Text Alignment Across Multiple Viewers

[geersjake]

Hello,

I am experiencing an issue with text alignment. When I generate a simple DXF and open it in DWG TrueView and SpinFire it looks how I anticipate with the text aligned TextAlignment.MiddleCenter - image marked 1. However, when I open the same file in eDrawings the text alignment is off - image marked 2. My best guess is when opened in eDrawing the Alignment property is not respected. Is there anything I can do about this?

// create a new document
DxfDocument doc = new DxfDocument();
doc.DrawingVariables.AcadVer = DxfVersion.AutoCad2018;
doc.DrawingVariables.InsUnits = DrawingUnits.Inches;

// position vector for text and circle
Vector3 pos = new Vector3(10, 3, 0);

// add text
Layer dataTextLayer = new Layer("textLayer");
dataTextLayer.Color.Index = 8;
TextStyle style = new TextStyle("Arial", FontStyle.Regular);
Text dataText = new Text("H", pos, 1.5)
{
    Layer = dataTextLayer,
    Rotation = 00.00,
    Alignment = TextAlignment.MiddleCenter,
    Style = style,
    Color = AciColor.ByLayer,
    Lineweight = Lineweight.W200,
    WidthFactor = 1,
};
doc.AddEntity(dataText);


// add circle
Circle c = new Circle
{
    Center = pos,
    Radius = .2,
    Layer = new Layer("circleLayer")
};
doc.AddEntity(c);


// add polyline border
double corrnerBuldge = -0.4;
double sideLengthX = 20;
double sideLengthY = 6.00;
double cornerRadius = 0.38;
List<LwPolylineVertex> vertexes = new List<LwPolylineVertex>()
{
    // bottom left
    new LwPolylineVertex(0 + cornerRadius, 0, corrnerBuldge),
    new LwPolylineVertex(0, 0 + cornerRadius),

    // top left
    new LwPolylineVertex(0, sideLengthY - cornerRadius, corrnerBuldge),
    new LwPolylineVertex(0 + cornerRadius, sideLengthY),

    // top right
    new LwPolylineVertex(sideLengthX - cornerRadius, sideLengthY, corrnerBuldge),
    new LwPolylineVertex(sideLengthX, sideLengthY - cornerRadius),

    // bottom right
    new LwPolylineVertex(sideLengthX, 0 + cornerRadius, corrnerBuldge),
    new LwPolylineVertex(sideLengthX - cornerRadius, 0),
};
LwPolyline poly = new LwPolyline(vertexes, true)
{
    Layer = new Layer("polyline"),
};
doc.AddEntity(poly);

// save to file
doc.Save(path + ".dxf");

[geersjake]

The issue also appears in AutoCad. It looks like both AutoCad and eDrawings cannot find the specified TextAlignment so they default to TextAlignment.BaselineLeft. This is odd to me since, at first glance, AutoCad appears to support alignments.

[haplokuon]

Not all programs have the same capabilities and may not read all the information stored in the DXF correctly. I do not see any problems loading your example with AutoCad, it shows the text in the correct place. If it works for DWG TrueView it should work for AutoCad and all its acolytes, an educated guess is that all of them share the same base code they are Autodesk products after all.

My first suggestion is to use a MText entity instead of a Text. It is the default entity when writing texts in AutoCad, and I found that other programs behaves better with it. Just keep in mind that the equivalent to the Alignment property of the Text is called AttachmentPoint in the MText.

The other solution is the hard one, leave the text alignment to the default and set the text position so that its center lies in the desired position.

[geersjake]

Thanks for the response. I was mislead about it not working in AutoCad (I don't actually have it myself) so it seems to only be eDrawings.

MText is definitely the way to go though as it has no problems in AutoCad or eDrawings.