Change font size to fit label dimensions.

[PhilOfWalton]

I have a label size W = Width & H = Height. It initially has a caption of say 30 letters in 4 words, each word separated by either a space or a line feed. Initially the label is about the right size for the caption in the selected font.

Using VBA, I now want to change the caption to say 45 letters in 5 words.
Using the late Stephen Leban’s fTextWidthOrHeight routine, I can get the width and height of new wording in the same font.

What I want to do is reduce the font size if necessary so that it still fits in the label area.
This partially works

Function ShrinkFont(Ctl As Control)
 
    'See if the text will fit the in the label or command button
    ' Note that a line feed in a caplion is Chr(13) & Chr$(10) = vbCrLf
    Dim TextWidth As Long
    Dim TextHeight As Long
    TextWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, Ctl.Caption)        ' Get the width of the caption
    TextHeight = fTextHeight(Ctl, Ctl.Caption)        ' Get the Height of the caption
 
' Control too narrow, so must shrink font (if neccessary) Need to see if there is a spare line
    Do Until TextWidth < Ctl.Width
            TextWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, Ctl.Caption)
            Ctl.FontSize = Ctl.FontSize - 1
            If Ctl.FontSize < TempVars!PP_ResizeFont Then                         ' Too small
                Exit Do
            End If
        Loop
 
End Function
 

TempVars!PP_ResizeFont is the minimum font size that I want to go, currently set at 8.

Where it falls down is that as the font shrinks, the height of the font also shrinks, so there is the potential to spread the caption over more lines, and thus not reduce the font size more than is necessary.

So somehow, I think I need to replace vbCrLf with spaces, work out what can fit on what line and shrink the font as little as possible with the proviso that any line breaks can only come on a space between words.

Can anybody start me off please

Phil

[NeoPa]

Hi Phil.

Presumably the starting font size is such that it will fit at least two lines of font size 8? Will it be larger? If you know the font size where it changes from handling only one line to allowing two then that could be set as a constant and checked for.

I doubt line feeds will be required. When multiple words are used in a Caption which is too narrow to show all on one line then it wraps automatically.

[PhilOfWalton]

Actually, no

Initially say the font size is 12 (At my age I like a big font)
The label is a at least big enough in a combination of height and width to accommodate the initial 30 letter caption.

I can't change the size of the label because it may overlap other controls on the form or report, so my thought is to progressively reduce the font size until it fits.

Mow as the font size reduces, not only does the width reduce, but also the height, so we may get the situation where the font size has been reduced by 1, the line is still too long, but now, with the reduced height of the font, there is enough room to use 2 lines rather than the initial single line.

I knew this was going to be tough one.

I have written some code that seems to work, but it is spaghetti code and I have little confidence in it.

My addition is the Sub ShrinkFont(Ctl As Control)

Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
 
Private Type RECT
        Left As Long
        Top As Long
        Right As Long
        Bottom As Long
End Type
 
Private Const LF_FACESIZE = 32
 
Private Type LOGFONT
        lfHeight As Long
        lfWidth As Long
        lfEscapement As Long
        lfOrientation As Long
        lfWeight As Long
        lfItalic As Byte
        lfUnderline As Byte
        lfStrikeOut As Byte
        lfCharSet As Byte
        lfOutPrecision As Byte
        lfClipPrecision As Byte
        lfQuality As Byte
        lfPitchAndFamily As Byte
        lfFaceName As String * LF_FACESIZE
End Type
 
Private Type TEXTMETRIC
        tmHeight As Long
        tmAscent As Long
        tmDescent As Long
        tmInternalLeading As Long
        tmExternalLeading As Long
        tmAveCharWidth As Long
        tmMaxCharWidth As Long
        tmWeight As Long
        tmOverhang As Long
        tmDigitizedAspectX As Long
        tmDigitizedAspectY As Long
        tmFirstChar As Byte
        tmLastChar As Byte
        tmDefaultChar As Byte
        tmBreakChar As Byte
        tmItalic As Byte
        tmUnderlined As Byte
        tmStruckOut As Byte
        tmPitchAndFamily As Byte
        tmCharSet As Byte
End Type
 
