Regarding Graphics.MeasureString

[OsirisGothra]

For some reason, I can never get an accurate measurement of a string... is this a problem for anyone else or is there something I am missing? Usually the string measurement is fine on smaller strings but once it gets more than a few characters long I find that it is reporting that it is much longer than it really is.. (esp. with say exclamation points and periods and such involved) Also, I am setting the string format to measure trailing spaces when needed... I also realize the .Width and .Height properties are single precision and I round them off or just use them as is, but it just seems that the measurements are WAY OFF sometimes!! Can anyone help me here!?

 

[a_jam_sandwich]

What code are you using cause ive never had problems

Andy

 

[OsirisGothra]

this is in VB.NET

Dim W As Single
Dim cFont as New Font("Times New Roman",12,FontStyle.Regular)

v.FormatFlags = v.FormatFlags Or StringFormatFlags.MeasureTrailingSpaces
W = owner.CreateGraphics.MeasureString(X(I), cFont, owner.Width, v).Width

Ive tried
dest.X += Math.Round(W)
and
dest.X += W

and
dest.X += Convert.ToInt32(W)

The X coordinate seems to end up anywhere from 4 to 20 pixels away from the actual end of the string on screen.

 

[Divil]

Are you actually using the same Font object to draw with as you are to measure with?

 

[OsirisGothra]

Yes it is the same font object
Might i add that the string in question is being drawn by
a directdraw surface ddsurface.DrawText

 

[Volte]

Try looking at this page:

http://www.codeproject.com/cs/media/measurestring.asp

 

[Divil]

If youre not drawing the text using GDI+, Im not at all surprised you get different results.

 

[Volte]

In theory, when you draw text at a particular size, it should be the same regardless of what you use to draw it. MeasureString does seem to be a bit inaccurate; perhaps it has something to do with variable-width fonts.

 

[Divil]

GDI+ uses grid fitting to draw text at sub-pixel accuracy, I wouldnt want to compare results from GDI+ and non GDI+ functions.

 

[OsirisGothra]

well then, is there a function simmilar to this for DirectDraw?

 

[Volte]

I dont know about for DD, but you might try one of the two alternatives (I would say try the second one, its more accurate) on the page I linked to above.

 

[Nerseus]

I would recommend using the API functions to measure text and draw text. You wont get the anti-aliasing features of GDI+, but you also wont encounter the known bugs that exist in .NET GDI+.

-Nerseus

 

[OsirisGothra]

Ok... yeah i fixed it using the GetTextExtentExPoint API function, works like a charm... YAY....

- Thanks Everyone For The Help!

If anyone ever has trouble with this type of thing ask me for details on getting that to work in .NET osirisgothra@hotmail.com
now im off to go make a new problem