Why does Drawstring make font wider in Listbox?

Question

I have a Listbox in vb.net. I was able to draw my items (with the DrawItem event) with different colors depending on conditions. It works.

The problem is that the size of the string drawned is wider that the original string as you can see in the following pictures. I use a monospace font, and now the text is not aligned anymore with the textbox above...

Listbox without DrawString
Listbox with Drawstring

My code :

Private Sub ListBoxEvIns_DrawItem(sender As Object, e As DrawItemEventArgs) Handles ListBox_EvIns.DrawItem
    ListBox_DrawItem(sender, e, Me.DT_EvIns)
End Sub



Public Sub ListBox_DrawItem(sender As Object, e As DrawItemEventArgs, DT As DataTable)

    If DT.Rows.Count() = 0 Then Exit Sub

    'Dim F As Font = New Font(e.Font.FontFamily, e.Font.Size * 0.965) 'workaround test
    Dim F As Font = New Font(e.Font.FontFamily, e.Font.Size)
    e.DrawBackground()

    If Dic_ParticipEv_Statut_Brush.Keys.Contains(DT(e.Index).Item("Statut")) Then
        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Dic_ParticipEv_Statut_Brush(DT(e.Index).Item("Statut")), e.Bounds)
    Else
        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(Brushes.Gray, e.Bounds)
    End If
    e.Graphics.DrawString(sender.Items(e.Index).ToString(), F, Brushes.White, e.Bounds)
    e.DrawFocusRectangle()

End Sub

Can someone explain me what I'm missing ?

you should turn on Option Strict. A ListView using Details View would line things up for you without any heroics — Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp, Oct 13 '15 at 14:05
The GDI+ text render is very quirky and was replaced by the TextRenderer class in .NET 2.0. Which is the one you need to use if you want to replicate the way ListBox originally drew. Use TextRenderer.DrawText() instead. — Hans Passant, Oct 13 '15 at 14:21

score -1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

-1

First of all, stop creating a font every time you’re painting an item, this wastes precious GDI resources. Use e.Font directly, without creating another copy.

Ensure you’re using exactly the same font for label and for listbox.

Set UseCompatibleTextRendering= True for your label.

I think that’s sufficient.

However, why you’re doing that in the first place? If you’re displaying some multi-column tables, why not use a ListView instead?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

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answered Oct 13 '15 at 22:07

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Thanks, Yes, you're right, I should have used Listview since the beginning, I will rewrite that. My "label area" is a textbox control, so there is no UseCompatibleTextRendering. – Yoann ARNAUD Oct 14 '15 at 11:13

Why does Drawstring make font wider in Listbox?

1 Answers1