PDFlib 8 Windows COM/.NET Tutorial

Generated output Option list for fit_textline( )
Kraxi
e) boxsize={0 35} position={left center} orientate=west
Aligning text at a horizontal or vertical line. Positioning text along a horizontal or
vertical line (i.e. a box with zero height or width) is a somewhat extreme case which may
be useful nevertheless. In Figure 8.4d the text is placed with the bottom centered at the
box. With a width of 50 and a height of 0, the box resembles to a horizontal line.
To align the text centered along a vertical line we will orientate it to the west and position
it at the left center of the box. This case is shown in Figure 8.4e.
8.1.3 Fitting Text into a Box
In this section we use various fit methods to fit the text into the box. The current font
and font size are assumed to be the same in all examples so that we can see how the font
size and other properties will implicitly be changed by the different fit methods.
Let’s start with the default case: no fit method will be used so that no clipping or scaling
occurs. The text will be placed in the center of the box which is 100 units wide and 35
units high (see Figure 8.5a).
Decreasing the box width from 100 to 50 units doesn’t have any effect on the output.
The text will remain in its original font size and will exceed beyond the box (see Figure
8.5b).
Proportionally fitting text into a small box. Now we will completely fit the text into
the box while maintaining its proportions. This can be achieved with the
fitmethod=auto option. In Figure 8.5c the box is wide enough to keep the text in its original
size completely so that the text will be fit into the box unchanged.
When scaling down the width of the box from 100 to 58, the text is too long to fit
completely. The auto fit method will try to condense the text horizontally, subject to the
shrinklimit option (default: 0.75). Figure 8.5d shows the text being shrunk down to 75 percent
of its original length.
When decreasing the box width further down to 30 units the text will not fit even if
shrinking is applied. Then the meet method will be applied. The meet method will decrease
the font size until the text fits completely into the box. This case is shown in Figure
8.5e.
Fitting the text into the box with increased font size. You might want to fit the text so
that it covers the whole width (or height) of the box but maintains its proportions. Using
fitmethod=meet with a box larger than the text, the text will be increased until its
width matches the box width. This case is illustrated in Figure 8.5f.
Completely fitting text into a box. We can further fit the text so that it completely fills
the box. In this case, fitmethod=entire is used. However, this combination will rarely be
used since the text will most probably be distorted (see Figure 8.5g).
Fitting text into a box with clipping. In another rare case you might want to fit the
text in its original size and clip the text if it exceeds the box. In this case, fitmethod=clip
8.1 Placing and Fitting Textlines 201