Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges giving wrong size calculations

Question

I'm trying to render some text into a specific part of an image in a Web Forms app. The text will be user entered, so I want to vary the font size to make sure it fits within the bounding box.

I have code that was doing this fine on my proof-of-concept implementation, but I'm now trying it against the assets from the designer, which are larger, and I'm getting some odd results.

I'm running the size calculation as follows:

StringFormat fmt = new StringFormat();
fmt.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center;
fmt.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Near;
fmt.FormatFlags = StringFormatFlags.NoClip;
fmt.Trimming = StringTrimming.None;

int size = __startingSize;
Font font = __fonts.GetFontBySize(size);

while (GetStringBounds(text, font, fmt).IsLargerThan(__textBoundingBox))
{
    context.Trace.Write("MyHandler.ProcessRequest",
        "Decrementing font size to " + size + ", as size is "
        + GetStringBounds(text, font, fmt).Size()
        + " and limit is " + __textBoundingBox.Size());

    size--;

    if (size < __minimumSize)
    {
        break;
    }

    font = __fonts.GetFontBySize(size);
}

context.Trace.Write("MyHandler.ProcessRequest", "Writing " + text + " in "
    + font.FontFamily.Name + " at " + font.SizeInPoints + "pt, size is "
    + GetStringBounds(text, font, fmt).Size()
    + " and limit is " + __textBoundingBox.Size());

I then use the following line to render the text onto an image I'm pulling from the filesystem:

g.DrawString(text, font, __brush, __textBoundingBox, fmt);

where:

• __fonts is a PrivateFontCollection,
• PrivateFontCollection.GetFontBySize is an extension method that returns a FontFamily
• RectangleF __textBoundingBox = new RectangleF(150, 110, 212, 64);
• int __minimumSize = 8;
• int __startingSize = 48;
• Brush __brush = Brushes.White;
• int size starts out at 48 and decrements within that loop
• Graphics g has SmoothingMode.AntiAlias and TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias set
• context is a System.Web.HttpContext (this is an excerpt from the ProcessRequest method of an IHttpHandler)

The other methods are:

private static RectangleF GetStringBounds(string text, Font font,
    StringFormat fmt)  
{  
    CharacterRange[] range = { new CharacterRange(0, text.Length) };  
    StringFormat myFormat = fmt.Clone() as StringFormat;  
    myFormat.SetMeasurableCharacterRanges(range);  

    using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(new Bitmap(
       (int) __textBoundingBox.Width - 1,
       (int) __textBoundingBox.Height - 1)))
    {
        g.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;
        g.TextRenderingHint = System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias;

        Region[] regions = g.MeasureCharacterRanges(text, font,
            __textBoundingBox, myFormat);
        return regions[0].GetBounds(g);
    }  
}

public static string Size(this RectangleF rect)
{
    return rect.Width + "×" + rect.Height;
}

public static bool IsLargerThan(this RectangleF a, RectangleF b)
{
    return (a.Width > b.Width) || (a.Height > b.Height);
}

Now I have two problems.

Firstly, the text sometimes insists on wrapping by inserting a line-break within a word, when it should just fail to fit and cause the while loop to decrement again. I can't see why it is that Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges thinks that this fits within the box when it shouldn't be word-wrapping within a word. This behaviour is exhibited irrespective of the character set used (I get it in Latin alphabet words, as well as other parts of the Unicode range, like Cyrillic, Greek, Georgian and Armenian). Is there some setting I should be using to force Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges only to be word-wrapping at whitespace characters (or hyphens)? This first problem is the same as post 2499067.

Secondly, in scaling up to the new image and font size, Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges is giving me heights that are wildly off. The RectangleF I am drawing within corresponds to a visually apparent area of the image, so I can easily see when the text is being decremented more than is necessary. Yet when I pass it some text, the GetBounds call is giving me a height that is almost double what it's actually taking.

Using trial and error to set the __minimumSize to force an exit from the while loop, I can see that 24pt text fits within the bounding box, yet Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges is reporting that the height of that text, once rendered to the image, is 122px (when the bounding box is 64px tall and it fits within that box). Indeed, without forcing the matter, the while loop iterates to 18pt, at which point Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges returns a value that fits.

The trace log excerpt is as follows:

Decrementing font size to 24, as size is 193×122 and limit is 212×64
Decrementing font size to 23, as size is 191×117 and limit is 212×64
Decrementing font size to 22, as size is 200×75 and limit is 212×64
Decrementing font size to 21, as size is 192×71 and limit is 212×64
Decrementing font size to 20, as size is 198×68 and limit is 212×64
Decrementing font size to 19, as size is 185×65 and limit is 212×64
Writing VENNEGOOR of HESSELINK in DIN-Black at 18pt, size is 178×61 and limit is 212×64

So why is Graphics.MeasureCharacterRanges giving me a wrong result? I could understand it being, say, the line height of the font if the loop stopped around 21pt (which would visually fit, if I screenshot the results and measure it in Paint.Net), but it's going far further than it should be doing because, frankly, it's returning the wrong damn results.

Answer 1

Ok so 4 years late but this question EXACTLY matched my symptoms and I've actually worked out the cause.