Private Declare Function GetTextMetrics Lib "gdi32" Alias "GetTextMetricsA" _
(ByVal hDC As Long, lpMetrics As TEXTMETRIC) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiCreateFontIndirect Lib "gdi32" Alias _
        "CreateFontIndirectA" (lpLogFont As LOGFONT) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiSelectObject Lib "gdi32" Alias "SelectObject" _
(ByVal hDC As Long, _
ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiDeleteObject Lib "gdi32" _
  Alias "DeleteObject" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiGetDeviceCaps Lib "gdi32" Alias "GetDeviceCaps" _
(ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiMulDiv Lib "kernel32" Alias "MulDiv" _
(ByVal nNumber As Long, _
ByVal nNumerator As Long, ByVal nDenominator As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiGetDC Lib "user32" _
  Alias "GetDC" (ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiReleaseDC Lib "user32" _
 Alias "ReleaseDC" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
 ByVal hDC As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiDrawText Lib "user32" Alias "DrawTextA" _
(ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal lpStr As String, ByVal nCount As Long, _
lpRect As RECT, ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function CreateDCbyNum Lib "gdi32" Alias "CreateDCA" _
(ByVal lpDriverName As String, ByVal lpDeviceName As String, _
ByVal lpOutput As Long, ByVal lpInitData As Long) As Long  'DEVMODE) As Long
 
Private Declare Function apiDeleteDC Lib "gdi32" _
  Alias "DeleteDC" (ByVal hDC As Long) As Long
 
Declare Function GetProfileString Lib "kernel32" _
   Alias "GetProfileStringA" _
  (ByVal lpAppName As String, _
   ByVal lpKeyName As String, _
   ByVal lpDefault As String, _
   ByVal lpReturnedString As String, _
   ByVal nSize As Long) As Long
 
 
 
 
' CONSTANTS
Private Const TWIPSPERINCH = 1440
' Used to ask System for the Logical pixels/inch in X & Y axis
Private Const LOGPIXELSY = 90
Private Const LOGPIXELSX = 88
 
' DrawText() Format Flags
Private Const DT_TOP = &H0
Private Const DT_LEFT = &H0
Private Const DT_CALCRECT = &H400
Private Const DT_WORDBREAK = &H10
Private Const DT_EXTERNALLEADING = &H200
Private Const DT_EDITCONTROL = &H2000&
 
 
' Font stuff
Private Const OUT_DEFAULT_PRECIS = 0
Private Const OUT_STRING_PRECIS = 1
Private Const OUT_CHARACTER_PRECIS = 2
Private Const OUT_STROKE_PRECIS = 3
Private Const OUT_TT_PRECIS = 4
Private Const OUT_DEVICE_PRECIS = 5
Private Const OUT_RASTER_PRECIS = 6
Private Const OUT_TT_ONLY_PRECIS = 7
Private Const OUT_OUTLINE_PRECIS = 8
 
Private Const CLIP_DEFAULT_PRECIS = 0
Private Const CLIP_CHARACTER_PRECIS = 1
Private Const CLIP_STROKE_PRECIS = 2
Private Const CLIP_MASK = &HF
Private Const CLIP_LH_ANGLES = 16
Private Const CLIP_TT_ALWAYS = 32
Private Const CLIP_EMBEDDED = 128
 
Private Const DEFAULT_QUALITY = 0
Private Const DRAFT_QUALITY = 1
Private Const PROOF_QUALITY = 2
 
Private Const DEFAULT_PITCH = 0
Private Const FIXED_PITCH = 1
Private Const VARIABLE_PITCH = 2
 
Private Const ANSI_CHARSET = 0
Private Const DEFAULT_CHARSET = 1
Private Const SYMBOL_CHARSET = 2
Private Const SHIFTJIS_CHARSET = 128
Private Const HANGEUL_CHARSET = 129
Private Const CHINESEBIG5_CHARSET = 136
Private Const OEM_CHARSET = 255
'
 
Public Function fTextHeight(Ctl As Control, _
Optional ByVal sText As String = "", _
Optional HeightTwips As Long = 0, Optional WidthTwips As Long = 0, _
Optional TotalLines As Long = 0) As Long
 
On Error Resume Next
 
' Call our function to calculate TextHeight
' If blWH=TRUE then we are TextHeight
fTextHeight = fTextWidthOrHeight(Ctl, True, _
sText, HeightTwips, WidthTwips, TotalLines)
 
