How to find string's width in C# (in pixels)

Question

I'm trying to achieve framed texts (using Windows Forms), e.g.:

Height is always the same, because my strings are less than 20 chars. What about width? Is there any way to get it automatically?

Answer 1

Use Graphics.MeasureString()

From MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6xe5hazb.aspx

private void MeasureStringMin(PaintEventArgs e)
{
    // Set up string. 
    string measureString = "Measure String";
    Font stringFont = new Font("Arial", 16);

    // Measure string.
    SizeF stringSize = new SizeF();
    stringSize = e.Graphics.MeasureString(measureString, stringFont);

    // Draw rectangle representing size of string.
    e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Red, 1), 0.0F, 0.0F, stringSize.Width, stringSize.Height);

    // Draw string to screen.
    e.Graphics.DrawString(measureString, stringFont, Brushes.Black, new PointF(0, 0));
}

Answer 2

If you don't feel like dealing with the Paint eventhandler, you could try the TextRenderer class. It has a static method that is identical to the MeasureString() method in the above answer. In this class it is called MeasureText however.