formatted text in GDI+

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anders
  • Start date Start date
A

Anders

I need to create a "text-object" for a drawing
application. (comparable to AutoCad multiline text)
Nothing fancy, except that it needs to support tables
with right or decimal aligned number columns. The text
must be edited in a wysiwyg editor, and then rendered at
the correct location on the GDI+ graphics (screen/printer
drawing)

I have tried the RichTextBox control, but it doesn't seem
versatile enough. My questions are:


1. How do I use the RichTextBox control to edit and then
subsequently paint the formatted text onto other GDI+
surfaces? The only solution I have seen is using some
interop hack to call the FormatRange function, can't it
be done without interop?

2. With or without interop: how do I make sure the
resolutions get correct on the render surface of the
FormatRange? Do I have to use another interop call to set
the render resolution?

3. Which is the easiest way to make a table with a right
aligned column? Is it even supported? I hear
AdvancedTypography can be enabled by yet another interop
call to give right aligned tabs (but how do I control
them in the RichTextBox? will they work as right-flush
tabs correctly in edit?). Does the RichTextBox support
any rtf "tables"?

4. If I give up on the RichTextBox, what oher methods are
recommended? Using the 10mb mshtml lib for displaying
some formatted text and simple tables feels a bit
overkill.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
I'm afraid you really need some interops. Since RichTextBox is a wrapper to
the unmanaged Rich Edit Control, you can do anything wordpad can. The
source code of wordpad
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vcsample/h
tml/_sample_mfc_WORDPAD.asp) may help you.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Xin

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Are you secure? Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to get the latest
critical updates and service packs available for your computer's Windows
operating system.
 
I'm afraid you really need some interops. Since RichTextBox is a wrapper to
the unmanaged Rich Edit Control, you can do anything
Click to expand...
wordpad can.

Thanks for your reply,
Interop is fine if the result is ok, then it's just down
to:
-Can wordpad (the unmanaged rich edit control) do any
kind of table or a right aligned tab?
 
Yes. If you just want a right-aligned table, you don't event need interop.
Instead, you need to insert some raw RTF text. Try this:

In Word, insert a table and format it as you wish. Copy and paste it to a
RichTextBox. There you get the RTF string of the content by getting the
RichTextBox.Rtf property. That's what you can insert into a RichTextBox by
setting the RichTextBox.SelectedRtf property. If you want to understand the
raw RTF string, you can download the RTF spec from
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E5B8EBC2-6AD6-49F0
-8C90-E4F763E3F04F&displaylang=en>, or you can view it online at
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnrtfspec/html/rtfspec.asp>.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Xin

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Are you secure? Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com to get the latest
critical updates and service packs available for your computer's Windows
operating system.
 
Back
Top