There is most certainly a bug in MeasureString AND MeasureCharacterRanges.

The simple answer is: Make sure you divide your width restriction (int width in MeasureString or the Size.Width property of the boundingRect in MeasureCharacterRanges) by 0.72. When you get your results back multiply each dimension by 0.72 to get the REAL result

int measureWidth = Convert.ToInt32((float)width/0.72);
SizeF measureSize = gfx.MeasureString(text, font, measureWidth, format);
float actualHeight = measureSize.Height * (float)0.72;

or

float measureWidth = width/0.72;
Region[] regions = gfx.MeasureCharacterRanges(text, font, new RectangleF(0,0,measureWidth, format);
float actualHeight = 0;
if(regions.Length>0)
{
    actualHeight = regions[0].GetBounds(gfx).Size.Height * (float)0.72;
}

The explanation (that I can figure out) is that something to do with the context is triggering a conversion in the Measure methods (that doesn't trigger in the DrawString method) for inch->point (*72/100). When you pass in the ACTUAL width limitation it is adjusting this value so the MEASURED width limitation is, in effect, shorter than it should be. Your text then wraps earlier than it is supposed to and so you get a longer height result than expected. Unfortunately the conversion applies to the actual height result as well so it's a good idea to 'unconvert' that value too.

Answer 2

I have a similar problem. I want to know how big the text I'm drawing is going to be, and where it's going to appear, EXACTLY. I haven't had the line-break problem, so I don't think I can help you there. I had the same problems you had with all the various measuring techniques available, including ending up with MeasureCharacterRanges, which worked okay for the left and right, but not at all for the height and top. (Playing with the baseline can work well for some rare applications though.)

I've ended up with a very inelegant, inefficient, but working solution, at least for my use case. I draw the text on a bitmap, check the bits to see where they ended up, and that's my range. Since I'm mostly drawing small fonts and short strings, it's been fast enough for me (especially with the memoization I added). Maybe this won't be exactly what you need, but maybe it can lead you down the right track anyway.

Note it requires compiling the project to allow unsafe code at the moment, as I'm trying to squeeze out every bit of efficiency from it, but that constraint could be removed if you wanted to. Also, it's not as thread safe as it could be right now, you could easily add that if you needed it.

Dictionary<Tuple<string, Font, Brush>, Rectangle> cachedTextBounds = new Dictionary<Tuple<string, Font, Brush>, Rectangle>();
/// <summary>
/// Determines bounds of some text by actually drawing the text to a bitmap and
/// reading the bits to see where it ended up.  Bounds assume you draw at 0, 0.  If
/// drawing elsewhere, you can easily offset the resulting rectangle appropriately.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="text">The text to be drawn</param>
/// <param name="font">The font to use when drawing the text</param>
/// <param name="brush">The brush to be used when drawing the text</param>
/// <returns>The bounding rectangle of the rendered text</returns>
private unsafe Rectangle RenderedTextBounds(string text, Font font, Brush brush) {

  // First check memoization
  Tuple<string, Font, Brush> t = new Tuple<string, Font, Brush>(text, font, brush);
  try {
    return cachedTextBounds[t];
  }
  catch(KeyNotFoundException) {
    // not cached
  }

  // Draw the string on a bitmap
  Rectangle bounds = new Rectangle();
  Size approxSize = TextRenderer.MeasureText(text, font);
  using(Bitmap bitmap = new Bitmap((int)(approxSize.Width*1.5), (int)(approxSize.Height*1.5))) {
    using(Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
      g.DrawString(text, font, brush, 0, 0);
    // Unsafe LockBits code takes a bit over 10% of time compared to safe GetPixel code
    BitmapData bd = bitmap.LockBits(new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height), ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
    byte* row = (byte*)bd.Scan0;
    // Find left, looking for first bit that has a non-zero alpha channel, so it's not clear
    for(int x = 0; x < bitmap.Width; x++)
      for(int y = 0; y < bitmap.Height; y++)
        if(((byte*)bd.Scan0)[y*bd.Stride + 4*x + 3] != 0) {
          bounds.X = x;
          goto foundX;
        }
  foundX:
    // Right
    for(int x = bitmap.Width - 1; x >= 0; x--)
      for(int y = 0; y < bitmap.Height; y++)
        if(((byte*)bd.Scan0)[y*bd.Stride + 4*x + 3] != 0) {
          bounds.Width = x - bounds.X + 1;
          goto foundWidth;
        }
  foundWidth:
    // Top
    for(int y = 0; y < bitmap.Height; y++)
      for(int x = 0; x < bitmap.Width; x++)
        if(((byte*)bd.Scan0)[y*bd.Stride + 4*x + 3] != 0) {
          bounds.Y = y;
          goto foundY;
        }
  foundY:
    // Bottom
    for(int y = bitmap.Height - 1; y >= 0; y--)
      for(int x = 0; x < bitmap.Width; x++)
        if(((byte*)bd.Scan0)[y*bd.Stride + 4*x + 3] != 0) {
          bounds.Height = y - bounds.Y + 1;
          goto foundHeight;
        }
  foundHeight:
    bitmap.UnlockBits(bd);
  }
  cachedTextBounds[t] = bounds;
  return bounds;
}