[PHP] Dynamic Images

[_Dom_]

ok im creating a script which gets the users login name and makes it an image with a font which works... so anyway heres my code

$text = $_SESSION['username'];

$width = 23 * strlen($text);

$im = @imagecreate ($width,30)or die("Cannot Initialize new GD image stream");

$background_color = imagecolorallocate($im, 150, 174, 101);

$text_color = imagecolorallocate($im, 225,225, 225);

$black = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 0);

imagettftext($im, 20, 0, 0, 20, $black, "arial.ttf", $text);

imagepng($im);

imagedestroy($im);

the only problem is that the length of the text is really off sometimes...

is there anyway i can sort this out?

[KeyStorm]

Sure, you can check the coordinates of the edges of the box created by the text using the function imagettfbox(size, angle, font, string). It returns an array with the values (x_bottomleft, y_bottomleft, x_bottomright, y_bottomright, x_topright, y_topright, x_topleft, y_topleft). With it you can calculate any sizes, and break the line wher you need it.

[ZiUL]

maybe you should count how many chars your string have and compare with a maximum limit... if it's bigger then you use a smaller font size

[_Dom_]

the real problem im having is

if the image is like this with Dom

| Dom |

with dominic

| dominic |

and the longer the word gets the bigger the space...

i see your point about the array but i didnt understand how to get the work out the height and length

[KeyStorm]

Well, it's not difficult: the height is y_topleft - y_bottomleft and the width is x_topright - x_topleft (this if you use no inclination).

[_Dom_]

but how do i get the variables from the function?

[KeyStorm]

$coords = imagettfbox(20, $black, "arial.ttf", $text);
$height = $coords[1] - $coords[7];
$width = $coords[0] - $coords[3];

I was wrong with the substractions, it's the other way around, since the axis of coordinates is in the top left edge of the image.

Well, hope it helped you out.

[_Dom_]

will try that in a moment :) thanks a lot :D

[_Dom_]

<?php
header("Content-type: image/png");
$text = $_SESSION['username'];
$coords = imagettfbox(20, $black, "arial.ttf", $text);
$height = $coords[1] - $coords[7];
$width = $coords[0] - $coords[3];
$im = @imagecreate ($height,$width)or die("Cannot Initialize new GD image stream");
$background_color = imagecolorallocate($im, 150, 174, 101);
$text_color = imagecolorallocate($im, 225,225, 225);
$black = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 0);
imagettftext($im, 20, 0, 0, 20, $black, "arial.ttf", $text);
imagepng($im);
imagedestroy($im);
?> 

have tryed many combinations but still get

The image ?http://www****.com/username.php? cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

thanks for all the help guys any ideas?

[KeyStorm]

I'm not sure what could cause that error, but putting the text to the coordinates 0,0 won't show your text properly. those coordinates are the left side of the box and like two third parts of the height from the top side, roughly where the asterisk is in the next example (think of your text being a zoomed in box, first):

+-------------

|

|

|

|

|*

|

+-------------

Take the header away from the first line and put it directly over imagepng($im);, so the die-message, if it appears, has any sense. It won't show when the expected content is an image. Maybe that's what causes the failure.