How Can i Distribute String in rectangle - c#

I want to distribute string in rectangle.
Except each character set position
Rectangle displayRectangle = new Rectangle (new Point(40, 40), new Size (80, 80));
StringFormat format1 = new StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.NoClip);
format1.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, displayRectangle);
e.Graphics.DrawString("Showing Format1", this.Font,
Brushes.Black, (RectangleF)displayRectangle, format1);
But, StringFormat Alignment doesn't have distribute alignment. So I want to know a way how to distribute string in rectangle.

For the moment, I'm going to assume you can/will use the Win32 API (e.g., via. P/Invoke). .NET may have a wrapper for the function I'm going to suggest (but then again, it may not -- I'm really not sure). If it does, it'll be up to you to find and use it. Most of what I'm suggesting is more about the basic approach than the function anyway.
You can use GetTextExtentExPointI, which will compute the size of a rectangle necessary to hold a set characters you specify and (importantly) the horizontal position of each character in that rectangle.
So, what you want to do is use this to compute the size of a rectangle and position of each character in that rectangle, with it assuming normal kerning of the characters. Then, you'll divide the width of that rectangle into the width you actually want. This will give you a factor by which each position must increase to get that character to the position you want. You'll then multiply the position it returned for each character by that factor to get your desired position.
Just for example, let's assume it gave you positions of 0, 17, 35 and 44 for the characters with normal spacing. Let's also assume your target rectangle is 1.8 times as wide as the rectangle it computed for normal spacing. You'll take each of those positions and multiply by 1.8 to get the position you want to use for that character, giving 0, 31, 63, and 79 for the "corrected" positions.
Then you'll (obviously enough) go through your string and draw each character at the computed position.

Here's how to do it if you just want to literally distribute the characters evenly across the middle of the display rectangle:
private void Form1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
string text = "this is distribute";
Rectangle displayRectangle = new Rectangle(new Point(40, 40), new Size(400, 80));
e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, displayRectangle);
int step = displayRectangle.Width / text.Length;
SizeF szF = e.Graphics.MeasureString(text, this.Font); // just to get the HEIGHT
int y = (displayRectangle.Y + displayRectangle.Height / 2) - (int)szF.Height / 2;
for (int i = 0; i < text.Length; i++)
{
e.Graphics.DrawString(text.Substring(i, 1), this.Font, Brushes.Black, displayRectangle.X + (i * step), y);
}
}

Here's my stab at #Jerry Coffin's algorithm using .Net managed methods:
private void Form1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
string text = "this is distribute";
Rectangle displayRectangle = new Rectangle(new Point(40, 40), new Size(400, 80));
e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, displayRectangle);
StringFormat format1 = new StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.NoClip);
format1.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
format1.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near;
// SetMeasurableCharacterRanges() can only handle 32 regions max at a time!
// The below workaround simply measures each character separately:
RectangleF rcF = (RectangleF)displayRectangle;
List<Region> regions = new List<System.Drawing.Region>();
for (int i = 0; i < text.Length; i++)
{
format1.SetMeasurableCharacterRanges(new CharacterRange[] {new CharacterRange(i, 1)});
regions.AddRange(e.Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges(text, this.Font, rcF, format1));
}
RectangleF minBounds = regions[0].GetBounds(e.Graphics);
RectangleF maxBounds = regions[regions.Count - 1].GetBounds(e.Graphics);
float ratio = (float)displayRectangle.Width / (float)((maxBounds.X + maxBounds.Width) - minBounds.X);
for(int i = 0; i < regions.Count; i++)
{
Region region = regions[i];
RectangleF boundsF = region.GetBounds(e.Graphics);
PointF ptF = new PointF(displayRectangle.X + (int)((boundsF.Left - minBounds.X) * ratio), (int)boundsF.Top);
e.Graphics.DrawString(text.Substring(i, 1), this.Font, Brushes.Black, ptF);
}
}

Related

How can I resize the width and height of a UserControl according to a child Label?

