vb macro string width in pixel

Question

How would you calculate the number of pixels for a String (in an arbitrary font), using an Excel VBA macro?

Related:

• http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/excel-questions/19267-width-specific-text-pixels.html
• http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94339

Answer 1

Write a new module class and put the following code in it.

'Option Explicit

'API Declares

Private Declare Function CreateDC Lib "gdi32.dll" Alias "CreateDCA" (ByVal lpDriverName As String, ByVal lpDeviceName As String, ByVal lpOutput As String, lpInitData As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CreateCompatibleBitmap Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CreateFontIndirect Lib "gdi32.dll" Alias "CreateFontIndirectA" (lpLogFont As LOGFONT) As Long
Private Declare Function SelectObject Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetTextExtentPoint32 Lib "gdi32.dll" Alias "GetTextExtentPoint32A" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal lpsz As String, ByVal cbString As Long, lpSize As SIZE) As Long
Private Declare Function MulDiv Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal nNumber As Long, ByVal nNumerator As Long, ByVal nDenominator As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetDC Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetDeviceCaps Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteDC Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long) As Long

Private Const LOGPIXELSY As Long = 90

Private Type LOGFONT
    lfHeight As Long
    lfWidth As Long
    lfEscapement As Long
    lfOrientation As Long
    lfWeight As Long
    lfItalic As Byte
    lfUnderline As Byte
    lfStrikeOut As Byte
    lfCharSet As Byte
    lfOutPrecision As Byte
    lfClipPrecision As Byte
    lfQuality As Byte
    lfPitchAndFamily As Byte
    lfFaceName As String * 32
End Type

Private Type SIZE
    cx As Long
    cy As Long
End Type
Public Function getLabelPixel(label As String) As Integer

  Dim font As New StdFont
  Dim sz As SIZE
  font.Name = "Arial Narrow"
  font.SIZE = 9.5

  sz = GetLabelSize(label, font)
  getLabelPixel = sz.cx

End Function

Private Function GetLabelSize(text As String, font As StdFont) As SIZE
    Dim tempDC As Long
    Dim tempBMP As Long
    Dim f As Long
    Dim lf As LOGFONT
    Dim textSize As SIZE

    ' Create a device context and a bitmap that can be used to store a
    ' temporary font object
    tempDC = CreateDC("DISPLAY", vbNullString, vbNullString, ByVal 0)
    tempBMP = CreateCompatibleBitmap(tempDC, 1, 1)

    ' Assign the bitmap to the device context
    DeleteObject SelectObject(tempDC, tempBMP)

    ' Set up the LOGFONT structure and create the font
    lf.lfFaceName = font.Name & Chr$(0)
    lf.lfHeight = -MulDiv(font.SIZE, GetDeviceCaps(GetDC(0), 90), 72) 'LOGPIXELSY
    lf.lfItalic = font.Italic
    lf.lfStrikeOut = font.Strikethrough
    lf.lfUnderline = font.Underline
    If font.Bold Then lf.lfWeight = 800 Else lf.lfWeight = 400
    f = CreateFontIndirect(lf)

    ' Assign the font to the device context
    DeleteObject SelectObject(tempDC, f)

    ' Measure the text, and return it into the textSize SIZE structure
    GetTextExtentPoint32 tempDC, text, Len(text), textSize

    ' Clean up (very important to avoid memory leaks!)
    DeleteObject f
    DeleteObject tempBMP
    DeleteDC tempDC
  ' Return the measurements
    GetLabelSize = textSize

End Function

Call the getLabelPixel function with parameter(string whose width has to be calculated).

Answer 2

User 1355's (now Sarika.S) answer is excellent! (I would have put that in the comments, but my reputation is not high enough... yet.)

I'm not measuring labels, but text within a cell and I didn't want to make assumptions about the font, so I made some minor modifications and additions.

As instructed by 1355, Write a new code module and put the following code in it.