End Function
 
 
Public Function fTextWidth(Ctl As Control, _
Optional ByVal sText As String = "", _
Optional HeightTwips As Long = 0, Optional WidthTwips As Long = 0, _
Optional TotalLines As Long = 0) As Long
 
On Error Resume Next
 
' If blWH=FALSE then we are TextWidth
' Call our function to calculate TextWidth
fTextWidth = fTextWidthOrHeight(Ctl, False, _
sText, HeightTwips, WidthTwips)
 
End Function
 
 
 Public Function fTextWidthOrHeight(Ctl As Control, ByVal blWH As Boolean, _
 Optional ByVal sText As String = "", _
 Optional HeightTwips As Long = 0, Optional WidthTwips As Long = 0, _
 Optional TotalLines As Long = 0) As Long
 
 'Name                   FUNCTION() fTextWidthOrHeight
 '
 
 'Purpose:               Returns the Height or Width needed to
 '                       display the contents of the Control passed
 '                       to this function. This function
 '                       uses the Control's font attributes to build
 '                       a Font for the required calculations.
 '
 '                       This function replaces the Report object's TextHeight
 '                       and TextWidth methods which only work for a single line of text.
 '                       This function works with multiple lines of text and
 '                       also with both Forms and Reports.
 '
 'Version:               4.1
 '
 'Calls:                 Text API stuff. DrawText performs the actual
 '                       calculation to determine Control Height.
 '
 'Returns:               Height or width of Control in TWIPS required
 '                       to display current contents.
 '
 'Created by:            Stephen Lebans
 '
 'Credits:               If you want some...take some.
 '
 'Date:                  May 22, 2001
 '
 'Time:                  10:10:10pm
 '
 'Feedback:              [e-mail]
 '
 'My Web Page:           www.lebans.com
 '
 'Copyright:             Lebans Holdings Ltd.
 '                       Please feel free to use this code
 '                       without restriction in any application you develop.
 '                       This code may not be resold by itself or as
 '                       part of a collection.
 '
 'What's Missing:        Let me know!
 '
 '
 '
 'Bugs:
 'None at this point.
 '
 'Enjoy
 'Stephen Lebans
 
 '***************Code Start***************
 
 ' Structure for DrawText calc
 Dim sRect As RECT
 
 ' Reports Device Context
 Dim hDC As Long
 
 ' Holds the current screen resolution
 Dim lngDPI As Long
 
 Dim newfont As Long
 ' Handle to our Font Object we created.
 ' We must destroy it before exiting main function
 
 Dim oldfont As Long
 ' Device COntext's Font we must Select back into the DC
 ' before we exit this function.
 
 ' Temporary holder for returns from API calls
 Dim lngRet As Long
 
 ' Logfont struct
 Dim myfont As LOGFONT
 
 ' TextMetric struct
 Dim tm As TEXTMETRIC
 
 ' LineSpacing Amount
 Dim lngLineSpacing As Long
 
 ' Ttemp var
 Dim numLines As Long
 
 ' Temp string var for current printer name
 Dim strName As String
 
 On Error GoTo Err_Handler
 
' If we are being called from a Form then SKIP
' the logic to Create a Printer DC and simply use
' the Screen's DC
 
If TypeOf Ctl.Parent Is Access.Report Then
    ' ***************************************************
    ' Warning! Do not use Printer's Device Context for Forms.
    ' This alternative is meant for Report's only!!!!!
    ' For a Report the best accuracy is obtained if you get a handle to
    ' the printer's Device Context instead of the Screen's.
    ' You can uncomment his code and comment out the
    ' apiGetDc line of code.
    ' We need to use the Printer's Device Context
    ' in order to more closely match Font height calcs
    ' with actual ouptut. This example simply uses the
    ' default printer for the system. You could also
    ' add logic to use the Devnames property if this
    ' report prints to a specific printer.
    strName = GetDefaultPrintersName
    hDC = CreateDCbyNum("WINSPOOL", strName, 0&, 0&)
    If hDC = 0 Then
        ' Error cannot get handle to printer Device Context
        Err.Raise vbObjectError + 255, "fTextWidthOrHeight", "Cannot Create Printer DC"
    End If
    ' ***************************************************
Else
    ' Get handle to screen Device Context
    hDC = apiGetDC(0&)
End If
 
