Printed Rotated StringShape Bug

I’m trying to print a rotated string shape, and the results are baffling. I have code that takes a bit of text and prints it multiple times in 45 degree increments. All have the same starting x, y location and yet each instance prints from its own mysterious center, only the one not rotated uses the correct origin. Even more mysterious is that Mac and Windows print differently. I am not using HiDPI. This same code works fine in a picture, it’s only a problem on printed output.

This is on Xojo 2018 R2, a similar problem happens with Xojo 2016r3.

I found a Feedback report about this (#49634), it is verified but not important enough for Xojo to fix, it’s currently ranked 23rd.

I’m trying to upgrade an existing app to 64 bit and my usual solution (DrawRotatedTextMBS) has serious problems printing on Windows - it draws everything in a sort of boldface and the wrong size, and it can only print within the area the user sets their margins at. (In Xojo 2016R3, it draws fine and can print anywhere on the page).

So I’m looking to use StringShape, but so far it’s unusable. I don’t want to print to a picture and then rotate the picture because that produces PDFs that are huge when you’re printing thousands of words on each page of a 20-30 page document.

Is there a way I can pay Xojo a few thousand dollars to get this fixed ASAP? Or are there other solutions I’m not aware of?

Thank you!

Thanks for adding your info to this Feedback… so at least Xojo now knows officially that this issue affects not just one or two customers of theirs… that may help to get recognized as “oh, it seems it’s a bit more important than we’ve thought”.

That’s the workaround we’re having to use for now… we draw images for the parts that have rotated text. The downside of this you’ve explained very well.

Well… if you want to spend money - you can certainly contact Xojo and ask for some kind of dedicated engineering… :slight_smile:

Not that I’m aware of… other than the one already mentioned: draw the text “horizontally” to a Picture, and then rotate the Picture.