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:
- Measure the width of each word using
TTF_SizeText()
. - Add words to a line until it exceeds the maximum width.
- When a line is full, start a new line.
- 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