Text output is the most common type of graphic output found within the client area of Win32-based applications. It is used by Win32-based applications in different ways. Word processing and desktop publishing applications create documents with formatted text; spreadsheet applications use text, numbers, and symbols to specify formulas, label columns, and list values; database applications create records and display queries with text, and CAD applications use text to label objects and display dimensions.
The Win32 API provides a complete set of functions to format and draw text in an application's client area and on a page of printer paper. These functions can be divided into two categories: those that format the text (or prepare it for output) and those that actually draw the text. The formatting functions align text, set the intercharacter spacing, set the text and text-background colors, and justify text. The drawing functions draw individual characters (or symbols) or entire strings of text.
The following topics discuss Win32 text: