked, OnPasteFromMsWordButtonClicked, OnUndoButtonClicked, OnRedoButtonClicked.
• Tools: OnSearchButtonClicked, OnCheckSpellingButtonClicked.

Which approach to use

Use ToolbarItemOverrider.ToolbarItems when your custom UI is itself a ToolStrip: it rehosts the editor's actual ToolStripButton instances, so icons, tooltips, and pressed state stay automatic because the same button objects are still doing the work. Use the OnXxxButtonClicked handlers instead when your UI is not a ToolStrip, for example a ribbon control whose buttons are a different type with their own icon assets and visual states. The handlers are the bridge: your control stays its own type while still running the editor's exact command behavior.

Either way, the dialogs opened (Find/Replace, Insert Hyperlink, Insert Table, and so on) are the editor's own dialogs, so they behave identically regardless of which approach triggered them.