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Quickstart: Sample App Tour

The sample app is the fastest way to understand what the library is good at.

Sample menu

  • Overview: high-level intro page
  • Accordion: variable-height sections driven by line counts
  • Bubbles: shrinkwrapped chat bubbles
  • Masonry: card sizing in a masonry layout
  • Rich Text: mixed formatting and inline composition
  • Dynamic Layout: layout reacting to width changes
  • Editorial Engine: page-like placement with constraints
  • Justification Comparison: greedy vs more advanced line fitting
  • Variable ASCII: width-sensitive text using variable glyphs

What to look for

Use the samples as an API map:

Sample Main idea APIs to inspect
Accordion Repeated line counts during responsive layout Prepare, Layout
Bubbles Tight wrap width and chat bubble sizing PrepareWithSegments, PreparedTextMetrics
Masonry Card height estimation without materializing lines Prepare, Layout
Rich Text Streaming text into an inline composition pipeline LayoutNextLine
Dynamic Layout Reusing prepared text while width changes PrepareWithSegments, WalkLineRanges, LayoutNextLine
Editorial Engine Flowing text around obstacles and into columns LayoutNextLine, ColumnFlowLayout, ObstacleLayoutHelper
Justification Comparison Comparing line-fitting strategies on the same prepared data PrepareWithSegments, WalkLineRanges, LayoutNextLine

How to use it

Start in samples/PretextSamples/MainPage.xaml.cs and then inspect the individual sample views in samples/PretextSamples/Samples. Those files show how the layout APIs are used in real panels and drawing code rather than in isolated snippets.