 ' Were we passed a valid string
 If Len(sText & vbNullString) = 0 Then
     ' Did we get a valid control passed to us?
     'select case typeof ctl is
     Select Case Ctl.ControlType
 
         Case acTextBox
         sText = Nz(Ctl.Value, vbNullString)
 
         '~~~~Case acLabel, acCommandButton, acPage
 
         Case acLabel, acPage, acToggleButton, acCommandButton
         sText = Nz(Ctl.Caption, vbNullString)
 
         Case Else
         ' Fail - not a control we can work with
         fTextWidthOrHeight = 0
         Exit Function
     End Select
 End If
 
 
 ' Get current device resolution
 ' blWH=TRUE then we are TextHeight
 If blWH Then
     lngDPI = apiGetDeviceCaps(hDC, LOGPIXELSY)
 Else
     lngDPI = apiGetDeviceCaps(hDC, LOGPIXELSX)
 End If
 
 ' We use a negative value to signify
 ' to the CreateFont function that we want a Glyph
 ' outline of this size not a bounding box.
 ' Copy font stuff from Text Control's property sheet
 With Ctl
        myfont.lfClipPrecision = CLIP_LH_ANGLES
        myfont.lfOutPrecision = OUT_TT_ONLY_PRECIS
        myfont.lfEscapement = 0
        If Ctl.ControlType = acPage Then
            myfont.lfFaceName = Ctl.Parent.FontName & Chr$(0)
            myfont.lfWeight = Ctl.Parent.FontWeight
            myfont.lfItalic = Ctl.Parent.FontItalic
            myfont.lfUnderline = Ctl.Parent.FontUnderline
            'Must be a negative figure for height or system will return
            'closest match on character cell not glyph
            myfont.lfHeight = (Ctl.Parent.FontSize / 72) * -lngDPI
            ' Create our temp font
            newfont = apiCreateFontIndirect(myfont)
         Else
            myfont.lfFaceName = .FontName & Chr$(0)
            myfont.lfWeight = .FontWeight
            myfont.lfItalic = .FontItalic
            myfont.lfUnderline = .FontUnderline
            'Must be a negative figure for height or system will return
            'closest match on character cell not glyph
            myfont.lfHeight = (.FontSize / 72) * -lngDPI
            ' Create our temp font
            newfont = apiCreateFontIndirect(myfont)
        End If
    End With
 
     If newfont = 0 Then
         Err.Raise vbObjectError + 256, "fTextWidthOrHeight", "Cannot Create Font"
     End If
 
 ' Select the new font into our DC.
 oldfont = apiSelectObject(hDC, newfont)
 
 ' Use DrawText to Calculate height of Rectangle required to hold
 ' the current contents of the Control passed to this function.
 
    With sRect
        .Left = 0
        .Top = 0
        .Bottom = 0
        ' blWH=TRUE then we are TextHeight
        If blWH Then
            .Right = (Ctl.Width / (TWIPSPERINCH / lngDPI)) - 10
        Else
        ' Single line TextWidth
            .Right = 32000
        End If
 
   ' Calculate our bounding box based on the controls current width
   lngRet = apiDrawText(hDC, sText, -1, sRect, DT_CALCRECT Or DT_TOP Or _
   DT_LEFT Or DT_WORDBREAK Or DT_EXTERNALLEADING Or DT_EDITCONTROL)
 
   ' Get TextMetrics. This is required to determine
   ' Text height and the amount of extra spacing between lines.
   lngRet = GetTextMetrics(hDC, tm)
 
   ' Cleanup
   lngRet = apiSelectObject(hDC, oldfont)
   ' Delete the Font we created
   apiDeleteObject (newfont)
 
  If TypeOf Ctl.Parent Is Access.Report Then
    ' ***************************************************
    ' If you are using the Printers' DC then uncomment below
    ' and comment out the apiReleaseDc line of code below
    ' Delete our handle to the Printer DC
    lngRet = apiDeleteDC(hDC)
    ' ***************************************************
  Else
    ' Release the handle to the Screen's DC
    lngRet = apiReleaseDC(0&, hDC)
  End If
 
 ' Calculate how many lines we are displaying
 ' return to calling function. The GDI incorrectly
 ' calculates the bounding rectangle because
 ' of rounding errors converting to Integers.
 TotalLines = .Bottom / (tm.tmHeight + tm.tmExternalLeading)
 numLines = TotalLines
 
