How to generate an image from text on fly at runtime

Ravia picture Ravia · Jan 15, 2010 · Viewed 91.9k times · Source

Can anyone guide how to generate image from input text. Image might have any extension doesn't matter.

Answer

Alistair Evans picture Alistair Evans · Jan 15, 2010

Ok, assuming you want to draw a string on an image in C#, you are going to need to use the System.Drawing namespace here:

private Image DrawText(String text, Font font, Color textColor, Color backColor)
{
    //first, create a dummy bitmap just to get a graphics object
    Image img = new Bitmap(1, 1);
    Graphics drawing = Graphics.FromImage(img);

    //measure the string to see how big the image needs to be
    SizeF textSize = drawing.MeasureString(text, font);

    //free up the dummy image and old graphics object
    img.Dispose();
    drawing.Dispose();

    //create a new image of the right size
    img = new Bitmap((int) textSize.Width, (int)textSize.Height);

    drawing = Graphics.FromImage(img);

    //paint the background
    drawing.Clear(backColor);

    //create a brush for the text
    Brush textBrush = new SolidBrush(textColor);

    drawing.DrawString(text, font, textBrush, 0, 0);

    drawing.Save();

    textBrush.Dispose();
    drawing.Dispose();

    return img;

}

This code will measure the string first, and then create an image of the correct size.

If you want to save the return of this function, just call the Save method of the returned image.