MeasureString in sharpDX

Question

we are developing windows 8 metro app using SharpDX. Now we have to declare set of string within a Rectangle. For that we trying to find out the Font width and height using SharpDX.DrawingSizeF. for example:

Windows.Graphics g;
Model.Font font;
DrawingSizeF size = g.MeasureString(quote, font.Font, new DrawingSizeF(font.Width, font.Height));

we are trying to find out MeasureString with out using Windows.Graphics. Is it possible? or Is there any other way to get MeasureString in SharpDX or using Direct2D?

you need to look at DirectWrite, there's a few SharpDX samples for it. — mrvux, Oct 03 '12 at 12:02

Sean Duggan · Answer 1 · 2018-06-23T15:09:58.893

I got some code from this messageboard post that works nicely for me. What I wound up with, after some fiddling of my own, is the following:

public System.Drawing.SizeF MeasureString(string Message, DXFonts.DXFont Font, float Width, ContentAlignment Align)
{
    SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextFormat textFormat = Font.GetFormat(Align);
    SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextLayout layout = 
        new SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextLayout(DXManager.WriteFactory, Message, textFormat, Width, textFormat.FontSize);

    return new System.Drawing.SizeF(layout.Metrics.Width, layout.Metrics.Height);
}

If you plug in the text, the font, the proposed width, and the alignment, it exports the size of a rectangle to hold the text. What you would be looking for, of course, is the height, but this includes the width since the text seldom fills the entire space.

Note: As suggested by a commenter, the code should actually be the following to Dispose() of the resources:

public System.Drawing.SizeF MeasureString(string Message, DXFonts.DXFont Font, float Width, ContentAlignment Align)
{
    SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextFormat textFormat = Font.GetFormat(Align);
    SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextLayout layout = 
        new SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextLayout(DXManager.WriteFactory, Message, textFormat, Width, textFormat.FontSize);

    textFormat.Dispose(); // IMPORTANT! If you don't dispose your SharpDX resources, your program will crash after a while.

    return new System.Drawing.SizeF(layout.Metrics.Width, layout.Metrics.Height);
}

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 01 '18 at 13:08

I modified the first answer to address the limitation of not having access to DXFont in VB.net:

Public Function MeasureString(Message As String, textFormat As SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextFormat, Width As Single, Align As ContentAlignment) As System.Drawing.SizeF

        Dim layout As SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextLayout =
        New SharpDX.DirectWrite.TextLayout(New DirectWrite.Factory, Message, textFormat, Width, textFormat.FontSize)

        Return New System.Drawing.SizeF(layout.Metrics.Width, layout.Metrics.Height)

    End Function

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 13 '23 at 16:53

This did it for me.

private int getTextWidth(string text)
{
  float textWidth = 0f;
            
  if(text.Length > 0)
  {
    TextFormat tf = new TextFormat(new SharpDX.DirectWrite.Factory(), sf.Family.ToString(), SharpDX.DirectWrite.FontWeight.Normal, SharpDX.DirectWrite.FontStyle.Normal, (float)sf.Size);
    TextLayout tl = new TextLayout(Core.Globals.DirectWriteFactory, text, tf, ChartPanel.W, ChartPanel.H);
                
    textWidth = tl.Metrics.Width;
                
    tf.Dispose();
    tl.Dispose();
  }
            
  return (int)textWidth;
}

MeasureString in sharpDX

3 Answers3