 ' Convert RECT values to TWIPS
 .Bottom = (.Bottom) * (TWIPSPERINCH / lngDPI)
 
 ' ***************************************************
 ' For A2K only!
 ' Now we need to add in the amount of the
 ' line spacing property.
 'lngLineSpacing = ctl.LineSpacing * (numLines - 1)
 'If numLines = 1 Then lngLineSpacing = lngLineSpacing + (ctl.LineSpacing / 2)
 ' Increase our control's height accordingly
 '.Bottom = .Bottom + lngLineSpacing
 
 
   ' Return values in optional vars
   ' Convert RECT Pixel values to TWIPS
   HeightTwips = .Bottom '* (TWIPSPERINCH / lngDPI)
   WidthTwips = .Right * (TWIPSPERINCH / lngDPI) '(apiGetDeviceCaps(hDC, LOGPIXELSX)))
 
   ' blWH=TRUE then we are TextHeight
   If blWH Then
     fTextWidthOrHeight = HeightTwips
   Else
    fTextWidthOrHeight = WidthTwips
   End If
End With
 
' Exit normally
Exit_OK:
Exit Function
 
Err_Handler:
Err.Raise Err.Source, Err.Number, Err.Description
Resume Exit_OK
End Function
 
Function GetDefaultPrintersName() As String
' This function is from Peter Walker.
' Check out his web site at:
' http://www.users.bigpond.com/papwalker/
Dim success As Long
Dim nSize As Long
Dim lpKeyName As String
Dim ret As String
Dim posDriver
'call the API passing null as the parameter
'for the lpKeyName parameter. This causes
'the API to return a list of all keys under
'that section. Pad the passed string large
'enough to hold the data. Adjust to suit.
ret = Space$(8102)
nSize = Len(ret)
success = GetProfileString("windows", "device", "", ret, nSize)
posDriver = InStr(ret, ",")
GetDefaultPrintersName = Left$(ret, posDriver - 1)
End Function
 
Sub ShrinkFont(Ctl As Control)
    'See if the text will fit the in the label or command button
    ' Note that a line feed in a caplion is Chr(13) & Chr$(10) = vbCrLf
    Dim ActualText As String
    Dim ActualTextWidth As Long
    Dim ActualTextHeight As Long
    Dim LineText As String              ' Text after reoving VbCrLf
    Dim LineTextWidth As Long           ' Width of single line after reoving VbCrLf
    Dim CtlArea As Long
    Dim TextArea As Long
    Dim Words() As String
    Dim WordWidths() As Long
    Dim MaxHeight As Long
    Dim TmpHeight As Long
    Dim i As Integer, LastWord As Integer, FirstWord As Integer, m As Integer
    Dim LinesAvailable As Integer
    Dim ControlVerticalSpace As Long
    Dim ControlHorizontalSpace As Long
    Dim SpaceWidth As Long
    Dim TotalLength As Long
    Dim NewCaption As String
    Dim SpaceLeft As Long
 
    ControlVerticalSpace = Ctl.Height - (Ctl.TopPadding + Ctl.BottomPadding)
    ControlHorizontalSpace = Ctl.Width - (Ctl.LeftPadding + Ctl.RightPadding)
 
    ActualText = Ctl.Caption
    LineText = Replace(Ctl.Caption, Chr$(34) & Chr$(10), " ")       ' Rmove line feeds
    Words = Split(LineText, " ")                                    ' Get each individual word
    ReDim WordWidths(UBound(Words))
 
GetLineLengths:
    NewCaption = ""
    MaxHeight = 0
    For i = 0 To UBound(Words)
        WordWidths(i) = fTextWidth(Ctl, Words(i))
        TmpHeight = fTextHeight(Ctl, Words(i))                      ' Maximum height of any word
        If TmpHeight > MaxHeight Then
            MaxHeight = TmpHeight
        End If
    Next i
 
    LinesAvailable = ControlVerticalSpace / MaxHeight
    SpaceLeft = LinesAvailable * ControlHorizontalSpace             ' Space left to get words in
 
    ActualTextWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, ActualText)                   ' Get the width of the caption
    ActualTextHeight = fTextHeight(Ctl, ActualText)                 ' Get the Height of the caption
    LineTextWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, LineText)                       ' Get the width of the caption without line feeds
    SpaceWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, " ")                               ' Get the width of a space
 
