Determining the width of a character/word

[mickeyjm]

I'm trying to create something that prints coloured text whe supplied with a table in the format of:

Code: Select all

{"String",{R,G,B},"String 2"...}

So far I can get it to print the strings in the correct colour but I need a way to determine the width of the previous strings so words dont overlap. I tried just counting the length of the string but LOVE's default font doesnt seem to be fixed width. Do I need to find a fixed width font or is there a way to calculate the size of a string (in pixels)?

[Nixola]

I think it's font:getWidth(text) or something similar

[mickeyjm]

thx, but does this work with no preset font?

EDIT: Duurr I forgot about love.graphics.getFont()

[Robin]

I think love.graphics.getFont() will automatically create the default font in future versions of LÖVE, but doesn't currently. So for now: no, you will need to create the font.

[Roland_Yonaba]

I'm trying to create something that prints coloured text whe supplied with a table in the format of:

Code: Select all

{"String",{R,G,B},"String 2"...}

So far I can get it to print the strings in the correct colour but I need a way to determine the width of the previous strings so words dont overlap. I tried just counting the length of the string but LOVE's default font doesnt seem to be fixed width. Do I need to find a fixed width font or is there a way to calculate the size of a string (in pixels)?

Based on love's graphics.lua script:

Code: Select all

	local _newFont = love.graphics.newFont
	love.graphics.newFont = function(font, size)
		if type(font) == "number" or not font then
			size = font
			font = vera_ttf
		end
		return _newFont(font, size or 12)
	end

Why not use 12*string.length ?

[kikito]

Why not use 12*string.length ?

Because if love ever changes its default font size to 13, that code will stop working.

[Nixola]

Because not every character has the same width

[bartbes]

Why not use 12*string.length ?

Because 12 is the font height in points.

[Nsmurf]

Just use a fixed width font.

I did something like that in Source Code: The Game.

[Robin]

Seriously, what's wrong with Font:getWidth()?