In this part of the Cairo graphics tutorial, we will work with text.
Soulmate
In the first example, we will display some lyrics on the GTK+ window.
#include <cairo.h>
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
static gboolean
on_expose_event(GtkWidget *widget,
GdkEventExpose *event,
gpointer data)
{
cairo_t *cr;
cr = gdk_cairo_create(widget->window);
cairo_set_source_rgb(cr, 0.1, 0.1, 0.1);
cairo_select_font_face(cr, "Purisa",
CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_NORMAL,
CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_BOLD);
cairo_set_font_size(cr, 13);
cairo_move_to(cr, 20, 30);
cairo_show_text(cr, "Most relationships seem so transitory");
cairo_move_to(cr, 20, 60);
cairo_show_text(cr, "They're all good but not the permanent one");
cairo_move_to(cr, 20, 120);
cairo_show_text(cr, "Who doesn't long for someone to hold");
cairo_move_to(cr, 20, 150);
cairo_show_text(cr, "Who knows how to love you without being told");
cairo_move_to(cr, 20, 180);
cairo_show_text(cr, "Somebody tell me why I'm on my own");
cairo_move_to(cr, 20, 210);
cairo_show_text(cr, "If there's a soulmate for everyone");
cairo_destroy(cr);
return FALSE;
}
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
GtkWidget *window;
gtk_init(&argc, &argv);
window = gtk_window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
g_signal_connect(window, "expose-event",
G_CALLBACK(on_expose_event), NULL);
g_signal_connect(window, "destroy",
G_CALLBACK(gtk_main_quit), NULL);
gtk_window_set_position(GTK_WINDOW(window), GTK_WIN_POS_CENTER);
gtk_window_set_default_size(GTK_WINDOW(window), 420, 250);
gtk_window_set_title(GTK_WINDOW(window), "Soulmate");
gtk_widget_set_app_paintable(window, TRUE);
gtk_widget_show_all(window);
gtk_main();
return 0;
}
In this example, we display part of the lyrics from the Natasha Bedingfields Soulmate song.
cairo_select_font_face(cr, "Purisa",
CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_NORMAL,
CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_BOLD);
Here we select the font face. The function takes three parameters, the font family, font slant and the font weight.
cairo_set_font_size(cr, 13);
Here we specify the font size.
cairo_move_to(cr, 20, 30);
cairo_show_text(cr, "Most relationships seem so transitory");
We display the text on the window by specifying the position of the text and calling the
cairo_show_text()
function.

Figure: Soulmate
Letter by letter
In this effect, we will display a text letter by letter. The letters will be drawn with some delay.
#include <cairo.h>
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
gpointer text[7] = { "Z", "e", "t", "C", "o", "d", "e" };
gboolean timer = TRUE;
static gboolean
on_expose_event(GtkWidget *widget,
GdkEventExpose *event,
gpointer data)
{
cairo_t *cr;
cairo_text_extents_t extents;
static gint count = 0;
cr = gdk_cairo_create(widget->window);
cairo_select_font_face(cr, "Courier",
CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_NORMAL,
CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_BOLD);
cairo_set_font_size(cr, 35);
cairo_set_source_rgb(cr, 0.2, 0.2, 0.2);
gint i;
gint x = 0;
for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
cairo_text_extents(cr, text[i], &extents);
x += extents.width + 2;
cairo_move_to(cr, x + 30, 50);
cairo_show_text(cr, text[i]);
}
count++;
if (count == 8) {
timer = FALSE;
count = 0;
}
cairo_destroy(cr);
return FALSE;
}
static gboolean
time_handler (GtkWidget *widget)
{
if (widget->window == NULL) return FALSE;
if (!timer) return FALSE;
gtk_widget_queue_draw(widget);
return TRUE;
}
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
GtkWidget *window;
gtk_init(&argc, &argv);
window = gtk_window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
g_signal_connect(window, "expose-event",
G_CALLBACK(on_expose_event), NULL);
g_signal_connect(window, "destroy",
G_CALLBACK(gtk_main_quit), NULL);
gtk_window_set_position(GTK_WINDOW(window), GTK_WIN_POS_CENTER);
gtk_window_set_default_size(GTK_WINDOW(window), 300, 90);
gtk_window_set_title(GTK_WINDOW(window), "ZetCode");
gtk_widget_set_app_paintable(window, TRUE);
g_timeout_add(1000, (GSourceFunc) time_handler, (gpointer) window);
gtk_widget_show_all(window);
gtk_main();
return 0;
}
In our example, we will draw the "ZetCode" string onto the GTK+ window letter by letter with some delay.