'Option Explicit

'API Declares

Private Declare Function CreateDC Lib "gdi32.dll" Alias "CreateDCA" (ByVal lpDriverName As String, ByVal lpDeviceName As String, ByVal lpOutput As String, lpInitData As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CreateCompatibleBitmap Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CreateFontIndirect Lib "gdi32.dll" Alias "CreateFontIndirectA" (lpLogFont As LOGFONT) As Long
Private Declare Function SelectObject Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetTextExtentPoint32 Lib "gdi32.dll" Alias "GetTextExtentPoint32A" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal lpsz As String, ByVal cbString As Long, lpSize As FNTSIZE) As Long
Private Declare Function MulDiv Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal nNumber As Long, ByVal nNumerator As Long, ByVal nDenominator As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetDC Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetDeviceCaps Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteDC Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hdc As Long) As Long

Private Const LOGPIXELSY As Long = 90

Private Type LOGFONT
    lfHeight As Long
    lfWidth As Long
    lfEscapement As Long
    lfOrientation As Long
    lfWeight As Long
    lfItalic As Byte
    lfUnderline As Byte
    lfStrikeOut As Byte
    lfCharSet As Byte
    lfOutPrecision As Byte
    lfClipPrecision As Byte
    lfQuality As Byte
    lfPitchAndFamily As Byte
    lfFaceName As String * 32
End Type

Private Type FNTSIZE
    cx As Long
    cy As Long
End Type


Public Function GetLabelPixelWidth(label As String) As Integer

    Dim font As New StdFont
    Dim sz As FNTSIZE
    font.Name = "Arial Narrow"
    font.Size = 9.5
    
    sz = GetLabelSize(label, font)
    getLabelPixelWidth = sz.cx

End Function


Public Function GetStringPixelHeight(text As String, fontName As String, fontSize As Single, Optional isBold As Boolean = False, Optional isItalics As Boolean = False) As Integer

    Dim font As New StdFont
    Dim sz As FNTSIZE
    font.Name = fontName
    font.Size = fontSize
    font.Bold = isBold
    font.Italic = isItalics
    
    sz = GetLabelSize(text, font)
    GetStringPixelHeight = sz.cy

End Function


Public Function GetStringPixelWidth(text As String, fontName As String, fontSize As Single, Optional isBold As Boolean = False, Optional isItalics As Boolean = False) As Integer

    Dim font As New StdFont
    Dim sz As FNTSIZE
    font.Name = fontName
    font.Size = fontSize
    font.Bold = isBold
    font.Italic = isItalics

    sz = GetLabelSize(text, font)
    GetStringPixelWidth = sz.cx

End Function


Private Function GetLabelSize(text As String, font As StdFont) As FNTSIZE
    Dim tempDC As Long
    Dim tempBMP As Long
    Dim f As Long
    Dim lf As LOGFONT
    Dim textSize As FNTSIZE

    ' Create a device context and a bitmap that can be used to store a
    ' temporary font object
    tempDC = CreateDC("DISPLAY", vbNullString, vbNullString, ByVal 0)
    tempBMP = CreateCompatibleBitmap(tempDC, 1, 1)

    ' Assign the bitmap to the device context
    DeleteObject SelectObject(tempDC, tempBMP)

    ' Set up the LOGFONT structure and create the font
    lf.lfFaceName = font.Name & Chr$(0)
    lf.lfHeight = -MulDiv(font.Size, GetDeviceCaps(GetDC(0), 90), 72) 'LOGPIXELSY
    lf.lfItalic = font.Italic
    lf.lfStrikeOut = font.Strikethrough
    lf.lfUnderline = font.Underline
    If font.Bold Then lf.lfWeight = 800 Else lf.lfWeight = 400
    f = CreateFontIndirect(lf)

    ' Assign the font to the device context
    DeleteObject SelectObject(tempDC, f)

    ' Measure the text, and return it into the textSize SIZE structure
    GetTextExtentPoint32 tempDC, text, Len(text), textSize

    ' Clean up (very important to avoid memory leaks!)
    DeleteObject f
    DeleteObject tempBMP
    DeleteDC tempDC
    ' Return the measurements
    GetLabelSize = textSize

End Function

Some examples of calling the GetStringPixelWidth function

MsgBox (GetStringPixelWidth("Test String", "Calibri", 10))
MsgBox (GetStringPixelWidth(" ", "Calibri", 10, True, False))

Thanks again to 1355/Sarika S. for saving me tons of work!

Also, there is a memory leak as noted by one commenter, which didn't affect my uses but I did detect it. I will re-post with any changes if I make them to account for/correct that.

Answer 3

If you are using a UserForm, a much less technically solution would be to add a label to the form with the same font style and size as the text to be evaluated. Set AutoSize to True, Caption to 'blank', Visible to False, Width to 0, and wordWrap to False.

This hidden label will become of measurement tool of sorts for text using the Function below:

Public Function TextLength(sString As String) As Long
    UserForm.TextMeasure.Caption = sString
    TextLength = UserForm.TextMeasure.Width
End Function