Outline text with System.Drawing?

Question

I have the following code. Is there an easy way to put an outline on the text I am writing?

 var imageEncoder = Encoder.Quality;
 var imageEncoderParameters = new EncoderParameters(1);
 imageEncoderParameters.Param[0] = new EncoderParameter(imageEncoder, 100L);

 var productImage = GetImageFromByteArray(myViewModel.ProductImage.DatabaseFile.FileContents);
 var graphics = Graphics.FromImage(productImage);

 var font = new Font("Segoe Script", 24);
 var brush = Brushes.Orange;

 var container = new Rectangle(myViewModel.ContainerX, myViewModel.ContainerY,                                      myViewModel.ContainerWidth,                                              myViewModel.ContainerHeight);

 var stringFormat = new StringFormat {Alignment = StringAlignment.Center, LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center};

 graphics.DrawString(customizationText, font, brush, container, stringFormat);

Insomniac

I find your lack of "using" disturbing. – Gladdie

Answer 1

Yes. Instead of DrawString, use the following sequence of calls:

• new GraphicsPath (creates an empty GraphicsPath)
• GraphicsPath.AddString (the GraphicsPath object now represents the outline of the text)
• Graphics.DrawPath (draws the outline in any Pen you want)

If you need to use GraphicsPath.AddString alongside Graphics.DrawString, you need to convert the font sizes, because Graphics.DrawString expects “point size” while GraphicsPath.AddString expects “em size”. The conversion formula is simply emSize = g.DpiY * pointSize / 72.

Here's a code example:

// assuming g is the Graphics object on which you want to draw the text
GraphicsPath p = new GraphicsPath(); 
p.AddString(
    "My Text String",             // text to draw
    FontFamily.GenericSansSerif,  // or any other font family
    (int) FontStyle.Regular,      // font style (bold, italic, etc.)
    g.DpiY * fontSize / 72,       // em size
    new Point(0, 0),              // location where to draw text
    new StringFormat());          // set options here (e.g. center alignment)
g.DrawPath(Pens.Black, p);
// + g.FillPath if you want it filled as well

Zaremski

Thanks so much for the response, but I can't seem to get this to work. I am not sure which overload(s) to use for these methods. Would the only line I take out of my current program be the graphics.DrawString() line? – Insomniac

Thanks for this info, I did just what you said... But of course I realized that there's no anti-aliasing so text looks pretty awful. :( Not sure what to do about that yet. – Liselisetta

@QuinxyvonBesiex: I always set g.InterpolationMode = InterpolationMode.High;, g.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighQuality;, g.TextRenderingHint = TextRenderingHint.AntiAliasGridFit; and g.CompositingQuality = CompositingQuality.HighQuality;. One of these controls the anti-aliasing for lines and shapes. – Zaremski

@Timwi, thanks! I ended up doing something along the lines of what you said, but the super-critical part I was not understanding was that I was creating the text on a graphics object that already had the image over which the text was supposed to go, so I think that was most of my problem. I then modified my code to use a separate Image/Graphics context and then copy the text back onto the image once it was rendered. Now everything works well! Thanks again. – Liselisetta