GDI+ Text

While some effects can be implemented by setting the properties of the Brush and Pen classes, other effects require some code:

• Shadow To create the shadow, the text is drawn twice. The first time it is in gray and offset. The second time is in black.

• Embossing To create the embossing effect, the text is drawn twice. The first time it is in black and offset. The second time it is drawn in white, the current background color.

• Block text To get this effect, the text is drawn repeatedly in black, moving the text up and to the right each time. Then the text is drawn in the main color.

• Shearing When drawing, shearing means to slant an image. Text is slanted by calling the Shear method of the Transform property of the Graphics object.

• Reflection Reflecting the text requires measuring the height of the text, scaling the text, and repositioning the origin. The height returned from the MeasureString method includes some extra spacing for descenders and white space, but the text will be reflected around the baseline, which is the line which all capital letters sit on. To calculate the height above the baseline, use the GetCellAscent method. Since GetCellAscent returns a Design Metric value, it must be converted to pixels and scaled for the font size. The text is reflected using a scaling transform, but first a new origin is set to prevent the text from being drawn outside the viewable area of the form. Finally, the reflected text is drawn first, demonstrating the GraphicsState class. The only reason to draw the Reflected one first is to demonstrate the use of the GraphicsState object. Finally, the upright text is drawn.

  
  

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