I'm coding a clone messaging app. I have a user control called "Bubble" that I use as a message bubble. And its user control layout is like this:
It contains only lblMessage, lblTime and pictureBox. lblMessage's AutoSize property off and Anchor is top-left-right. My goal is to size or wrap this according to the content. I am able to resize vertically using this code.
void SetHeight()
{
//SizeF maxSize = new Size(500, int.MaxValue);
Graphics g = CreateGraphics();
SizeF size = g.MeasureString(lblMessage.Text, lblMessage.Font, lblMessage.Width);
lblMessage.Height = int.Parse(Math.Round(size.Height + 2, 0).ToString());
lblTime.Top= lblMessage.Bottom +10;
this.Height = lblTime.Bottom + 10;
}
My result is like this:
I can resize vertically, but not horizontally at the same time. The way I resize it vertically is to use width property of lblMessage as the limit size. I want to resize user control according to size of short text. I thought about creating a maxSize for MeasureString but I can't get it to work. I'm trying to find a function that continues from a bottom line when it reaches a certain width value. I look forward to your help.
I searched all stackowerflow questions in depth but none of them worked in my case.
**Edit after Jimi comments
I tried to apply his solution to my project. I don't think I did everything right, but with a little bit of comment, something came up that worked for me at least.
private void Bubble_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
float minimumWidth = lblTime.Width + pictureBox1.Width + 35;
float maximumWidth = 500;
string measureString = lblMessage.Text;
Font stringFont = new Font("Helvetica", 12.0F);
CharacterRange[] characterRanges = { new CharacterRange(0, measureString.Length) };
float layautWidth = maximumWidth - minimumWidth;
RectangleF layoutRect = new RectangleF(10, 6, layautWidth, this.Height);
StringFormat stringFormat = new StringFormat();
stringFormat.SetMeasurableCharacterRanges(characterRanges);
Color myColor = Color.FromArgb(211, 212, 212);
SolidBrush myBrush = new SolidBrush(myColor);
Region[] stringRegions = e.Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges(measureString, stringFont, layoutRect, stringFormat);
RectangleF measureRect1 = stringRegions[0].GetBounds(e.Graphics);
//When I gave Rectangle to the DrawString, some last letter was truncated, so I used plain text printing until I got to the bottom line.
if (measureRect1.Height < 30)
e.Graphics.DrawString(measureString, stringFont, myBrush, 10, 6, stringFormat);
else e.Graphics.DrawString(measureString, stringFont, myBrush, measureRect1, stringFormat);
e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Transparent, 0), Rectangle.Round(measureRect1));
this.Width = Convert.ToInt32(measureRect1.Width + minimumWidth);
lblTime.Top = Convert.ToInt32(measureRect1.Height) + 10;
this.Height = lblTime.Bottom + 10;
}
Result in container preview:
user control that goes down one line from the specified limit
and for one line
dynamically result inside the application

Graphics.DrawString highlight specific words [closed]

