DrawTextExA function (winuser.h)

The DrawTextEx function draws formatted text in the specified rectangle.

Syntax

int DrawTextExA(
  [in]      HDC              hdc,
  [in, out] LPSTR            lpchText,
  [in]      int              cchText,
  [in, out] LPRECT           lprc,
  [in]      UINT             format,
  [in]      LPDRAWTEXTPARAMS lpdtp
);

Parameters

[in] hdc

A handle to the device context in which to draw.

[in, out] lpchText

A pointer to the string that contains the text to draw. If the cchText parameter is -1, the string must be null-terminated.

If dwDTFormat includes DT_MODIFYSTRING, the function could add up to four additional characters to this string. The buffer containing the string should be large enough to accommodate these extra characters.

[in] cchText

The length of the string pointed to by lpchText. If cchText is -1, then the lpchText parameter is assumed to be a pointer to a null-terminated string and DrawTextEx computes the character count automatically.

[in, out] lprc

A pointer to a RECT structure that contains the rectangle, in logical coordinates, in which the text is to be formatted.

[in] format

The formatting options. This parameter can be one or more of the following values.

Value Meaning
DT_BOTTOM
Justifies the text to the bottom of the rectangle. This value is used only with the DT_SINGLELINE value.
DT_CALCRECT
Determines the width and height of the rectangle. If there are multiple lines of text, DrawTextEx uses the width of the rectangle pointed to by the lprc parameter and extends the base of the rectangle to bound the last line of text. If there is only one line of text, DrawTextEx modifies the right side of the rectangle so that it bounds the last character in the line. In either case, DrawTextEx returns the height of the formatted text, but does not draw the text.
DT_CENTER
Centers text horizontally in the rectangle.
DT_EDITCONTROL
Duplicates the text-displaying characteristics of a multiline edit control. Specifically, the average character width is calculated in the same manner as for an edit control, and the function does not display a partially visible last line.
DT_END_ELLIPSIS
For displayed text, replaces the end of a string with ellipses so that the result fits in the specified rectangle. Any word (not at the end of the string) that goes beyond the limits of the rectangle is truncated without ellipses. The string is not modified unless the DT_MODIFYSTRING flag is specified.

Compare with DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS and DT_WORD_ELLIPSIS.

DT_EXPANDTABS
Expands tab characters. The default number of characters per tab is eight.
DT_EXTERNALLEADING
Includes the font external leading in line height. Normally, external leading is not included in the height of a line of text.
DT_HIDEPREFIX
Ignores the ampersand (&) prefix character in the text. The letter that follows will not be underlined, but other mnemonic-prefix characters are still processed.

Example:

input string: "A&bc&&d"

normal: "Abc&d"

DT_HIDEPREFIX: "Abc&d"

Compare with DT_NOPREFIX and DT_PREFIXONLY.

DT_INTERNAL
Uses the system font to calculate text metrics.
DT_LEFT
Aligns text to the left.
DT_MODIFYSTRING
Modifies the specified string to match the displayed text. This value has no effect unless DT_END_ELLIPSIS or DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS is specified.
DT_NOCLIP
Draws without clipping. DrawTextEx is somewhat faster when DT_NOCLIP is used.
DT_NOFULLWIDTHCHARBREAK
Prevents a line break at a DBCS (double-wide character string), so that the line-breaking rule is equivalent to SBCS strings. For example, this can be used in Korean windows, for more readability of icon labels. This value has no effect unless DT_WORDBREAK is specified.
DT_NOPREFIX
Turns off processing of prefix characters. Normally, DrawTextEx interprets the ampersand (&) mnemonic-prefix character as a directive to underscore the character that follows, and the double-ampersand (&&) mnemonic-prefix characters as a directive to print a single ampersand. By specifying DT_NOPREFIX, this processing is turned off. Compare with DT_HIDEPREFIX and DT_PREFIXONLY
DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS
For displayed text, replaces characters in the middle of the string with ellipses so that the result fits in the specified rectangle. If the string contains backslash (\\) characters, DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS preserves as much as possible of the text after the last backslash. The string is not modified unless the DT_MODIFYSTRING flag is specified.

Compare with DT_END_ELLIPSIS and DT_WORD_ELLIPSIS.

DT_PREFIXONLY
Draws only an underline at the position of the character following the ampersand (&) prefix character. Does not draw any character in the string.

Example:

input string: "A&bc&&d"

normal: "Abc&d"

PREFIXONLY: " _ "

Compare with DT_NOPREFIX and DT_HIDEPREFIX.

DT_RIGHT
Aligns text to the right.
DT_RTLREADING
Layout in right-to-left reading order for bidirectional text when the font selected into the hdc is a Hebrew or Arabic font. The default reading order for all text is left-to-right.
DT_SINGLELINE
Displays text on a single line only. Carriage returns and line feeds do not break the line.
DT_TABSTOP
Sets tab stops. The DRAWTEXTPARAMS structure pointed to by the lpDTParams parameter specifies the number of average character widths per tab stop.
DT_TOP
Justifies the text to the top of the rectangle.
DT_VCENTER
Centers text vertically. This value is used only with the DT_SINGLELINE value.
DT_WORDBREAK
Breaks words. Lines are automatically broken between words if a word extends past the edge of the rectangle specified by the lprc parameter. A carriage return-line feed sequence also breaks the line.
DT_WORD_ELLIPSIS
Truncates any word that does not fit in the rectangle and adds ellipses.

Compare with DT_END_ELLIPSIS and DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS.

[in] lpdtp

A pointer to a DRAWTEXTPARAMS structure that specifies additional formatting options. This parameter can be NULL.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is the text height in logical units. If DT_VCENTER or DT_BOTTOM is specified, the return value is the offset from lprc->top to the bottom of the drawn text

If the function fails, the return value is zero.

Remarks

The DrawTextEx function supports only fonts whose escapement and orientation are both zero.

The text alignment mode for the device context must include the TA_LEFT, TA_TOP, and TA_NOUPDATECP flags.

Note

The winuser.h header defines DrawTextEx as an alias that automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that is not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement Value
Minimum supported client Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform Windows
Header winuser.h (include Windows.h)
Library User32.lib
DLL User32.dll
API set ext-ms-win-ntuser-misc-l1-2-0 (introduced in Windows 8.1)

See also

DRAWTEXTPARAMS

DrawText

Font and Text Functions

Fonts and Text Overview