Hello Everyone,

I have a need to generate images similar to what you would see in a periodic 
table of elements or on a Scrabble board.  It seems that I can get the 
painted on the image, but laying the image out properly seems to be a 
challenge.

Let's take the Scabble example, I think this would have less moving pieces 
and thus the code illustration will be smaller.  I have mocked up some code 
so that we have something to point at.

For me is seems that the "Letter" is centered on the tile while the "Letter 
Value" is in the bottome right hand corner.  I do not know what the exact 
perportions are, but I venture that the "Letter" is 3/4 the size of the tile 
centered vertically and horizontally.  Meanwhile the "Letter Value" consists 
of 1/4 of the tile size centered in the bottom right corner of the tile.

My problems are:  "A" and "W" or "B" and "T" look drastically different and 
the values "1" and "10" also have noticable differences.  It seems to me 
that the text does not scale well.  Perhaps I am to use another font, I have 
tried many fonts, it just seems that this should look better.

Here is my code.  The form contains a picturebox "picTile" who's size is 
32x32 and a button "btnFillitIn".  My apologies to Scrabbles' owner if I am 
violating a copywrite, I just want my code to work better.

Thanks in advance

 Private pintLetter As Integer = 64

  Private Sub btnFillItIn_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As 
System.EventArgs) Handles btnFillItIn.Click


    Dim bmp As Bitmap
    Dim gfx As Graphics
    Dim fnt As Font
    Dim rect As Rectangle
    Dim targetText As String
    Dim brush As SolidBrush
    Dim format As StringFormat
    Dim fSize As SizeF
    Dim tSize As Single

    bmp = New Bitmap(32, 32)

    For i As Integer = 0 To 31
      For j As Integer = 0 To 31

        'Draw a black border
        If i = 0 Or j = 0 Or i = 31 Or j = 31 Then
          bmp.SetPixel(i, j, Color.Black)
        Else
        'fill in the tile as sandybrown
          bmp.SetPixel(i, j, Color.SandyBrown)
        End If

      Next
    Next

    gfx = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
    targetText = NextLetter()
    'Set the target rectangle
    rect = New Rectangle(0, 0, 24, 24)
    brush = New SolidBrush(Color.Black)
    format = New StringFormat
    format.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
    format.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
    tSize = rect.Width

   'Set up our font, compute the fontsize to be smaller or equal to the 
target rectangle
    Do
      fnt = New Font(Me.Font.FontFamily.Name, tSize, FontStyle.Bold, 
GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
      fSize = gfx.MeasureString(targetText, fnt)
      tSize -= 0.1
    Loop Until fSize.Width < rect.Width

    gfx.DrawString(targetText, fnt, brush, rect, format)

    rect = New Rectangle(18, 18, 10, 10)
    targetText = gettextvalue

    Do
      fnt = New Font(Me.Font.FontFamily.Name, tSize, FontStyle.Bold, 
GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
      fSize = gfx.MeasureString(targetText, fnt)
      tSize -= 0.1
    Loop Until fSize.Width <= rect.Width
    gfx.DrawString(targetText, fnt, brush, rect, format)

    Me.picTile.Image = bmp.Clone
    bmp.Dispose()

  End Sub

  Private Function NextLetter() As String

    pintLetter += 1

    If pintLetter > 90 Then
      pintLetter = 65
    ElseIf pintLetter < 65 Then
      pintLetter = 65
    End If

    Return Chr(pintLetter)

  End Function

  Private Function GetTextValue() As Integer

    Select Case pintLetter
      Case 68, 71
        Return "2"
      Case 66, 67, 77, 80
        Return "3"
      Case 70, 72, 86, 87, 89
        Return "4"
      Case 75
        Return "5"
      Case 75, 88
        Return "8"
      Case 81, 90
        Return "10"
      Case Else
        Return "1"
    End Select

  End Function

You could use a fixed width font like Courier new.

