Microsoft KB Archive/154515

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How To Print Text Sideways in a Picture Box Using Win32 API

Article ID: 154515

Article Last Modified on 3/14/2005



APPLIES TO

  • Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Learning Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 32-Bit Enterprise Edition



This article was previously published under Q154515

SUMMARY

By using the CreateFont and CreateFontIndirect Win32 API calls, it is possible to rotate text on a Device context such as a picture box, a form, or the Printer Object. This article provides a Win32 Code sample demonstrating how this can be done.

MORE INFORMATION

  1. Start a new Visual Basic Project. Form1 is created by default.
  2. Add a Command button to Form1.
  3. Place a PictureBox on Form1.
  4. Place the following code in the General Declarations section of Form1:

       Option Explicit
    
       Private Declare Function CreateFontIndirect Lib "gdi32" Alias _
         "CreateFontIndirectA" (lpLogFont As LOGFONT) As Long
       Private Declare Function SelectObject Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hdc _
         As Long, ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
       Private Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32" (ByVal _
         hObject As Long) As Long
       Private Const LF_FACESIZE = 32
    
       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 * LF_FACESIZE
       End Type
    
       Sub Command1_Click()
         Dim font As LOGFONT
         Dim prevFont As Long, hFont As Long, ret As Long
         Const FONTSIZE = 10 ' Desired point size of font
         font.lfEscapement = 1800    ' 180-degree rotation
         font.lfFaceName = "Arial" & Chr$(0) 'Null character at end
        ' Windows expects the font size to be in pixels and to
         ' be negative if you are specifying the character height
         ' you want.
         font.lfHeight = (FONTSIZE * -20) / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
         hFont = CreateFontIndirect(font)
         prevFont = SelectObject(Picture1.hdc, hFont)
         Picture1.CurrentX = Picture1.ScaleWidth
         Picture1.CurrentY = Picture1.ScaleHeight / 2
         Picture1.Print "Rotated Text"
         ' Clean up by restoring original font.
         ret = SelectObject(Picture1.hdc, prevFont)
         ret = DeleteObject(hFont)
         Picture1.CurrentY = Picture1.ScaleHeight / 2
         Picture1.Print "Normal Text"
       End Sub
                        
  5. Press the F5 key to run the project, and then press the Command Button. You will see two pieces of text appear, one the right way up and one inverted.

NOTE: These instructions will not work if you attempt to use Printer.hDC in Visual Basic 5.0, SP2 or SP3, instead of using Picture1.hDC.

REFERENCES

For additional information about how to properly rotate text using a printer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

175535 PRB: Printing Rotated Text with Visual Basic


For additional information about the 16-bit equivalent of this sample, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119673 How to Print with Rotated Text


Keywords: kbhowto kbapi KB154515