Closed. This question needs debugging details. It is not currently accepting answers.
Edit the question to include desired behavior, a specific problem or error, and the shortest code necessary to reproduce the problem. This will help others answer the question.
Closed 7 years ago.
Improve this question
I am using Graphics.DrawString in an ObjectListView. I need to highlight some words in the string (make their background yellow). Can this be done?
Before using Graphics.DrawString, I could use DefaultRenderer for highlighting. But now it doesn't work.
I am using Graphics.DrawString as in the Task List sample here
If ObjectListView supports it (the normal ListView certainly does)), simply use the TextRenderer to draw text :
private void listView1_DrawItem(object sender, DrawListViewItemEventArgs e)
{
TextFormatFlags flags = TextFormatFlags.Left | TextFormatFlags.VerticalCenter;
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, e.Item.Text, Font, e.Bounds,
Color.Blue, Color.LightSteelBlue, flags);
}
As usual only one style is supported per call. So to highlight certain words you will have use more than one call and also use the TextRenderer.MeasureText method to find the next positions. It will be rather hard to get this pixel-perfect, unless you can settle for a fixed-font..
Here is a quick and dirty example:
private void listView1_DrawItem(object sender, DrawListViewItemEventArgs e)
{
TextFormatFlags flags = TextFormatFlags.Left;
int leftPadding = 3;
int x = leftPadding;
var words = e.Item.Text.Split('#');
for (int i = 0; i < words.Count(); i++)
{
Point pt = new Point(x, e.Bounds.Top );
Size sz = TextRenderer.MeasureText(words[i], Font);
if (i % 2 == 0 )
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, words[i], Font, pt,
Color.Black, flags);
else
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, words[i], Font, pt,
Color.Blue, Color.LightSteelBlue, flags);
x += sz.Width;
}
}
As you can see, there is some extra space after the chinks. Maybe using the E.Graphics.MeasureString call wih the StringFormat.GenericTypographic would be better, as it is tuned to creating sizes without slack..:
Update:
This looks better, making us of both renderers:
Point pt = new Point(x, e.Bounds.Top );
Size sz1 = TextRenderer.MeasureText(words[i], Font);
SizeF sz2 = e.Graphics.MeasureString(words[i],Font, 9999, StringFormat.GenericTypographic);
if (i % 2 == 0 )
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, words[i], Font, pt, Color.Black);
else
TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, words[i], Font, pt,
Color.Blue, Color.LightSteelBlue);
x += (int )(sz1.Width + sz2.Width) / 2;
To draw wrapped text you need to take the available space into account and include the y coordinate in the calculation.. For this you can either draw word by word or use the RenderText overload that takes a Rectangle. This will get rather tedious!
Update 2
Here is another quick one showing how to handle wrapping text:
private void listView1_DrawItem(object sender, DrawListViewItemEventArgs e)
{
int maxW = e.Bounds.Width;
int leftPadding = 3;
int leading = 1;
int x = leftPadding;
int y = e.Bounds.Y;
var chunks = e.Item.Text.Split('#');
SizeF s0 = e.Graphics.MeasureString("_|", Font);
Size s1 = e.Bounds.Size;
for (int i = 0; i < chunks.Count(); i++)
{
Point pt = new Point(x, e.Bounds.Top );
var words = chunks[i].Split(' ');
for (int j = 0; j < words.Count(); j++)
{
Size sz1 = TextRenderer.MeasureText(words[j], Font);
SizeF sz2 = e.Graphics.MeasureString(words[j], Font, 9999,
StringFormat.GenericTypographic);
int w = (int)(sz1.Width + sz2.Width) / 2;
if (x + w > maxW)
{
y += sz1.Height + leading;
x = leftPadding;
}
DrawWords(e.Graphics, words[j], Font, new Point( x, y),
Color.Blue, Color.LightSteelBlue, i % 2 != 1);
x += w;
}
}
}
It uses a small function:
void DrawWords(Graphics g, string text, Font font, Point pt,
Color fCol, Color Bcol, bool highlite )
{
if (highlite)
TextRenderer.DrawText(g, text, font, pt, Color.Black);
else
TextRenderer.DrawText(g, text, font, pt, Color.Blue, Color.LightSteelBlue);
}
You can only use Graphics.FillRectangle() method for this. Hope your ListView doesn't wrap the text to next line.
using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(yourImage.Image))
{
Font drawFont = new Font("Arial", 12);
SolidBrush drawBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.Black);
//your text starting position
double textX = 350.0,textY=340.0;
//Get length of one character for your font style
float CharWidth = g.MeasureString("A", drawFont).Width;
//Take the words before the word that has to be highlighted and get it's length
float widthTotal = "First text strip that doesn't need highlighting".Length() * CharWidth
//Create and draw a rectangle here offsetting this widthTotal from the starting position for the desired Length
var size = g.MeasureString("Text to be highlighted", drawFont);
var rectangle = new RectangleF(textX+widthTotal , textY, size.Width, size.Height);
//Filling a rectangle before drawing the string.
g.FillRectangle(Brushes.Yellow, rectangle);
//Repeat above process for all required words
//Finally draw your string over it
g.DrawString("your complete text",drawFont,drawBrush,new Point(textX,textY))
}