"AMDRIT"  wrote in message 
news:OJT3MN04HHA.3940@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> Hello Everyone,
>
> I have a need to generate images similar to what you would see in a 
> periodic table of elements or on a Scrabble board.  It seems that I can 
> get the painted on the image, but laying the image out properly seems to 
> be a challenge.
>
> Let's take the Scabble example, I think this would have less moving pieces 
> and thus the code illustration will be smaller.  I have mocked up some 
> code so that we have something to point at.
>
> For me is seems that the "Letter" is centered on the tile while the 
> "Letter Value" is in the bottome right hand corner.  I do not know what 
> the exact perportions are, but I venture that the "Letter" is 3/4 the size 
> of the tile centered vertically and horizontally.  Meanwhile the "Letter 
> Value" consists of 1/4 of the tile size centered in the bottom right 
> corner of the tile.
>
> My problems are:  "A" and "W" or "B" and "T" look drastically different 
> and the values "1" and "10" also have noticable differences.  It seems to 
> me that the text does not scale well.  Perhaps I am to use another font, I 
> have tried many fonts, it just seems that this should look better.
>
> Here is my code.  The form contains a picturebox "picTile" who's size is 
> 32x32 and a button "btnFillitIn".  My apologies to Scrabbles' owner if I 
> am violating a copywrite, I just want my code to work better.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Private pintLetter As Integer = 64
>
>  Private Sub btnFillItIn_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As 
> System.EventArgs) Handles btnFillItIn.Click
>
>
>    Dim bmp As Bitmap
>    Dim gfx As Graphics
>    Dim fnt As Font
>    Dim rect As Rectangle
>    Dim targetText As String
>    Dim brush As SolidBrush
>    Dim format As StringFormat
>    Dim fSize As SizeF
>    Dim tSize As Single
>
>    bmp = New Bitmap(32, 32)
>
>    For i As Integer = 0 To 31
>      For j As Integer = 0 To 31
>
>        'Draw a black border
>        If i = 0 Or j = 0 Or i = 31 Or j = 31 Then
>          bmp.SetPixel(i, j, Color.Black)
>        Else
>        'fill in the tile as sandybrown
>          bmp.SetPixel(i, j, Color.SandyBrown)
>        End If
>
>      Next
>    Next
>
>    gfx = Graphics.FromImage(bmp)
>    targetText = NextLetter()
>    'Set the target rectangle
>    rect = New Rectangle(0, 0, 24, 24)
>    brush = New SolidBrush(Color.Black)
>    format = New StringFormat
>    format.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
>    format.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
>    tSize = rect.Width
>
>   'Set up our font, compute the fontsize to be smaller or equal to the 
> target rectangle
>    Do
>      fnt = New Font(Me.Font.FontFamily.Name, tSize, FontStyle.Bold, 
> GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
>      fSize = gfx.MeasureString(targetText, fnt)
>      tSize -= 0.1
>    Loop Until fSize.Width < rect.Width
>
>    gfx.DrawString(targetText, fnt, brush, rect, format)
>
>    rect = New Rectangle(18, 18, 10, 10)
>    targetText = gettextvalue
>
>    Do
>      fnt = New Font(Me.Font.FontFamily.Name, tSize, FontStyle.Bold, 
> GraphicsUnit.Pixel)
>      fSize = gfx.MeasureString(targetText, fnt)
>      tSize -= 0.1
>    Loop Until fSize.Width <= rect.Width
>    gfx.DrawString(targetText, fnt, brush, rect, format)
>
>    Me.picTile.Image = bmp.Clone
>    bmp.Dispose()
>
>  End Sub
>
>  Private Function NextLetter() As String
>
>    pintLetter += 1
>
>    If pintLetter > 90 Then
>      pintLetter = 65
>    ElseIf pintLetter < 65 Then
>      pintLetter = 65
>    End If
>
>    Return Chr(pintLetter)
>
>  End Function
>
>  Private Function GetTextValue() As Integer
>
>    Select Case pintLetter
>      Case 68, 71
>        Return "2"
>      Case 66, 67, 77, 80
>        Return "3"
>      Case 70, 72, 86, 87, 89
>        Return "4"
>      Case 75
>        Return "5"
>      Case 75, 88
>        Return "8"
>      Case 81, 90
>        Return "10"
>      Case Else
>        Return "1"
>    End Select
>
>  End Function
>