I'm using QPrinter to fill forms with text and print them on the printer.
For tests I generate pdf files to avoid paper and ink waste. I figured out that font spacings are different for PDF's and factical prints
Minimal example:
#include <QApplication>
#include <QPrinter>
#include <QPrinterInfo>
#include <QPainter>
#include <QFontDatabase>
void printForm(bool pdf);
QString g_fontFamily = "";
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
int id = QFontDatabase::addApplicationFont(":/IBMPlexMono-Medium.ttf");
g_fontFamily = QFontDatabase::applicationFontFamilies(id).at(0);
printForm(true); //pdf
printForm(false); //physical printer
return a.exec();
}
void printForm(bool pdf)
{
//setup printer
QPrinter *printer;
if(pdf)
{
printer = new QPrinter(QPrinter::ScreenResolution);
printer->setOutputFormat(QPrinter::PdfFormat);
printer->setOutputFileName("./regular.pdf");
}
else
{
printer = new QPrinter(QPrinterInfo::defaultPrinter(), QPrinter::ScreenResolution);
printer->setOutputFormat(QPrinter::NativeFormat);
}
printer->setOrientation(QPrinter::Orientation::Landscape);
QPageSize customSize(QSizeF(105.0, 157.76), QPageSize::Millimeter, "", QPageSize::ExactMatch);
printer->setPageSize(customSize);
//draw background
QImage img(":/regular_transfer_form");
QPainter painter(printer);
painter.drawImage(QRect(0,0, printer->width(), printer->height()), img, QRect(0,0, img.width(), img.height()));
//draw text
painter.setPen(Qt::black);
QFont font(g_fontFamily, 11);
font.setStyleHint(QFont::TypeWriter);
font.setLetterSpacing(QFont::PercentageSpacing, 212);
painter.setFont(font);
QTextOption textOption(Qt::AlignVCenter | Qt::AlignLeft);
textOption.setWrapMode(QTextOption::NoWrap);
QString text = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit";
QRectF relativeArea(0.05838, 0.0783, 0.8971, 0.04583); //coords relative to background
QRectF areaOnPaper(relativeArea.x() * printer->width(),
relativeArea.y() * printer->height(),
relativeArea.width() * printer->width(),
relativeArea.height() * printer->height()
);
painter.drawText(areaOnPaper, text, textOption); //draw 1-st line wit percentage Spacing
//set spacing to absolute
font.setLetterSpacing(QFont::AbsoluteSpacing, 10);
painter.setFont(font);
areaOnPaper.setRect(areaOnPaper.x(), areaOnPaper.y() + 28, areaOnPaper.width(), areaOnPaper.height());
painter.drawText(areaOnPaper, text, textOption); //draw 2-nd line wit absolute Spacing
}
And the results:
As you can see - on paper the letters are not in boxes, but the code is identical for both.
I tried with QFont::PercentageSpacing (1-st line) and QFont::AbsoluteSpacing (2nd line) due to Note in QPrinter documentation. No success.
Am I doing something wrong or there is a bug in Qt?
Is there any way to achieve the same result for both cases?
Full example on github with background image and font

