PHP Text to Image

Change the settings and the click Create

Text		The text to display
Rotation		0=normal 90=sideways
Font Size		Points
Font
Padding		Space around the image
Transparent
Fore Colour	R G B	(0-255)
Back Colour	R G B	(0-255)
(pop-up window)

Description

This script is a means to convert a string of text into an image. This has some simple uses such as displaying text such as email address that cannot be programmatically found. This can help to reduce the possibility of your email address being picked up by web crawlers and used for junk mail.

How To Use

To use the example interface above, simply modify or insert the string of text. You can edit any of the other settings, but this is optional.

Further Uses and Ideas:

How it Works:

The PHP Script

<? /* text to image converter daftlogic www.daftlogic.com */ Header("Content-type: image/png"); class textPNG { var $font = 'fonts/TIMES.TTF'; //default font. directory relative to script directory. var $msg = "no text"; // default text to display. var $size = 24; // default font size. var $rot = 0; // rotation in degrees. var $pad = 0; // padding. var $transparent = 1; // transparency set to on. var $red = 0; // black text... var $grn = 0; var $blu = 0; var $bg_red = 255; // on white background. var $bg_grn = 255; var $bg_blu = 255; function draw() { $width = 0; $height = 0; $offset_x = 0; $offset_y = 0; $bounds = array(); $image = ""; // get the font height. $bounds = ImageTTFBBox($this->size, $this->rot, $this->font, "W"); if ($this->rot < 0) { $font_height = abs($bounds[7]-$bounds[1]); } else if ($this->rot > 0) { $font_height = abs($bounds[1]-$bounds[7]); } else { $font_height = abs($bounds[7]-$bounds[1]); } // determine bounding box. $bounds = ImageTTFBBox($this->size, $this->rot, $this->font, $this->msg); if ($this->rot < 0) { $width = abs($bounds[4]-$bounds[0]); $height = abs($bounds[3]-$bounds[7]); $offset_y = $font_height; $offset_x = 0; } else if ($this->rot > 0) { $width = abs($bounds[2]-$bounds[6]); $height = abs($bounds[1]-$bounds[5]); $offset_y = abs($bounds[7]-$bounds[5])+$font_height; $offset_x = abs($bounds[0]-$bounds[6]); } else { $width = abs($bounds[4]-$bounds[6]); $height = abs($bounds[7]-$bounds[1]); $offset_y = $font_height;; $offset_x = 0; } $image = imagecreate($width+($this->pad*2)+1,$height+($this->pad*2)+1); $background = ImageColorAllocate($image, $this->bg_red, $this->bg_grn, $this->bg_blu); $foreground = ImageColorAllocate($image, $this->red, $this->grn, $this->blu); if ($this->transparent) ImageColorTransparent($image, $background); ImageInterlace($image, false); // render the image ImageTTFText($image, $this->size, $this->rot, $offset_x+$this->pad, $offset_y+$this->pad, $foreground, $this->font, $this->msg); // output PNG object. imagePNG($image); } } $text = new textPNG; if (isset($msg)) $text->msg = $msg; // text to display if (isset($font)) $text->font = $font; // font to use (include directory if needed). if (isset($size)) $text->size = $size; // size in points if (isset($rot)) $text->rot = $rot; // rotation if (isset($pad)) $text->pad = $pad; // padding in pixels around text. if (isset($red)) $text->red = $red; // text color if (isset($grn)) $text->grn = $grn; // .. if (isset($blu)) $text->blu = $blu; // .. if (isset($bg_red)) $text->bg_red = $bg_red; // background color. if (isset($bg_grn)) $text->bg_grn = $bg_grn; // .. if (isset($bg_blu)) $text->bg_blu = $bg_blu; // .. if (isset($tr)) $text->transparent = $tr; // transparency flag (boolean). $text->draw(); // GO!!!!! ?>

Further Help

For anyone finding problems using this...

(1) Please test this example to ensure imagecreate works on your server...

<?php
header("Content-type: image/png");
$im = @imagecreate(110, 20)
or die("Cannot Initialize new GD image stream");
$background_color = imagecolorallocate($im, 0, 0, 0);
$text_color = imagecolorallocate($im, 233, 14, 91);
imagestring($im, 1, 5, 5, "A Simple Text String", $text_color);
imagepng($im);
imagedestroy($im);
?>

(2) Make sure to use the example at the top of this page by sending POST variables from your form. For example msg,font,size ...

Relevant Links

PHP Manual - http://uk2.php.net/imagepng
http://uk3.php.net/imagecreate

Previous Comments For This Page

this class has one error with cordinates when i only insert character "a" 
 By chaunh on 28/07/2010

To make it work without the form, you need to change the 'isset lines' to this form:

if (isset($_GET['msg'])) $text->msg = $_GET['msg']; // text to display 
 On 23/07/2010

What about UTF-8 support? 
 By Canser on 19/07/2010

hindi fonts eg mangal.ttf matra gets shifted... 
 By Devendra singh on 12/07/2010

Useless 
 By Bekaar Hai on 02/07/2010

The displayed PNG is quite ugly, and this script needs to be changed to display aliased fonts, to clean up the jagged edges. 
 On 01/06/2010

it is working in localhost but not in server 
 By subhas on 23/09/2009

this doesn't work.  all i changed in the script was "default font. directory relative to script directory." to my fonts path directory and added the PHP  to the front/end of the script and it doesn't work.  when i run the script i keep getting the default text converted to image "no text".  if i type new text in the form fields or change any of the values none of that is changed in the image.  its always the "no text" image that comes up. 
 On 05/06/2009

you need to enforce a maximum font size (input value) with php to prevent abuse. 
 On 28/01/2009

Does not seem to work with non-latin text. 
 By Tael_ on 17/12/2008

Add your own comment below and let others know what you think:

Logic, but in a different way

Daft Logic