Help with DrawText API with Colors

[brandoncampbell]

is it possible to drawtext changing each letter with a different color?
I know the api is

Private Declare Function DrawText Lib "user32" Alias "DrawTextA" (ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal lpStr As String, ByVal nCount As Long, lpRect As RECT, ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long

and this will change the color..
Private Declare Function SetTextColor Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal crColor As Long) As Long

but i cant seem to figure out how to alternate the color

[Edgemeal]

Didn't give this much thought so FWIW just something I whipped up,

Option Explicit
Private Type RECT
    Left As Long
    Top As Long
    Right As Long
    Bottom As Long
End Type
Private Declare Function SetTextColor Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal crColor As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function DrawText Lib "user32" Alias "DrawTextA" (ByVal hDC As Long, ByVal lpStr As String, ByVal nCount As Long, lpRect As RECT, ByVal wFormat As Long) As Long
Private Const DT_SINGLELINE = &H20
Private Const DT_CALCRECT = &H400

Private Sub TextDraw(ByVal PicBox As PictureBox, ByVal Txt As String, Optional ByVal LineNumber = 0)
    
    Dim rct As RECT
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim TxtHeight As Long, LeftPos As Long
    
    ' get height of text (for top position to draw/line number)
    TxtHeight = DrawText(PicBox.hDC, Txt, Len(Txt), rct, DT_CALCRECT)
    ' draw one character at a time
    For i = 1 To Len(Txt)
        ' set random color
        SetTextColor PicBox.hDC, RandomColor 'PicBox.ForeColor = RandomColor
        ' set position to draw
        With rct
            .Left = LeftPos
            .Right = PicBox.ScaleWidth
            .Top = LineNumber * TxtHeight
            .Bottom = PicBox.ScaleHeight
        End With
        ' draw the char.
        DrawText PicBox.hDC, Mid$(Txt, i, 1), 1, rct, DT_SINGLELINE
        ' add up char widths / left position for next char. to draw
        LeftPos = LeftPos + PicBox.TextWidth(Mid$(Txt, i, 1))
    Next i
    ' update
    PicBox.Refresh
End Sub

Private Function RandomColor() As Long
    RandomColor = RGB(Int(Rnd() * 256), Int(Rnd() * 256), Int(Rnd() * 256))
End Function

Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Picture1.Cls
    TextDraw Picture1, "Hello World!", 0   ' first line (top)
    TextDraw Picture1, "GoodBye World!", 1 ' second line
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Picture1.ScaleMode = vbPixels
    Picture1.AutoRedraw = True
End Sub

[brandoncampbell]

nice! thanks for the reply with an example. That should get me started.
reason for doing this is because i would like to know how to format a label. I have gotten started on the control but was having issues with coloring the text. I just couldnt get the process into my thick skull. I knew it needed a loop.. but i couldn't figure out the text position.

To make sure I understand it right, essentially..
txtw = text width
neww = new width .
you are receiving the txtheight from the const. DT_CALCRECT?

[Edgemeal]

To make sure I understand it right, essentially..
txtw = text width
neww = new width .
you are receiving the txtheight from the const. DT_CALCRECT?

Yes, and the textheight part isn't really needed unless you want to draw the text to a specific line or draw more then one line of text.

NewW is the next left starting position to draw, I should of named it LeftPos or something, TxtW is the width of the next character to draw.

EDIT: Code updated

[LaVolpe]

...
reason for doing this is because i would like to know how to format a label.

FYI: When mentioning labels, if you meant VB's label control, VB labels cannot contain different color text, nor different font/sized text.

[brandoncampbell]

LaVolpe, I realize that which is why I wanted to create my own label control. So that it can handle some type of formatting.

just found this... and this would be nice to implement myself if I can.. http://www.teebo.com/html-label.htm