Text

Text — Rendering text and sets of glyphs

Synopsis




                    cairo_glyph_t;
enum                cairo_font_slant_t;
enum                cairo_font_weight_t;
void                cairo_select_font_face              (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const char *family,
                                                         cairo_font_slant_t slant,
                                                         cairo_font_weight_t weight);
void                cairo_set_font_size                 (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         double size);
void                cairo_set_font_matrix               (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_matrix_t *matrix);
void                cairo_get_font_matrix               (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_matrix_t *matrix);
void                cairo_set_font_options              (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_font_options_t *options);
void                cairo_get_font_options              (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_font_options_t *options);
void                cairo_set_font_face                 (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_font_face_t *font_face);
cairo_font_face_t*  cairo_get_font_face                 (cairo_t *cr);
void                cairo_set_scaled_font               (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_scaled_font_t *scaled_font);
cairo_scaled_font_t* cairo_get_scaled_font              (cairo_t *cr);
void                cairo_show_text                     (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const char *utf8);
void                cairo_show_glyphs                   (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_glyph_t *glyphs,
                                                         int num_glyphs);
void                cairo_font_extents                  (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_font_extents_t *extents);
void                cairo_text_extents                  (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const char *utf8,
                                                         cairo_text_extents_t *extents);
void                cairo_glyph_extents                 (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_glyph_t *glyphs,
                                                         int num_glyphs,
                                                         cairo_text_extents_t *extents);

Description

Details

cairo_glyph_t

typedef struct {
  unsigned long        index;
  double               x;
  double               y;
} cairo_glyph_t;

The cairo_glyph_t structure holds information about a single glyph when drawing or measuring text. A font is (in simple terms) a collection of shapes used to draw text. A glyph is one of these shapes. There can be multiple glyphs for a single character (alternates to be used in different contexts, for example), or a glyph can be a ligature of multiple characters. Cairo doesn't expose any way of converting input text into glyphs, so in order to use the Cairo interfaces that take arrays of glyphs, you must directly access the appropriate underlying font system.

Note that the offsets given by x and y are not cumulative. When drawing or measuring text, each glyph is individually positioned with respect to the overall origin

double x; the offset in the X direction between the origin used for drawing or measuring the string and the origin of this glyph.
double y; the offset in the Y direction between the origin used for drawing or measuring the string and the origin of this glyph.

enum cairo_font_slant_t

typedef enum _cairo_font_slant {
  CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_NORMAL,
  CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_ITALIC,
  CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_OBLIQUE
} cairo_font_slant_t;

Specifies variants of a font face based on their slant.

CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_NORMAL Upright font style
CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_ITALIC Italic font style
CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_OBLIQUE Oblique font style

enum cairo_font_weight_t

typedef enum _cairo_font_weight {
  CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_NORMAL,
  CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_BOLD
} cairo_font_weight_t;

Specifies variants of a font face based on their weight.

CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_NORMAL Normal font weight
CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_BOLD Bold font weight

cairo_select_font_face ()

void                cairo_select_font_face              (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const char *family,
                                                         cairo_font_slant_t slant,
                                                         cairo_font_weight_t weight);

Selects a family and style of font from a simplified description as a family name, slant and weight. This function is meant to be used only for applications with simple font needs: Cairo doesn't provide for operations such as listing all available fonts on the system, and it is expected that most applications will need to use a more comprehensive font handling and text layout library in addition to cairo.

cr : a cairo_t
family : a font family name, encoded in UTF-8
slant : the slant for the font
weight : the weight for the font

cairo_set_font_size ()

void                cairo_set_font_size                 (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         double size);

Sets the current font matrix to a scale by a factor of size, replacing any font matrix previously set with cairo_set_font_size() or cairo_set_font_matrix(). This results in a font size of size user space units. (More precisely, this matrix will result in the font's em-square being a size by size square in user space.)

cr : a cairo_t
size : the new font size, in user space units

cairo_set_font_matrix ()

void                cairo_set_font_matrix               (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_matrix_t *matrix);

Sets the current font matrix to matrix. The font matrix gives a transformation from the design space of the font (in this space, the em-square is 1 unit by 1 unit) to user space. Normally, a simple scale is used (see cairo_set_font_size()), but a more complex font matrix can be used to shear the font or stretch it unequally along the two axes

cr : a cairo_t
matrix : a cairo_matrix_t describing a transform to be applied to the current font.

cairo_get_font_matrix ()

void                cairo_get_font_matrix               (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_matrix_t *matrix);

Stores the current font matrix into matrix. See cairo_set_font_matrix().

cr : a cairo_t
matrix : return value for the matrix

cairo_set_font_options ()

void                cairo_set_font_options              (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_font_options_t *options);

Sets a set of custom font rendering options for the cairo_t. Rendering options are derived by merging these options with the options derived from underlying surface; if the value in options has a default value (like CAIRO_ANTIALIAS_DEFAULT), then the value from the surface is used.

cr : a cairo_t
options : font options to use

cairo_get_font_options ()

void                cairo_get_font_options              (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_font_options_t *options);

Retrieves font rendering options set via cairo_set_font_options. Note that the returned options do not include any options derived from the underlying surface; they are literally the options passed to cairo_set_font_options().