    'Stop
 
    If ActualTextWidth < SpaceLeft Then                             ' Enough space for caption
        Exit Sub
    Else                                                            ' Not enough space
        If Ctl.FontSize > TempVars!PP_ResizeFont Then               ' Are we at the mininum size font
        Ctl.FontSize = Ctl.FontSize - 1                             ' Reduce it by 1
        GoTo GetLineLengths                                         ' And see if it fits
        End If
    End If
 
    LastWord = 0
    TotalLength = 0
    FirstWord = LastWord                                            ' Where we started this scan
GetNextLine:
    ' Add the words until we get too long
    i = FirstWord
 
    Do While i <= UBound(Words) And TotalLength < ControlHorizontalSpace
        TotalLength = TotalLength + WordWidths(i) + SpaceWidth
        i = i + 1
    Loop
 
    TotalLength = TotalLength - SpaceWidth                          ' Remove length of final space
    LastWord = i - 1                                                ' Last word that wil fit
 
    If LastWord > 0 Then
        If LastWord = UBound(Words) Then                            ' Last word
            LastWord = LastWord + 1
        End If
 
        For m = FirstWord To LastWord - 1
            NewCaption = NewCaption & Words(m) & vbCrLf             ' Words that will fit + line feed
            TotalLength = TotalLength - WordWidths(m)               ' Reduce the length required by word length
        Next m
        TotalLength = TotalLength - SpaceWidth                      ' Replaces a space with a line feed
        SpaceLeft = SpaceLeft - ControlHorizontalSpace              ' We have used a line up
        FirstWord = LastWord
        If TotalLength < 10 And TotalLength > -10 Then              ' pretty good fit
            Ctl.Caption = NewCaption
            Exit Sub
        End If
        If m >= UBound(Words()) And SpaceLeft >= 0 Then             ' All words done and space to spare
            Ctl.Caption = NewCaption
            Exit Sub
        End If
        GoTo GetNextLine
    Else
        Exit Sub                                                    ' No change
    End If
 
End Sub
 
 

Sorry, this is a very long module

Phil

[ADezii]

Phil, there is a very useful Property of an Access Report that can be used in this scenario called TextWidth. The Logic is as follows:

1. Compute the Average Width of a Character using a Base String given a specific Font Name and Font Size in the Coordinate System used for the Report (Inches in this case).
2. Establish the Length of your Label Control in Inches (in this case 7.9167).
3. Open the Report in Hidden Mode and place the required Code in the Detail's Print() Event.
4. Loop thru a desired Range of Font Sizes (in this case 24 thru 8).
5. At the first instance where the (Average Character Length * Len(Test String)) was < 7.9167 (Label Length), this is the largest Font Size that can be used for a Label whose Width is 7.9167. My result was the largest Font Size with the Tahoma Font that can be used for a Label 7.9167 inches wide was 18 for the Test String.
6. This does not address the Height adjustment, I'll leave that up to you.
7. If you are interested in this approach, I'll send you the Demo.
8. The results are not perfect, since a Font Size of 20 can actually be used in this scenario, close but no cigar! (LOL).

[NeoPa]

Phil:
Now as the font size reduces, not only does the width reduce, but also the height, so we may get the situation where the font size has been reduced by 1, the line is still too long, but now, with the reduced height of the font, there is enough room to use 2 lines rather than the initial single line.

If it starts at twelve and only goes down to 8 then surely you can check if 8 allows 2 lines without worrying about detecting it in code. If 8 does then see which is the first (You only have a choice of 8, 9, 10 & 11.) and use that value in your code.

[PhilOfWalton]

@ADezii

I certainly would like to see the Demo, but only if you have already got something. I suspect it isn't going to work for sevaral reasons

1) This needs to work for both Forms & Reports

2) As I understand it the Textwidth property works on the Report's FontName & FontSize, not the Control's FontName & FontSize. Certainly this was born out by the fact of changing the font of the control made not the slightest difference to the TextWidth values.

3) Mummy & India are both 5 letter words, but in pretty well any font other than Courier, Mummy is about 50% longer than india

@Neopa
I'm missing the point somewhere. Obviously I want to keep the largest font that will fit the caption into the label. Conceivable,reducing the font by 1 point may give enough horizontal space without worrying whether there is a second line available.

