dText (Function)

ONLINE HELP
WINDEV, WEBDEV AND WINDEV MOBILE

Version:

Home | Sign in | English

Help / WLanguage / WLanguage functions / Controls, pages and windows / Drawing functions

Font
Background color
Coordinates
Management of '&'
Using the drawing functions
Limitations
Drawing in PHP
Drawing in Browser code

WINDEV

WEBDEV

WINDEV Mobile

Others

See also

dText (Function)

In french: dTexte

Draws a text:

in an Image control,
in a variable of type Image.
This type of variable is not available.
in a variable of type WDPic (on the background layer),
in a variable of type picLayer.

Caution: A specific configuration is required to use this function in Linux. For more details, see The drawings.

Example

See additional examples

// Initialize the drawing in an Image control
dStartDrawing(IMG_Drawing)

// Draw a text in light yellow
dText(10, 20, "Easy development", LightYellow)

// Calculate the size of a text
nTextWidth is int
dStartDrawing(IMG_Image1)
dText(X, Y, MyText)

nTextWidth = TextWidth(EDT_Edit1, MyText)
dText(X + nTextWidth, Y, MyNextText)

// Draw a text in light yellow
dText(IMG_Drawing, 10, 20, "Easy development", LightYellow)

Syntax

dText([<Image>, ] <X-coordinate> , <Y-coordinate> , <Text> [, <Text color> [, <Management of &>]])

<Image>: Optional control name or optional Image, WDPic or picLayer variable

Image to use. The image can correspond to:
the name of an Image control.
the name of a variable of type Image.
the name of a variable of type WDPic. Only the background layer will be handled.
the name of a variable of type picLayer.
If this parameter is not specified, it is necessary to define the drawing destination with dStartDrawing.

<X-coordinate>: Integer

X-coordinate of text to draw (in pixels).

<Y-coordinate>: Integer

Y-coordinate of text to draw (in pixels).

<Text>: Type corresponding to the text to draw

Text to draw. This text can be:
a string (without formatting marks such as TAB, CR, etc.),
a numeric.

<Text color>: Integer or constant (optional)

Text color to use. This color can correspond to:
an RGB color (returned by RGB),
an HSL color (returned by HSL),
a WLanguage preset color.
If this parameter is not specified, the color of the text:
is Black if dPen has not been used beforehand,
corresponds to the color specified in the last call to dPen.

<Management of &>: Optional boolean

True (default value) if the "&" character must not be interpreted as an underline operator.
False if the "&" character must be interpreted as an underline operator: the character following the "&" character will be underlined.
If this parameter is set to False, the "&" character will not be displayed but the following character will not be underlined.

Remarks

Font

By default:

The font used is "MS Sans Serif" (size 13).
The writing direction is horizontal (from left to right).
The coordinates of the upper-left corner of the image are (0,0).
The "&" character is not interpreted.

To change these parameters, use dFont.

The default font may differ according to the system on which the application is run.

Background color

By default, the background color of an Image control is transparent. To change the background color of an Image control, use the BackgroundColor property.

Coordinates

Coordinates are specified with respect to the upper-left corner of the image or Image control (coordinates: (0,0)).
The coordinates correspond to the upper-left corner of the rectangle into which the text will be drawn. The precise location of the text in this rectangle depends on the size, shape and attributes of the font.

Management of '&'

The parameter <Management of & > makes it possible to manage the use of the '&' character. Example:

the "&" character must not be interpreted as an underline operator. For example:
dText(10, 10, "Tom&Jerry", LightRed, True)

will display "Tom&Jerry".
the "&" character must be interpreted as an underline operator: the character following the "&" character will be underlined. For example:
dText(10, 10, "&Edit", LightRed, False)

will display "Edit".

Using the drawing functions

The drawing functions can be used according to 2 methods:

Method 1: Using dStartDrawing
- dStartDrawing must be called before any other drawing function. dStartDrawing is used to define the element (Image control or variable) to which the drawing functions will be applied.
- When drawing on an Image control:
  - The drawing functions operate on a copy ("bitmap") of the image. You can use the drawing functions of Windows (via API or CallDLL32) but these functions must use the DC (Device Context) returned by dStartDrawing.
  - dEndDrawing and dStartDrawing must not be called in the same process.
    The drawing will not be displayed if dEndDrawing and dStartDrawing are called in the same process: it will be automatically erased.
Method 2: indicating the drawing target directly in the syntax (via a parameter)
The <Image> parameter is used to specify directly the target of the drawing. dStartDrawing becomes useless. This function must be deleted.

Limitations

In anti-aliasing mode (dChangeMode) or in opacity mode (dStartDrawing), dText is available for the TrueType fonts only.

The anti-aliasing mode is not available.

Drawing in PHP

In PHP, the drawing functions are based on the graphic library GD. This library is commonly used by the PHP hosting providers and therefore it is always enabled. The version of the GD library must be version 2.0.28 (or later). This library can be downloaded from the PHP site.

To enable (if necessary) this library locally, the following elements are required:

PHP installed.
the PHP.INI file found in the Windows directory must contain the following line: "extension=php_gd2.dll" (instead of ";extension=php_gd2.dll").
the php_gd2.dll file must exist in the directory of PHP extensions. This directory is defined in the PHP.INI file by the "extension_dir" variable.

Drawing in Browser code

Some drawing functions are available in Browser code. The drawing functions in Browser code are based on the HTML 5 standard. More specifically, these functions are based on the "canvas" tag of HTML 5.

The drawing features in browser code are available for the recent browsers only (supporting the HTML 5 standard). To find out whether the drawing features are proposed by your browser, use DrawingAvailable.

Caution: To use the drawing functions with Internet Explorer 9, the project must include the reference to the DTD file. To do so, the HTML mode must be "HTML 4.01 Transitional + DTD". This option is available in the "Advanced" tab of the project description window.
Reminder: To open the project description window, go to the "Project" tab, "Project" group and click "Description".

Special case: Drawing in the browser of an Android phone: The browser drawing functions are only available starting with version 3 of Android.

Related Examples:

Unit examples (WINDEV): The drawing functions

[ + ] Using the main drawing functions of WINDEV to:
- Initialize an Image control for drawing
- Draw simple shapes
- Write a text into a drawing
- Change the color in a drawing

Business / UI classification: Neutral code

Component: wd300pnt.dll