cr : a cairo_t
options : a cairo_font_options_t object into which to store the retrieved options. All existing values are overwritten

cairo_set_font_face ()

void                cairo_set_font_face                 (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_font_face_t *font_face);

Replaces the current cairo_font_face_t object in the cairo_t with font_face. The replaced font face in the cairo_t will be destroyed if there are no other references to it.

cr : a cairo_t
font_face : a cairo_font_face_t, or NULL to restore to the default font

cairo_get_font_face ()

cairo_font_face_t*  cairo_get_font_face                 (cairo_t *cr);

Gets the current font face for a cairo_t.

cr : a cairo_t
Returns : the current font face. This object is owned by cairo. To keep a reference to it, you must call cairo_font_face_reference. This function never returns NULL. If memory cannot be allocated, a special "nil" cairo_font_face_t object will be returned on which cairo_font_face_status() returns CAIRO_STATUS_NO_MEMORY. Using this nil object will cause its error state to propagate to other objects it is passed to, (for example, calling cairo_set_font_face() with a nil font will trigger an error that will shutdown the cairo_t object).

cairo_set_scaled_font ()

void                cairo_set_scaled_font               (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_scaled_font_t *scaled_font);

Replaces the current font face, font matrix, and font options in the cairo_t with those of the cairo_scaled_font_t. Except for some translation, the current CTM of the cairo_t should be the same as that of the cairo_scaled_font_t, which can be accessed using cairo_scaled_font_get_ctm().

cr : a cairo_t
scaled_font : a cairo_scaled_font_t

Since 1.2


cairo_get_scaled_font ()

cairo_scaled_font_t* cairo_get_scaled_font              (cairo_t *cr);

Gets the current scaled font for a cairo_t.

cr : a cairo_t
Returns : the current scaled font. This object is owned by cairo. To keep a reference to it, you must call cairo_scaled_font_reference(). This function never returns NULL. If memory cannot be allocated, a special "nil" cairo_scaled_font_t object will be returned on which cairo_scaled_font_status() returns CAIRO_STATUS_NO_MEMORY. Using this nil object will cause its error state to propagate to other objects it is passed to, (for example, calling cairo_set_scaled_font() with a nil font will trigger an error that will shutdown the cairo_t object).

Since 1.4


cairo_show_text ()

void                cairo_show_text                     (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const char *utf8);

A drawing operator that generates the shape from a string of UTF-8 characters, rendered according to the current font_face, font_size (font_matrix), and font_options.

This function first computes a set of glyphs for the string of text. The first glyph is placed so that its origin is at the current point. The origin of each subsequent glyph is offset from that of the previous glyph by the advance values of the previous glyph.

After this call the current point is moved to the origin of where the next glyph would be placed in this same progression. That is, the current point will be at the origin of the final glyph offset by its advance values. This allows for easy display of a single logical string with multiple calls to cairo_show_text().

NOTE: The cairo_show_text() function call is part of what the cairo designers call the "toy" text API. It is convenient for short demos and simple programs, but it is not expected to be adequate for serious text-using applications. See cairo_show_glyphs() for the "real" text display API in cairo.

cr : a cairo context
utf8 : a string of text encoded in UTF-8

cairo_show_glyphs ()

void                cairo_show_glyphs                   (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_glyph_t *glyphs,
                                                         int num_glyphs);

A drawing operator that generates the shape from an array of glyphs, rendered according to the current font_face, font_size (font_matrix), and font_options.

cr : a cairo context
glyphs : array of glyphs to show
num_glyphs : number of glyphs to show

cairo_font_extents ()

void                cairo_font_extents                  (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         cairo_font_extents_t *extents);

Gets the font extents for the currently selected font.

cr : a cairo_t
extents : a cairo_font_extents_t object into which the results will be stored.

cairo_text_extents ()

void                cairo_text_extents                  (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const char *utf8,
                                                         cairo_text_extents_t *extents);

Gets the extents for a string of text. The extents describe a user-space rectangle that encloses the "inked" portion of the text, (as it would be drawn by cairo_show_text()). Additionally, the x_advance and y_advance values indicate the amount by which the current point would be advanced by cairo_show_text().

Note that whitespace characters do not directly contribute to the size of the rectangle (extents.width and extents.height). They do contribute indirectly by changing the position of non-whitespace characters. In particular, trailing whitespace characters are likely to not affect the size of the rectangle, though they will affect the x_advance and y_advance values.

cr : a cairo_t
utf8 : a string of text, encoded in UTF-8
extents : a cairo_text_extents_t object into which the results will be stored

cairo_glyph_extents ()

void                cairo_glyph_extents                 (cairo_t *cr,
                                                         const cairo_glyph_t *glyphs,
                                                         int num_glyphs,
                                                         cairo_text_extents_t *extents);

Gets the extents for an array of glyphs. The extents describe a user-space rectangle that encloses the "inked" portion of the glyphs, (as they would be drawn by cairo_show_glyphs()). Additionally, the x_advance and y_advance values indicate the amount by which the current point would be advanced by cairo_show_glyphs.

Note that whitespace glyphs do not contribute to the size of the rectangle (extents.width and extents.height).

cr : a cairo_t
glyphs : an array of cairo_glyph_t objects
num_glyphs : the number of elements in glyphs
extents : a cairo_text_extents_t object into which the results will be stored