The ideal would be distribute the Caption in whatever horizontal and vertical space is available. If there is insufficient room and there are line feeds or spaces before the words, they should be removed before reducing the font size.

Thanks both for your help


Phil

[ADezii]

This needs to work for both Forms & Reports

As the Demo will illustrate, the Code will place the largest size Font for a specific Test String into a Label on a Form. Since the TextWidth/TextHeight Properties exist on Reports only, it is the focal point for the Code. As far as I know, a given Font and Size are the same whether used in a Control on a Form or a Report. I changed the Coordinate System to TWIPS which gave more accurate results than Inches. I also added a Vertical Scaling Factor which factors in the ratio of the revised TextHeight (given the new Font Size) to the original TextHeight. In any event, if I am off on a tangent, I do apologize. Download the Demo and see if it can be of any use to you.

[PhilOfWalton]

I thought to clarify the problem I would show 3 images.

The original database was written in German so the first 2 pictures show a portion of a form in design view, then in form view.

I have a routine to translate the database into Russian (No idea whether it is correct or not, it's far from 100% accurate and won't translate words it can't recognise, and it assumes the whole form is in German ... but hey ho. Note that Homepage is not a German word, but surprisingly has been translated.

So this is the Russian version

As you see, by setting the minimum font size to 7, the font shrinks to fit the caption into the label.

Hope that clarifies matters a little

Phil

[NeoPa]

Phil:
Initially say the font size is 12 (At my age I like a big font)

Phil:
TempVars!PP_ResizeFont is the minimum font size that I want to go, currently set at 8.

Phil:
As you see, by setting the minimum font size to 7, the font shrinks to fit the caption into the label.

I was working to font size limits of 8 - 12. Now I admit to feeling a little lost.

8 - 12 is a spread of just 5 as you decrement by 1 each time. In such a scenario as I thought you were describing it makes sense to determine at which point 2 lines are used. If that's not true then we'd need to know what is true before considering what approaches are possible.

[PhilOfWalton]

Sorry, ADezii, I missed your post.
Have had look and it appears that the line

If (dblAvgSize * Len(strTestString)) < Forms![frmListWidth].Width Then
 

Should be

If (dblAvgSize * Len(strTestString)) < Forms![frmListWidth]!lblItem.Width Then
 

However I made the "She Sells...." half as wide and over 3 times the height, but the print only comes out in a single line size 9 whereas on the resized label, I can get size 20 font in 2 lines.

For the sake of completeness, I attach an image as preciously, but this time limited the font size to 8 rather than 7

As you see the labels are a mess.

As Neopa says if a youngster like you likes a 12 point font, what about an old f.rt like me.

The forms (Don't forget they are not designed by me as they are other peoples Dbs) can have any size font they like from 72 point downwards.

Initially I tried the TempVars!PP_ResizeFont at 8, but I think 7 may be better as most people don't use point sizes below 8 and using 7 gives some room to shrink the caption.

The parameters in a way are very simple. Given a label of fixed size and font characteristics other than font size (including name, bold, italic etc), and given the caption that has to fit in the label, working down from the original font size, what is the maximum font size we can get without dropping below say 7 points to get the caption to fit the label?

This revised code seems to give reasonable results, but it is messy and messy code is usually wrong.

Sub ShrinkFont(Ctl As Control)
    'See if the text will fit the in the label or command button
    ' Note that a line feed in a caplion is Chr(13) & Chr$(10) = vbCrLf
    Dim ActualText As String
    Dim ActualTextWidth As Long
    Dim ActualTextHeight As Long
    Dim LineText As String              ' Text after reoving VbCrLf
    Dim LineTextWidth As Long           ' Width of single line after reoving VbCrLf
    Dim CtlArea As Long
    Dim TextArea As Long
    Dim Words() As String
    Dim WordWidths() As Long
    Dim MaxHeight As Long
    Dim TmpHeight As Long
    Dim i As Integer, LastWord As Integer, FirstWord As Integer, m As Integer
    Dim LinesAvailable As Integer
    Dim ControlVerticalSpace As Long
    Dim ControlHorizontalSpace As Long
    Dim SpaceWidth As Long
    Dim TotalLength As Long
    Dim NewCaption As String
    Dim SpaceLeft As Long
 
