Implementing Text Wrapping

How can I implement text wrapping within a specific width?

Implementing text wrapping within a specific width involves breaking the text into lines that fit within the given width. SDL_ttf doesn't provide built-in text wrapping, so we need to implement it ourselves. Here's a step-by-step approach:

  1. Measure the width of each word using TTF_SizeText().
  2. Add words to a line until it exceeds the maximum width.
  3. When a line is full, start a new line.
  4. Render each line separately.

Here's an example implementation:

#include <SDL.h>
#include <SDL_ttf.h>

#include <sstream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>

std::vector<std::string> wrapText(
  TTF_Font* font, const std::string& text,
  int maxWidth) {
  std::vector<std::string> lines;
  std::istringstream iss(text);
  std::string line, word;
  int lineWidth = 0;

  while (iss >> word) {
    int wordWidth;
    TTF_SizeText(font,
                 (line + " " + word).c_str(),
                 &wordWidth, nullptr);

    if (lineWidth + wordWidth > maxWidth) {
      if (!line.empty()) {
        lines.push_back(line);
        line.clear();
        lineWidth = 0;
      }
      TTF_SizeText(font, word.c_str(),
                   &lineWidth, nullptr);
      line = word;
    } else {
      if (!line.empty()) { line += " "; }
      line += word;
      lineWidth = wordWidth;
    }
  }

  if (!line.empty()) { lines.push_back(line); }

  return lines;
}

void renderWrappedText(SDL_Surface* dest,
                       TTF_Font* font,
                       const std::string& text,
                       int x, int y,
                       int maxWidth,
                       SDL_Color color) {
  std::vector<std::string> lines = wrapText(
    font, text, maxWidth);
  int lineHeight = TTF_FontHeight(font);

  for (const auto& line : lines) {
    SDL_Surface* lineSurface =
      TTF_RenderText_Blended(
        font, line.c_str(), color);
    SDL_Rect dstRect = {x, y, 0, 0};
    SDL_BlitSurface(lineSurface, nullptr, dest,
                    &dstRect);
    SDL_FreeSurface(lineSurface);
    y += lineHeight;
  }
}

// Usage
renderWrappedText(screenSurface, font,
  "This is a long text that needs to be wrapped.",
  10, 10, 200, {255, 255, 255, 255}
);

This approach allows for flexible text wrapping within any specified width. Remember to handle punctuation and hyphenation for more advanced wrapping scenarios.

Rendering Text with SDL_ttf

Learn to render and manipulate text in SDL2 applications using the official SDL_ttf extension

Questions & Answers

Answers are generated by AI models and may not have been reviewed. Be mindful when running any code on your device.

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