WPF analogy for 'em' unit

Question

What is the WPF analogy for the CSS em unit?

Answer 1

Here is what I did. Created a MarkupExtension that converts Font size to EM based on font assigned on Window.

I would like to thank http://10rem.net/blog/2011/03/09/creating-a-custom-markup-extension-in-wpf-and-soon-silverlight

and

http://tomlev2.wordpress.com/tag/markup-extension/

for providing required knowledge.

[MarkupExtensionReturnType(typeof(double))]
public class EmFontSize : MarkupExtension
{
    public EmFontSize() { }

    public EmFontSize(double size)
    {
        Size = size;
    }

    [ConstructorArgument("size")]
    public double Size { get; set; }

    public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        if (serviceProvider == null)
            return null;

        // get the target of the extension from the IServiceProvider interface
        IProvideValueTarget ipvt = (IProvideValueTarget)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IProvideValueTarget));
        if (ipvt.TargetObject.GetType().FullName == "System.Windows.SharedDp")
            return this;

        DependencyObject targetObject = ipvt.TargetObject as DependencyObject;

        var window = TryFindParent<Window>(targetObject);
        if (window != null)
        {
            return window.FontSize * Size;
        }
        return 12 * Size;
    }

    public static T TryFindParent<T>(DependencyObject child) where T : DependencyObject
    {
        //get parent item
        DependencyObject parentObject = GetParentObject(child);

        //we've reached the end of the tree
        if (parentObject == null) return null;

        //check if the parent matches the type we're looking for
        T parent = parentObject as T;
        if (parent != null)
        {
            return parent;
        }
        else
        {
            //use recursion to proceed with next level
            return TryFindParent<T>(parentObject);
        }
    }

    public static DependencyObject GetParentObject(DependencyObject child)
    {
        if (child == null) return null;

        //handle content elements separately
        ContentElement contentElement = child as ContentElement;
        if (contentElement != null)
        {
            DependencyObject parent = ContentOperations.GetParent(contentElement);
            if (parent != null) return parent;

            FrameworkContentElement fce = contentElement as FrameworkContentElement;
            return fce != null ? fce.Parent : null;
        }

        //also try searching for parent in framework elements (such as DockPanel, etc)
        FrameworkElement frameworkElement = child as FrameworkElement;
        if (frameworkElement != null)
        {
            DependencyObject parent = frameworkElement.Parent;
            if (parent != null) return parent;
        }

        //if it's not a ContentElement/FrameworkElement, rely on VisualTreeHelper
        return VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child);
    }
}

Sample Usage

xmlns:my="clr-namespace:FontSizeExample"
<TextBlock Text="Sample Font" FontSize="{my:EmFontSize 1.1}"/>
<TextBlock Text="Sample Font" FontSize="{my:EmFontSize .9}"/>

Answer 2

em size is the width of the uppercase letter M in the current font, there is no font-dependent sizing method in Wpf

Btw, WPF uses "device independent pixels" that are always 1/96 of an inch (because that's one pixels on today's monitors) so:

• 1 pixel is 1/96 inches
• 96 pixels in an inch
• 1.33333 pixels is a point
• 3.779 pixels is a mm

Those are extremely inaccurate on monitors because almost all monitors report a 96DPI resolution and ignore the real pixel size, but are very useful when printing.

Answer 3

<ScaleTransform ScaleX="1.2" ScaleY="1.2"></ScaleTransform> 

seems to be more or less the 1.2em alternative.

Answer 4

AFAIK, there isn't one right now. But you can make your desire for this known here.

One alternative (and I don't know if this is possible either) would be to measure how big the desired font is, then take that as your "ems" unit, then scale using those "units" instead.