TextRenderingHint Enum

Definition

Namespace:

System.Drawing.Text

Assembly:

System.Drawing.Common.dll

Specifies the quality of text rendering.

public enum class TextRenderingHint

public enum TextRenderingHint

type TextRenderingHint = 

Public Enum TextRenderingHint

Inheritance

Object

ValueType

Enum

TextRenderingHint

Fields

Name	Value	Description
SystemDefault	0	Each character is drawn using its glyph bitmap, with the system default rendering hint. The text will be drawn using whatever font-smoothing settings the user has selected for the system.
SingleBitPerPixelGridFit	1	Each character is drawn using its glyph bitmap. Hinting is used to improve character appearance on stems and curvature.
SingleBitPerPixel	2	Each character is drawn using its glyph bitmap. Hinting is not used.
AntiAliasGridFit	3	Each character is drawn using its antialiased glyph bitmap with hinting. Much better quality due to antialiasing, but at a higher performance cost.
AntiAlias	4	Each character is drawn using its antialiased glyph bitmap without hinting. Better quality due to antialiasing. Stem width differences may be noticeable because hinting is turned off.
ClearTypeGridFit	5	Each character is drawn using its glyph ClearType bitmap with hinting. The highest quality setting. Used to take advantage of ClearType font features.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates the use of the TextRenderingHint and TextContrast properties and the TextRenderingHint enumeration.

This example is designed to be used with Windows Forms. Paste the code into a form and call the ChangeTextRenderingHintAndTextContrast method when handling the form's Paint event, passing e as PaintEventArgs.

private:
   void ChangeTextRenderingHintAndTextContrast( PaintEventArgs^ e )
   {
      // Retrieve the graphics object.
      Graphics^ formGraphics = e->Graphics;

      // Declare a new font.
      System::Drawing::Font^ myFont = gcnew System::Drawing::Font( FontFamily::GenericSansSerif,20,FontStyle::Regular );

      // Set the TextRenderingHint property.
      formGraphics->TextRenderingHint = System::Drawing::Text::TextRenderingHint::SingleBitPerPixel;

      // Draw the string.
      formGraphics->DrawString( "Hello World", myFont, Brushes::Firebrick, 20.0F, 20.0F );

      // Change the TextRenderingHint property.
      formGraphics->TextRenderingHint = System::Drawing::Text::TextRenderingHint::AntiAliasGridFit;

      // Draw the string again.
      formGraphics->DrawString( "Hello World", myFont, Brushes::Firebrick, 20.0F, 60.0F );

      // Set the text contrast to a high-contrast setting.
      formGraphics->TextContrast = 0;

      // Draw the string.
      formGraphics->DrawString( "Hello World", myFont, Brushes::DodgerBlue, 20.0F, 100.0F );

      // Set the text contrast to a low-contrast setting.
      formGraphics->TextContrast = 12;

      // Draw the string again.
      formGraphics->DrawString( "Hello World", myFont, Brushes::DodgerBlue, 20.0F, 140.0F );

      // Dispose of the font object.
      delete myFont;
   }

private void ChangeTextRenderingHintAndTextContrast(PaintEventArgs e)
{

    // Retrieve the graphics object.
    Graphics formGraphics = e.Graphics;

    // Declare a new font.
    Font myFont = new Font(FontFamily.GenericSansSerif, 20, 
        FontStyle.Regular);

    // Set the TextRenderingHint property.
    formGraphics.TextRenderingHint = 
        System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.SingleBitPerPixel;

    // Draw the string.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, 
        Brushes.Firebrick, 20.0F, 20.0F);

    // Change the TextRenderingHint property.
    formGraphics.TextRenderingHint = 
        System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAliasGridFit;

    // Draw the string again.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, 
        Brushes.Firebrick, 20.0F, 60.0F);

    // Set the text contrast to a high-contrast setting.
    formGraphics.TextContrast = 0;

    // Draw the string.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, 
        Brushes.DodgerBlue, 20.0F, 100.0F);

    // Set the text contrast to a low-contrast setting.
    formGraphics.TextContrast = 12;

    // Draw the string again.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, 
        Brushes.DodgerBlue, 20.0F, 140.0F);

    // Dispose of the font object.
    myFont.Dispose();
}

Private Sub ChangeTextRenderingHintAndTextContrast(ByVal e As _
    PaintEventArgs)

    ' Retrieve the graphics object.
    Dim formGraphics As Graphics = e.Graphics

    ' Declare a new font.
    Dim myFont As Font = New Font(FontFamily.GenericSansSerif, _
        20, FontStyle.Regular)

    ' Set the TextRenderingHint property.
    formGraphics.TextRenderingHint = _
        System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.SingleBitPerPixel

    ' Draw the string.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, _
        Brushes.Firebrick, 20.0F, 20.0F)

    ' Change the TextRenderingHint property.
    formGraphics.TextRenderingHint = _
        System.Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAliasGridFit

    ' Draw the string again.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, _
        Brushes.Firebrick, 20.0F, 60.0F)

    ' Set the text contrast to a high-contrast setting.
    formGraphics.TextContrast = 0

    ' Draw the string.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, _
        Brushes.DodgerBlue, 20.0F, 100.0F)

    ' Set the text contrast to a low-contrast setting.
    formGraphics.TextContrast = 12

    ' Draw the string again.
    formGraphics.DrawString("Hello World", myFont, _
        Brushes.DodgerBlue, 20.0F, 140.0F)

    ' Dispose of the font object.
    myFont.Dispose()

End Sub

Remarks

The quality ranges from text (fastest performance, but lowest quality) to antialiased text (better quality, but slower performance) to ClearType text (best quality on an LCD display).