PHP and MySQL Web Development 4th Ed-tqw-_darksiderg

Using Text and Fonts to Create Images
491
n You can write the image out to a file, as previously mentioned, and then refer to it
with a normal tag.
n You can put the image production script in an image tag.
We have covered the first two methods already. Let’s briefly look at the third method
now.To use this method, you include the image inline in HTML by having an image tag
along the lines of the following:
Instead of putting in a PNG, JPEG, or GIF directly, put in the PHP script that generates
the image in the SRC tag. It will be retrieved and the output added inline, as shown in
Figure 22.3.
Figure 22.3
The dynamically produced inline image appears the same as a
regular image to the end user.
Using Text and Fonts to Create Images
Let’s look at a more complicated example of creating images. It is useful to be able to
create buttons or other images for your website automatically.You can easily build simple
buttons based on a rectangle of background color using the techniques we’ve already
discussed.You can generate more complicated effects programmatically, too, but you can
generally do it more easily in a paint program.This also makes it easier to get an artist to
do the artwork and leave programmers programming.
In this example, you generate buttons using a blank button template.This allows you
to have features such as beveled edges and so on, which are a good deal easier to generate
using Photoshop, the GIMP, or some other graphics tool.With the image library in
PHP, you can begin with a base image and draw on top of that.