PDFlib 8 Windows COM/.NET Tutorial

Cookbook A full code sample can be found in the Cookbook topic fonts/artificial_fontstyles.
Simulated bold fonts. While fontstyle feature operates on a font, PDFlib supports an alternate
mechanism for creating artificial bold text for individual text strings. This is
controlled by the fakebold parameter or option.
Cookbook A full code sample can be found in the Cookbook topic fonts/simulated_fontstyles.
Simulated italic fonts. As an alternative to the fontstyle feature the italicangle parameter
or option can be used to simulate italic fonts when only a regular font is available.
This method creates a fake italic font by skewing the regular font by a user-provided angle,
and does not suffer from the fontstyle restrictions mentioned above. Negative values
will slant the text clockwise. Be warned that using a real italic or oblique font will result
in much more pleasing output. However, if an italic font is not available the
italicangle parameter or option can be used to easily simulate one. This feature may be
especially useful for CJK fonts. Typical values for the italicangle parameter or option are
in the range -12 to -15 degrees.
Note The italicangle parameter or option is not supported for vertical writing mode.
Note PDFlib does not adjust the glyph width to the new bounding box of the slanted glyph. For example,
when generated justified text the italicized glyphs may exceed beyond the fitbox.
Shadow text. PDFlib can create a shadow effect which will generate multiple instances
of text where each instance is placed at a slightly different location. Shadow text can be
created with the shadow option of fit_textline( ). The color of the shadow, its position relative
to the main text and graphics state parameters can be specified in suboptions.
Underline, overline, and strikeout text. PDFlib can be instructed to put lines below,
above, or in the middle of text. The stroke width of the bar and its distance from the
baseline are calculated based on the font’s metrics information. In addition, the current
values of the horizontal scaling factor and the text matrix are taken into account when
calculating the width of the bar. The respective parameter names for set_parameter( )
can be used to switch the underline, overline, and strikeout feature on or off, as well as
the corresponding options in the text output functions. The underlineposition and
underlinewidth parameters and options can be used for fine-tuning.
The current stroke color is used for drawing the bars. The current linecap parameter
are ignored. The decorationabove option controls whether or not the line will be drawn
on top of or below the text. Aesthetics alert: in most fonts underlining will touch descenders,
and overlining will touch diacritical marks atop ascenders.
Cookbook A full code sample can be found in the Cookbook topic text_output/starter_textline.
Text rendering modes. PDFlib supports several rendering modes which affect the appearance
of text. This includes outline text and the ability to use text as a clipping path.
Text can also be rendered invisibly which may be useful for placing text on scanned images
in order to make the text accessible to searching and indexing, while at the same
time assuring it will not be visible directly. The rendering modes are described in the
PDFlib API Reference, and can be set with the textrendering parameter or option.
6.2 Font Metrics and Text Variations 155