SpriteFont

Advanced Programmer

The SpriteFont class is a convenient way to draw text. It works with the SpriteBatch class.

Note

You need to put all custom code in a Custom scene renderer to include it in the composition.

Load a spriteFont

After a font asset is compiled it can be loaded as a SpriteFont instance using the ContentManager. It contains all the options to display a text (bitmaps, kerning, line spacing etc).

Code: Load a SpriteFont as Asset

var myFont = Content.Load<SpriteFont>("MyFont");

Code: Load a system Font

SpriteFont myFont;
protected override void InitializeCore()
{
    base.InitializeCore();
    //register system font in FontSystem as Arial
    if(myFont is null) myFont = InitializeFont();    
}

private SpriteFont InitializeFont()
{
    var _fontSystem = Services.GetService<FontSystem>();
    _fontSystem?.RuntimeFonts.RegisterFont("Arial", Path.Combine(
        Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Fonts), "arial.ttf"));
    return _fontSystem?.LoadRuntimeFont("Arial", defaultSize: 12f);
}

Write text on screen

Once the font is loaded, you can display any text with a SpriteBatch. The DrawString method performs the draw. For more information about the SpriteBatch, see the SpriteBatch page.

Code: Write text

// create the SpriteBatch
var spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);

// don't forget the begin
spriteBatch.Begin(GraphicsContext);
 
// draw the text "Helloworld!" in red from the center of the screen
spriteBatch.DrawString(myFont, "Helloworld!", new Vector2(0.5, 0.5), Color.Red);
 
// don't forget the end
spriteBatch.End();

The various overloads let you specify the text's orientation, scale, depth, origin, etc. You can also apply some SpriteEffects to the text:

• None
• FlipHorizontally
• FlipVertically
• FlipBoth

Code: Advanced text drawing

// draw the text "Hello world!" upside-down in red from the center of the screen
spriteBatch.DrawString(myFont, "Hello world!", new Vector2(0.5, 0.5), Color.Red, 0, new Vector2(0, 0), new Vector2(1,1), SpriteEffects.FlipVertically, 0);

See also

• SpriteBatch