    If Ctl.ControlType = acPage Then                                ' Pages don't have padding
        ControlVerticalSpace = Ctl.Height
        ControlHorizontalSpace = Ctl.Width
    Else
        ControlVerticalSpace = Ctl.Height - (Ctl.TopPadding + Ctl.BottomPadding)
        ControlHorizontalSpace = Ctl.Width - (Ctl.LeftPadding + Ctl.RightPadding)
    End If
 
    ActualText = Ctl.Caption
    LineText = Replace(Ctl.Caption, Chr$(34) & Chr$(10), " ")       ' Rmove line feeds
    Words = Split(LineText, " ")                                    ' Get each individual word
    ReDim WordWidths(UBound(Words))
 
GetLineLengths:
    NewCaption = ""
    MaxHeight = 0
    For i = 0 To UBound(Words)
        WordWidths(i) = fTextWidth(Ctl, Words(i))
        TmpHeight = fTextHeight(Ctl, Words(i))                      ' Maximum height of any word
        If TmpHeight > MaxHeight Then
            MaxHeight = TmpHeight
        End If
    Next i
 
    LinesAvailable = ControlVerticalSpace / MaxHeight
    SpaceLeft = LinesAvailable * ControlHorizontalSpace             ' Space left to get words in
 
    ActualTextWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, ActualText)                   ' Get the width of the caption
    ActualTextHeight = fTextHeight(Ctl, ActualText)                 ' Get the Height of the caption
    LineTextWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, LineText)                       ' Get the width of the caption without line feeds
    SpaceWidth = fTextWidth(Ctl, " ")                               ' Get the width of a space
 
    'Stop
 
    If ActualTextWidth < SpaceLeft Then                             ' Enough space for caption
        Exit Sub
    Else                                                            ' Not enough space
        If Ctl.FontSize > TempVars!PP_ResizeFont Then               ' Are we at the mininum size font
        Ctl.FontSize = Ctl.FontSize - 1                             ' Reduce it by 1
        GoTo GetLineLengths                                         ' And see if it fits
        End If
    End If
 
    LastWord = 0
    TotalLength = 0
    FirstWord = LastWord                                            ' Where we started this scan
GetNextLine:
    ' Add the words until we get too long
    i = FirstWord
 
    Do While i <= UBound(Words) And TotalLength < ControlHorizontalSpace
        TotalLength = TotalLength + WordWidths(i) + SpaceWidth
        i = i + 1
    Loop
 
    TotalLength = TotalLength - SpaceWidth                          ' Remove length of final space
    LastWord = i - 1                                                ' Last word that wil fit
 
    If LastWord > 0 Then
        If LastWord = UBound(Words) Then                            ' Last word
            LastWord = LastWord + 1
        End If
 
        For m = FirstWord To LastWord - 1
            NewCaption = NewCaption & Words(m) & vbCrLf             ' Words that will fit + line feed
            TotalLength = TotalLength - WordWidths(m)               ' Reduce the length required by word length
        Next m
        TotalLength = TotalLength - SpaceWidth                      ' Replaces a space with a line feed
        SpaceLeft = SpaceLeft - ControlHorizontalSpace              ' We have used a line up
        FirstWord = LastWord
        If TotalLength < 10 And TotalLength > -10 Then              ' pretty good fit
            Ctl.Caption = NewCaption
            Exit Sub
        End If
        If m >= UBound(Words()) And SpaceLeft >= 0 Then             ' All words done and space to spare
            Ctl.Caption = NewCaption
            Exit Sub
        End If
        GoTo GetNextLine
    Else
        Exit Sub                                                    ' No change
    End If
 
End Sub
 

Thanks for your input


Phil

[ADezii]

The parameters in a way are very simple. Given a label of fixed size and font characteristics other than font size (including name, bold, italic etc), and given the caption that has to fit in the label, working down from the original font size, what is the maximum font size we can get without dropping below say 7 points to get the caption to fit the label?

Keeping more closely in mind the above, I made a couple of minor changes. See what you think.

[PhilOfWalton]

Thanks again for trying, but as you see in this image, I have made the text box narrower, and taller. Obviously the font could be much bigger and the message spread over 3 or 4 lines

I think I will stick to my horrible spaghetti code as it seems to work reasonably reliably, but I really do appreciate your help

Phil