The paragraph alignment is specified from the HorizontalAlignment property of the paragraph. It accepts values from the ENAlign enum and the options are listed in the following table:

The following code snippet shows how to change the horizontal alignment of a paragraph:

NParagraph paragraph = new NParagraph("This is center aligned paragraph");
paragraph.HorizontalAlignment = ENAlign.Center;
section.Blocks.Add(paragraph);

The paragraph block supports two properties called FirstLineIndent and HangingIndent that allow you to modify the initial position of the first line of text and subsequent lines of text respectively. By default, both properties are set to zero dips. The following code snippet shows how to create a paragraph that has a negative first line indent and positive hanging indent:

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
s += "Paragraph with modified first line indent and handing indent. ";
}

NParagraph paragraph = new NParagraph(s);

paragraph.HangingIndent = 10;
paragraph.FirstLineIndent = -10;
paragraph.HorizontalAlignment = ENAlign.Justify;

section.Blocks.Add(paragraph);

This code produces the following output:

Each line in a paragraph is characterized by three metrics – Ascent, Descent, and Line Gap. They are automatically computed based on the fonts and their sizes that appear on this line. The following picture shows how these three line parameters work together to determine the offset to the next line position:

In some cases, you may want to increase or decrease the spacing between lines in a paragraph. This is achieved from the LineHeightMode property accepting values from the ENLineHeightMode enum. The following table lists the available options:

The following code snippet shows how to increase the line height:

paragraph.LineHeightMode = ENLineHeightMode.Multiple;
paragraph.LineHeightFactor = 2.0;

The tab stop concept is borrowed from typewriters where when the operator presses a tab key the carriage is automatically moved to a predefined position. Text processors extend this idea and allow tab stops to alter the flow of text relative to the tab stop.

A tab stop is a preference where the current line position should be moved when it encounters a NTabInline object. It is specified by adding objects of type NTabStop to the TabStops collection of the paragraph. If you do not specify tab stops then the control will automatically create tab stops based on the DefaultTabWidth property of the NDocumentBlock element.

The following example shows how to create a paragraph with tab stops and tab inlines programmatically:

NParagraph paragraph = new NParagraph();

paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Left."));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Right."));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Center."));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Decimal 345.33"));

NTabStopCollection tabStops = new NTabStopCollection();
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(100, ENTabStopAlignment.Left, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.None));
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(200, ENTabStopAlignment.Right, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.None));
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(300, ENTabStopAlignment.Center, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.None));
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(500, ENTabStopAlignment.Decimal, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.None));
paragraph.TabStops = tabStops;

section.Blocks.Add(paragraph);

The resulting image of this paragraph is illustrated in the following picture:

In this picture, the red lines show the tab stop positions. You can see that the tab stop alignment will alter the normal flow of text in the paragraph.

You can also alter the tab leader style. This property allows you to insert a repeating char or line at the space occupied by the tab stop:

NParagraph paragraph = new NParagraph();

paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Left."));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Right."));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Center."));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTabInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Decimal 345.33"));

NTabStopCollection tabStops = new NTabStopCollection();
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(100, ENTabStopAlignment.Left, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.Dots));
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(200, ENTabStopAlignment.Right, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.EqualSigns));
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(300, ENTabStopAlignment.Center, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.Hyphens));
tabStops.Add(new NTabStop(500, ENTabStopAlignment.Decimal, ENTabStopLeaderStyle.Underline));

paragraph.TabStops = tabStops;

This results in the following paragraph:

A line break is represented by the NLineBreakInline element. It represents a formatting instruction for the paragraph and prohibits the appearance of other inlines after the break on the same line. The following code shows how to create a paragraph that contains a hard line break:

NParagraph paragraph = new NParagraph();
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("First line"));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NLineBreakInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Second line"));

A page breaks is represented by the NPageBreakInline element. It represents a formatting instruction in case the control uses paging. The following code snippet shows how to create a paragraph that contains an explicit page break:

NParagraph paragraph = new NParagraph();
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("First Page"));
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NPageBreakInline());
paragraph.Inlines.Add(new NTextInline("Second Page"));

When the control uses paging some paragraphs may end up having only a single line in a page or column. A paragraph ending line that falls at the beginning of the next page or column is called a widow and a paragraph first line that appears by itself at the bottom of a page/column is called an orphan. Widow and orphan lines generally decrease the readability of the document when it is paginated. By default the control will not allow widow and orphan lines in paragraphs when in paged view, but you can disable this by setting the WidowOrphanControl property of the paragraph to false:

paragraph.WidowOrphanControl = false;

Inlines