Efficiently display text on image in WPF?

Question

How to display text on an image, so it should always visible (because the image colors are mixed and unpredictable)?

I thought about two options:

Making the text border in white while the text itself will be black
Having the text displayed negatively to the picture

The 1st option would be preferred since it looks more solid.

Embedding the text is simple:

<Grid>
  <Image Source="{Binding ImageLink}" Width="110" />
  <TextBlock Text="{Binding Description}" 
    HorizontalAlignment="Center" 
    VerticalAlignment="Center" />
</Grid>

Update on answer:

Sounds like a great idea except it doesn't work.

I tried your code, and here are the results:

enter image description here

The left image is when I set the Color property to White and ShadowDepth to 10.

Shimmy Weitzhandler · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-29 22:09:45Z

7

I did this and it helps:

<Style x:Key="AnnotationStyle" TargetType="TextBlock">
  <Setter Property="Background" Value="#70FFFFFF" />
  <Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="Bold" />
  <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" Value="Center"/>
  <Setter Property="VerticalAlignment" Value="Center"/>
  <Setter Property="TextAlignment" Value="Center"/>
  <Setter Property="TextWrapping" Value="Wrap"/>
  <Style.Triggers>
    <Trigger Property="IsMouseOver" Value="True">
      <Setter Property="Background" Value="#CCFFFFFF" />
    </Trigger>
  </Style.Triggers>
</Style>

....

<TextBlock ... Style="{StaticResource AnnotationStyle}"/>

Here is what it looks like:
enter image description here

answered Oct 29, 2011 at 22:09

Shimmy Weitzhandler

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Comments

Eriawan Kusumawardhono · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-26 02:13:02Z

3

The best way to make the text more highlighted or contrasted is by using any effect, particularly the shader effects. Microsoft is also make bitmap effect obsoleted since .NET 3.5 SP1, therefore your best bet is using any shader effect or create your own.

For example (from Karl Shifflett), you can use DropShadowEffect to "outline" your text but set the ShadowDepth to 0:

<Grid>
     <Image Source="{Binding ImageLink}" Width="110" />   
     <TextBlock Text="{Binding Description}" 
         HorizontalAlignment="Center" 
         VerticalAlignment="Center">
         <TextBlock.Effect>
             <DropShadowEffect ShadowDepth="0" Color="Blue" BlurRadius="10" />
         </TextBlock.Effect>
     </TextBlock> 
</Grid>

For more sample, you can google WPF effects.

UPDATE: You can also turn off antialiasing on text by using attached property of TextOptions.TextRenderingMode and set it to "Aliased", or you can also use TextOptions.TextFormattingMode and set to "Display".

Try and compare this and see if it will fit your needs:

<StackPanel>
    <TextBlock>
        Hello World ...  Ideal text formatting
    </TextBlock>
    <TextBlock TextOptions.TextFormattingMode="Display">
        Hello World ... Display text formatting
    </TextBlock>
</StackPanel>

Hope this helps.

edited Oct 26, 2011 at 2:13

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 11:37

Eriawan Kusumawardhono

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1 Comment

Shimmy Weitzhandler Over a year ago

Comment after update, nope, still unrecognizable on black backgrounds (I tried setting the shadow color to white, but it didn't help). I decided to take a different approach, that should probably cost even less performance, see my answer.

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