Painting text on Button - Difference in look

I have my custom button where I have overridden the OnPaint() and draw the text in it only. On runtime the text looks differently - spacing between chars is lacking. Here is the image of design & runtime of the button :
The paint methods is as:
protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs pevent)
{
base.OnPaint(pevent);
if (base.ContainsFocus)
{
// Draw inner dotted rectangle when button is on focus
Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Gray, 3);
Point p = base.Location;
pen.DashStyle = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.DashStyle.Dot;
Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle(4, 4, Size.Width - 8,
Size.Height - 8);
ControlPaint.DrawFocusRectangle(pevent.Graphics, rectangle);
}
// Draw the string to screen
SizeF sf = pevent.Graphics.MeasureString(displayText, this.Font,
this.Width);
Point ThePoint = new Point();
ThePoint.X = (int)((this.Width / 2) - (sf.Width / 2));
ThePoint.Y = (int)((this.Height / 2) - (sf.Height / 2));
pevent.Graphics.DrawString(displayText, Font,
new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(255, 255, 254, 255)), ThePoint);
this.Text = "";
}
Any idea where am I going wrong and how to take care of the same?
You need to set the correct smoothing mode like this:
Graphics.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality
Then, the result should look OK.
Devils Child's answer will affect the quality of lines and circles, etc.
But for text rendering, you can use:
e.Graphics.TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHint.ClearTypeGridFit;

Thick Line Drawing problem in C#.NET

I wanted to draw thick lines using Graphics.Lines() method. But it looks like the API has some bugs. If you try to render the user control with the following code, you would get weird looking image. I was wondering if there is some smoothing mode or something similar that could take care of this line drawing glitch.
private void UserControl1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
int n = 100;
Point[] points = new Point[n];
double x = 2;
int y = 50;
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
{
Point p = new Point();
p.X = 200 + (int)(i * x);
p.Y = 200 + (int)(Math.Sin(i * 0.2) * y);
points[i] = p;
}
Pen pen = new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.Blue));
//Pen pen = new Pen(new LinearGradientBrush(new Point(0, 0), new Point(0, 100), Color.Black, Color.Red));
pen.Width = 200;
e.Graphics.DrawLines(pen, points);
}
You see the effect of GDI+ trying to draw end-caps on the line. That's not going to come to a good end with such a thick pen. About what you'd imagine from daVinci painting the Mona Lisa with a broom. Fix:
Pen pen = new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.Blue));
pen.EndCap = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.Square;
pen.StartCap = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.LineCap.Square;
Or draw a polygon instead so that GDI+ has a better idea what is front and back:
e.Graphics.DrawPolygon(pen, points);
Well, it doesn't look like a devil anymore. Keep the line width proportional to the details in the line.
Here is the result of your code drawing using a pen of width 200 (pixels):
And here it is at a width of 2:
The pen width property is usually pixels, but it is based on the Graphics object's PageUnit property (itself a GraphicsUnit property). Check to make sure you've set these values to what you want.

Center text output from Graphics.DrawString()

