why won't this MeasureString work?

I am trying to make a method that will autosize columns to fit the longest
text contained in a DataGrid.

My plan was to take the width of an arbitrary character (underscore, in this
case) and multiply this width to the longest # of characters found for each
column.

But it comes out wrong... I find the longest string no problem, but when I
multiply it by the width that I measured for a single character, it comes out
too big... the columns in the datagrid then get stretched out too wide,
instead of just snug like I wanted. What gives?

Font font = datagrid.Font;
float fontWidth = g.MeasureString("_", font).Width;

// find longest strings in each of datagrid's columns
....

// change column style's width to product of longest string length and font
width
styles[x].Width = (int)(max_widths[x] * fontWidth);

re: why won't this MeasureString work?

You cannot use the width of an arbitrary character becasue you don't have
fixed width characters. If you use a fixed width font, then your solution
will work, but with most of the fonts the letters are varying widths and so
you will not have a true length unless you sum the width of each character.

"MrNobody" wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am trying to make a method that will autosize columns to fit the longest
> text contained in a DataGrid.
>
> My plan was to take the width of an arbitrary character (underscore, in this
> case) and multiply this width to the longest # of characters found for each
> column.
>
> But it comes out wrong... I find the longest string no problem, but when I
> multiply it by the width that I measured for a single character, it comes out
> too big... the columns in the datagrid then get stretched out too wide,
> instead of just snug like I wanted. What gives?
>
> Font font = datagrid.Font;
> float fontWidth = g.MeasureString("_", font).Width;
>
> // find longest strings in each of datagrid's columns
> ...
>
> // change column style's width to product of longest string length and font
> width
> styles[x].Width = (int)(max_widths[x] * fontWidth);
>[/color]

re: why won't this MeasureString work?

Err, sorry when I editted the post I must have deleted all mention of the
fact I use a monospace font- namely Courier New. Otherwise I wouldn't have
even tried it this way.

Using Courier New, I did a test and found it was getting the same font width
regardless of the character (like lowercase 'L' same width as underscore '_')
but this number seems to be too wide, because when I multiply this number by
the number of characters and apply it to my DataGrid, the columns end up too
wide

"Les" wrote:
[color=blue]
> You cannot use the width of an arbitrary character becasue you don't have
> fixed width characters. If you use a fixed width font, then your solution
> will work, but with most of the fonts the letters are varying widths and so
> you will not have a true length unless you sum the width of each character.
>
> "MrNobody" wrote:
>[color=green]
> > I am trying to make a method that will autosize columns to fit the longest
> > text contained in a DataGrid.
> >
> > My plan was to take the width of an arbitrary character (underscore, in this
> > case) and multiply this width to the longest # of characters found for each
> > column.
> >
> > But it comes out wrong... I find the longest string no problem, but when I
> > multiply it by the width that I measured for a single character, it comes out
> > too big... the columns in the datagrid then get stretched out too wide,
> > instead of just snug like I wanted. What gives?
> >
> > Font font = datagrid.Font;
> > float fontWidth = g.MeasureString("_", font).Width;
> >
> > // find longest strings in each of datagrid's columns
> > ...
> >
> > // change column style's width to product of longest string length and font
> > width
> > styles[x].Width = (int)(max_widths[x] * fontWidth);
> >[/color][/color]

re: why won't this MeasureString work?

Hi,

Read this:
http://windowsforms.net/articles/gdiptext.aspx

Cheers
Doug Forster

"MrNobody" <MrNobody@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A331942F-3FC6-470F-8708-0830A21928A5@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> Err, sorry when I editted the post I must have deleted all mention of the
> fact I use a monospace font- namely Courier New. Otherwise I wouldn't have
> even tried it this way.
>
> Using Courier New, I did a test and found it was getting the same font
> width
> regardless of the character (like lowercase 'L' same width as underscore
> '_')
> but this number seems to be too wide, because when I multiply this number
> by
> the number of characters and apply it to my DataGrid, the columns end up
> too
> wide
>
> "Les" wrote:
>[color=green]
>> You cannot use the width of an arbitrary character becasue you don't have
>> fixed width characters. If you use a fixed width font, then your
>> solution
>> will work, but with most of the fonts the letters are varying widths and
>> so
>> you will not have a true length unless you sum the width of each
>> character.
>>
>> "MrNobody" wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>> > I am trying to make a method that will autosize columns to fit the
>> > longest
>> > text contained in a DataGrid.
>> >
>> > My plan was to take the width of an arbitrary character (underscore, in
>> > this
>> > case) and multiply this width to the longest # of characters found for
>> > each
>> > column.
>> >
>> > But it comes out wrong... I find the longest string no problem, but
>> > when I
>> > multiply it by the width that I measured for a single character, it
>> > comes out
>> > too big... the columns in the datagrid then get stretched out too
>> > wide,
>> > instead of just snug like I wanted. What gives?
>> >
>> > Font font = datagrid.Font;
>> > float fontWidth = g.MeasureString("_", font).Width;
>> >
>> > // find longest strings in each of datagrid's columns
>> > ...
>> >
>> > // change column style's width to product of longest string length and
>> > font
>> > width
>> > styles[x].Width = (int)(max_widths[x] * fontWidth);
>> >[/color][/color][/color]

re: why won't this MeasureString work?

You can find a lot of help by going to
http://www.syncfusion.com/FAQ/WinForms/default.asp#44

This might get you what you are looking for.

Cheers!

Rob

"MrNobody" wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am trying to make a method that will autosize columns to fit the longest
> text contained in a DataGrid.
>
> My plan was to take the width of an arbitrary character (underscore, in this
> case) and multiply this width to the longest # of characters found for each
> column.
>
> But it comes out wrong... I find the longest string no problem, but when I
> multiply it by the width that I measured for a single character, it comes out
> too big... the columns in the datagrid then get stretched out too wide,
> instead of just snug like I wanted. What gives?
>
> Font font = datagrid.Font;
> float fontWidth = g.MeasureString("_", font).Width;
>
> // find longest strings in each of datagrid's columns
> ...
>
> // change column style's width to product of longest string length and font
> width
> styles[x].Width = (int)(max_widths[x] * fontWidth);
>[/color]

re: why won't this MeasureString work?

I don't know for sure but MeasureString might do some padding to the
left and right of a string. Try creating a string of max_widths[x]
underscores, then measure that string.

How to create a string of duplicate characters:
string s = new string('_', max_widths[s]);

If that's a little bit too small, remember that you may need to round
up the float result of MeasureString (Size.Ceiling or Math.Ceiling).
--
http://www.kynosarges.de