Using Text Attributes to Style Text

Applications typically need the capability to apply the following text attributes:

• Underline – A line that is drawn underneath text
• Strikethrough – A horizontal line that is drawn through the text
• Superscript or Subscript – A text or a letter that appears slightly above a line or correspondingly below a line
• Kerning – The adjustment of the space between characters

These and other text attributes can be applied by using the Java 2D TextAttribute class.

To apply these text attributes by add them to a Font object. For example:

Map<TextAttribute, Object> map =
    new Hashtable<TextAttribute, Object>();
map.put(TextAttribute.KERNING,
    TextAttribute.KERNING_ON);
font = font.deriveFont(map);
graphics.setFont(font);

The code example represented below shows the application of text attributes in the following order:

1. Sample string (no text attributes applied)
2. Kerning
3. Kerning and Underlining
4. Kerning,Underlining and Strikethrough
5. Kerning,Underlining, Strikethrough and Color

The complete code for this applet is in AttributedText.java.