I'm using the .NETCF (Windows Mobile) Graphics class and the DrawString() method to render a single character to the screen.
The problem is that I can't seem to get it centred properly. No matter what I set for the Y coordinate of the location of the string render, it always comes out lower than that and the larger the text size the greater the Y offset.
For example, at text size 12, the offset is about 4, but at 32 the offset is about 10.
I want the character to vertically take up most of the rectangle it's being drawn in and be centred horizontally. Here's my basic code. this is referencing the user control it's being drawn in.
Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics();
float padx = ((float)this.Size.Width) * (0.05F);
float pady = ((float)this.Size.Height) * (0.05F);
float width = ((float)this.Size.Width) - 2 * padx;
float height = ((float)this.Size.Height) - 2 * pady;
float emSize = height;
g.DrawString(letter, new Font(FontFamily.GenericSansSerif, emSize, FontStyle.Regular),
new SolidBrush(Color.Black), padx, pady);
Yes, I know there is the label control that I could use instead and set the centring with that, but I actually do need to do this manually with the Graphics class.
I'd like to add another vote for the StringFormat object.
You can use this simply to specify "center, center" and the text will be drawn centrally in the rectangle or points provided:
StringFormat format = new StringFormat();
format.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
format.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
However there is one issue with this in CF. If you use Center for both values then it turns TextWrapping off. No idea why this happens, it appears to be a bug with the CF.
To align a text use the following:
StringFormat sf = new StringFormat();
sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center;
sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
e.Graphics.DrawString("My String", this.Font, Brushes.Black, ClientRectangle, sf);
Please note that the text here is aligned in the given bounds. In this sample this is the ClientRectangle.
Through a combination of the suggestions I got, I came up with this:
private void DrawLetter()
{
Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics();
float width = ((float)this.ClientRectangle.Width);
float height = ((float)this.ClientRectangle.Width);
float emSize = height;
Font font = new Font(FontFamily.GenericSansSerif, emSize, FontStyle.Regular);
font = FindBestFitFont(g, letter.ToString(), font, this.ClientRectangle.Size);
SizeF size = g.MeasureString(letter.ToString(), font);
g.DrawString(letter, font, new SolidBrush(Color.Black), (width-size.Width)/2, 0);
}
private Font FindBestFitFont(Graphics g, String text, Font font, Size proposedSize)
{
// Compute actual size, shrink if needed
while (true)
{
SizeF size = g.MeasureString(text, font);
// It fits, back out
if (size.Height <= proposedSize.Height &&
size.Width <= proposedSize.Width) { return font; }
// Try a smaller font (90% of old size)
Font oldFont = font;
font = new Font(font.Name, (float)(font.Size * .9), font.Style);
oldFont.Dispose();
}
}
So far, this works flawlessly.
The only thing I would change is to move the FindBestFitFont() call to the OnResize() event so that I'm not calling it every time I draw a letter. It only needs to be called when the control size changes. I just included it in the function for completeness.
To draw a centered text:
TextRenderer.DrawText(g, "my text", Font, Bounds, ForeColor, BackColor,
TextFormatFlags.HorizontalCenter |
TextFormatFlags.VerticalCenter |
TextFormatFlags.GlyphOverhangPadding);
Determining optimal font size to fill an area is a bit more difficult. One working soultion I found is trial-and-error: start with a big font, then repeatedly measure the string and shrink the font until it fits.
Font FindBestFitFont(Graphics g, String text, Font font,
Size proposedSize, TextFormatFlags flags)
{
// Compute actual size, shrink if needed
while (true)
{
Size size = TextRenderer.MeasureText(g, text, font, proposedSize, flags);
// It fits, back out
if ( size.Height <= proposedSize.Height &&
size.Width <= proposedSize.Width) { return font; }
// Try a smaller font (90% of old size)
Font oldFont = font;
font = new Font(font.FontFamily, (float)(font.Size * .9));
oldFont.Dispose();
}
}
You'd use this as:
Font bestFitFont = FindBestFitFont(g, text, someBigFont, sizeToFitIn, flags);
// Then do your drawing using the bestFitFont
// Don't forget to dispose the font (if/when needed)
Here's some code. This assumes you are doing this on a form, or a UserControl.
Graphics g = this.CreateGraphics();
SizeF size = g.MeasureString("string to measure");
int nLeft = Convert.ToInt32((this.ClientRectangle.Width / 2) - (size.Width / 2));
int nTop = Convert.ToInt32((this.ClientRectangle.Height / 2) - (size.Height / 2));
From your post, it sounds like the ClientRectangle part (as in, you're not using it) is what's giving you difficulty.
You can use an instance of the StringFormat object passed into the DrawString method to center the text.
See Graphics.DrawString Method and StringFormat Class.

Categories