Even if you’re not looking to write a replacement for Microsoft’s VS.NET development environment, it can, nevertheless, be very useful to implement a code editor inside your own application. These days, users expect applications to come with some sort of scripting facility to automate common tasks, provide macro capabilities and so forth.

If a code editor is what you’re looking for, Actipro SyntaxEditor will almost certainly fit the bill. Actipro suggests that you could switch the editor into read-only mode and use it simply for displaying log files or status messages, but in our opinion, this would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. SyntaxEditor includes language definitions for C#, VB.NET, VBScript, JScript, HTML, XML and more. C++ is a surprising omission. If you need to support another language, such as Object Pascal, the product includes a built-in Language Designer for creating a custom language definition. What’s especially great is the way in which SyntaxEditor can perform syntax highlighting for multiple languages, all within one source file. The accompanying screenshot shows a HTML file displaying embedded VBScript and JScript fragments.

Other high-end features include the ability to work with proportional fonts, and built-in support for outlining and folding, like the region facility in VS.NET. There’s also unlimited undo/redo and a nice facility for highlighting matching pairs of brackets and parentheses.

Lines that have been modified are automatically identified by a coloured strip that appears in the gutter area, and naturally you can also display line numbers, bookmarks and other gutter adornments. And yes, to answer the question you’ve been itching to ask, SyntaxEditor also has a cute IntelliPrompt system, which provides code completion and information tips, just like Microsoft’s IntelliSense.

On the negative side, the huge number of properties surfaced by the SyntaxEditor control cry out for a more hierarchical nested property scheme. For example, there are eight top-level properties associated with line number margins. By nesting these another level down, it would be more manageable.

Minor gripes aside, this is an awesome editor control that comes with sample projects and superb class reference documentation. It’s not the cheapest of code editor controls, but then you get what you pay for.