microsoft / microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml

Proposal: RichEditBox Math Mode highlight the scope of the caret in the equation

Open
#10,352 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
area-TextBox feature proposal
Dominant language
C++
Stars
8.4k
Forks
942
Avg merge
2d 7h
Merged PRs (30d)
105

Description

# Proposal: RichEditBox Math Mode highlight the scope of the caret

## Summary

Enhance the experience of editing complex equations in the math mode of the `RichEditBox` control by highlighting the caret's scope.

## Rationale

- Editing complex equations can be confusing without clear visual cues about the scope currently being edited.
- By improving the visual clarity of caret positioning, users can navigate and modify mathematical expressions more efficiently.

## Scope

| Capability | Priority |
| :---------- | :------- |
| Highlight the immediate scope of the caret with a dark color | Must |
| Highlight the parent scope of the caret with a light color | Must |
| Allow developers to turn on/off the highlight colors | Could |
| Allow developers to customize the highlight colors | Could |

## Important Notes

This feature exists in OneNote and other Office applications (now rebranded as Microsoft 365 Copilot), which significantly improves the experience of editing complex equations. Highlight in OneNote is shown below:

![Image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8002cd68-022b-49c0-aba3-8a43da02d7ed)

## Open Questions

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

The proposal names RichEditBox math mode but no implementation files, tests, or entry points. Start by reviewing the control's existing math-mode behavior, then resolve the open design questions around immediate and parent-scope highlighting and color options; done requires an agreed implementation scope.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
desktop, frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.