gpointer text[7] = { "Z", "e", "t", "C", "o", "d", "e" };
We create an array of strings.
cairo_select_font_face(cr, "Courier",
CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_NORMAL,
CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_BOLD);
We select a Courier font face.
for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
cairo_text_extents(cr, text[i], &extents);
x += extents.width + 2;
cairo_move_to(cr, x + 30, 50);
cairo_show_text(cr, text[i]);
}
Here we draw the text letter by letter. The
extents.width
gives us the width of the current letter.
Figure: ZetCode
Puff
In the following example, we create a puff effect. The example will display a growing centered text, that will gradully fade out from some point. This is a very common effect, which you can often see in flash animations.
#include <cairo.h>
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
gpointer text[7] = { "Z", "e", "t", "C", "o", "d", "e" };
gboolean timer = TRUE;
static gboolean
on_expose_event(GtkWidget *widget,
GdkEventExpose *event,
gpointer data)
{
cairo_t *cr;
cairo_text_extents_t extents;
static gdouble alpha = 1.0;
static gdouble size = 1;
gint x = widget->allocation.width / 2;
gint y = widget->allocation.height / 2;
cr = gdk_cairo_create(widget->window);
cairo_set_source_rgb(cr, 0.5, 0, 0);
cairo_paint(cr);
cairo_select_font_face(cr, "Courier",
CAIRO_FONT_SLANT_NORMAL,
CAIRO_FONT_WEIGHT_BOLD);
size += 0.8;
if (size > 20) {
alpha -= 0.01;
}
cairo_set_font_size(cr, size);
cairo_set_source_rgb(cr, 1, 1, 1);
cairo_text_extents(cr, "ZetCode", &extents);
cairo_move_to(cr, x - extents.width/2, y);
cairo_text_path(cr, "ZetCode");
cairo_clip(cr);
cairo_stroke(cr);
cairo_paint_with_alpha(cr, alpha);
if (alpha <= 0) {
timer = FALSE;
}
cairo_destroy(cr);
return FALSE;
}
static gboolean
time_handler (GtkWidget *widget)
{
if (widget->window == NULL) return FALSE;
if (!timer) return FALSE;
gtk_widget_queue_draw(widget);
return TRUE;
}
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
GtkWidget *window;
gtk_init(&argc, &argv);
window = gtk_window_new(GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
g_signal_connect(window, "expose-event",
G_CALLBACK(on_expose_event), NULL);
g_signal_connect(window, "destroy",
G_CALLBACK(gtk_main_quit), NULL);
gtk_window_set_position(GTK_WINDOW(window), GTK_WIN_POS_CENTER);
gtk_window_set_default_size(GTK_WINDOW(window), 350, 200);
gtk_window_set_title(GTK_WINDOW(window), "puff");
gtk_widget_set_app_paintable(window, TRUE);
g_timeout_add(14, (GSourceFunc) time_handler, (gpointer) window);
gtk_widget_show_all(window);
gtk_main();
return 0;
}
The example creates a growing and fading text on the GTK+ window.
gint x = widget->allocation.width / 2;
gint y = widget->allocation.height / 2;
Coordinates of the middle point.
cairo_set_source_rgb(cr, 0.5, 0, 0);
cairo_paint(cr);
We set the background color to dark red color.
size += 0.8;
Each cycle, the font size will grow by 0.8 units.
if (size > 20) {
alpha -= 0.01;
}
The fading out begins after the font size is bigger than 20.
cairo_text_extents(cr, "ZetCode", &extents);
We get the text metrics.
cairo_move_to(cr, x - extents.width/2, y);
We use the text metrics to center the text on the window.
cairo_text_path(cr, "ZetCode");
cairo_clip(cr);
We get the path of the text and set the current clip region to it.
cairo_stroke(cr);
cairo_paint_with_alpha(cr, alpha);
We paint the current path with and take alpha value into account.
Figure: Puff
This chapter covered text in Cairo.