Compatibility with .NET

As a pure JavaScript/TypeScript application, CKEditor 5 will work inside any environment that supports such components. While we do not offer official integrations for any non-JavaScript frameworks, you can include a custom configuration of CKEditor 5 in a non-JS framework of your choice, for example, Microsoft’s .NET.

# Setting up the project

For the purpose of this guide, we will use a basic ASP.NET Core project created with dotnet new webapp. You can refer to the ASP.NET Core documentation to learn how to set up a project in the framework.

# Integrating from CDN

Once the project has been prepared, create an assets/vendor/ckeditor5.js file in the existing wwwroot directory in your app. Your folder structure should resemble this one:

├── bin
├── obj
├── Pages
│   ├── Index.cshtml
│   └── ...
├── Properties
├── wwwroot
│   ├── assets
|      ├── vendor
|          └── ckeditor5.js
│   ├── css
│   ├── js
│   ├── lib
│   └── favicon.ico
├── appsettings.Development.json
├── appsettings.json
└── ...

Inside the file, paste the JavaScript code from CKEditor 5 Builder. The code will differ depending on your chosen preset and features. But it should look similar to this:

import {
    ClassicEditor,
    AccessibilityHelp,
    Autosave,
    Bold,
    Essentials,
    Italic,
    Mention,
    Paragraph,
    SelectAll,
    Undo
} from 'ckeditor5';
import { SlashCommand } from 'ckeditor5-premium-features';

const editorConfig = {
    toolbar: {
        items: ['undo', 'redo', '|', 'selectAll', '|', 'bold', 'italic', '|', 'accessibilityHelp'],
        shouldNotGroupWhenFull: false
    },
    placeholder: 'Type or paste your content here!',
    plugins: [AccessibilityHelp, Autosave, Bold, Essentials, Italic, Mention, Paragraph, SelectAll, SlashCommand, Undo],
    licenseKey: '<YOUR_LICENSE_KEY>',
    mention: {
        feeds: [
            {
                marker: '@',
                feed: [
                    /* See: https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/features/mentions.html */
                ]
            }
        ]
    },
    initialData: "<h2>Congratulations on setting up CKEditor 5! 🎉</h2>"
};

ClassicEditor
    .create( document.querySelector( '#editor' ), editorConfig )
    .then( editor => {
        console.log( editor );
    } )
    .catch( error => {
        console.error( error );
    } );

Then, modify the Index.cshtml file in the Pages directory to include the CKEditor 5 scripts. All necessary scripts and links are in the HTML snippet from CKEditor 5 Builder. You can copy and paste them into your template. It should look similar to the one below:

@page
@model IndexModel
@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Home page";
}

<div class="text-center">
    <div id="editor"></div>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5/43.3.1/ckeditor5.css" />
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5-premium-features/43.3.1/ckeditor5-premium-features.css" />
    <script type="importmap">
        {
            "imports": {
                "ckeditor5": "https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5/43.3.1/ckeditor5.js",
                "ckeditor5/": "https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5/43.3.1/",
                "ckeditor5-premium-features": "https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5-premium-features/43.3.1/ckeditor5-premium-features.js",
                "ckeditor5-premium-features/": "https://cdn.ckeditor.com/ckeditor5-premium-features/43.3.1/"
            }
        }
    </script>
    <script type="module" src="assets/vendor/ckeditor5.js"></script>
</div>

Finally, in the root directory of your .NET project, run dotnet watch run to see the app in action.

# Integrating using ZIP

After downloading and unpacking the ZIP archive, copy the ckeditor5.js and ckeditor5.css files in the wwwroot/assets/vendor/ directory. The folder structure of your app should resemble this one.

├── bin
├── obj
├── Pages
│   ├── Index.cshtml
│   └── ...
├── Properties
├── wwwroot
│   ├── assets
|      ├── vendor
|          ├── ckeditor5.js
|          └── ckeditor5.css
│   ├── css
│   ├── js
│   ├── lib
│   └── favicon.ico
├── appsettings.Development.json
├── appsettings.json
└── ...

Having all the dependencies of CKEditor 5, modify the Index.cshtml file in the Pages directory to import them. All the necessary markup is in the index.html file from the ZIP archive. You can copy and paste it into your page. Pay attention to the paths of the import map and CSS link - they should reflect your folder structure. The template should look similar to the one below:

@page
@model IndexModel
@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Home page";
}

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
        <title>CKEditor 5 - Quick start ZIP</title>
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../assets/vendor/ckeditor5.css">
        <style>
            .main-container {
                width: 795px;
                margin-left: auto;
                margin-right: auto;
            }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div class="main-container">
            <div id="editor">
                <p>Hello from CKEditor 5!</p>
            </div>
        </div>
        <script type="importmap">
            {
                "imports": {
                    "ckeditor5": "../../assets/vendor/ckeditor5.js",
                    "ckeditor5/": "../../assets/vendor/"
                }
            }
        </script>
        <script type="module">
            import {
                ClassicEditor,
                Essentials,
                Paragraph,
                Bold,
                Italic,
                Font
            } from 'ckeditor5';

            ClassicEditor
                .create( document.querySelector( '#editor' ), {
                    plugins: [ Essentials, Paragraph, Bold, Italic, Font ],
                    toolbar: [
                        'undo', 'redo', '|', 'bold', 'italic', '|',
                        'fontSize', 'fontFamily', 'fontColor', 'fontBackgroundColor'
                    ]
                } )
                .then( editor => {
                    window.editor = editor;
                } )
                .catch( error => {
                    console.error( error );
                } );
        </script>
    </body>
</html>

Finally, in the root directory of your .NET project, run dotnet watch run to see the app in action.