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Shrinkwrap and Editorial Layout

Two recurring patterns in the sample hosts are worth copying into your own code.

Shrinkwrap

Use WalkLineRanges or LayoutWithLines to find the exact width of the longest line, then size the host element to that width instead of relying on default control measurement.

This pattern is useful for:

  • chips
  • chat bubbles
  • badges
  • masonry cards

Typical flow:

  1. PrepareWithSegments once
  2. walk lines at a candidate width
  3. compute MaxLineWidth
  4. add padding and chrome around that width

Editorial and constrained layouts

Use LayoutNextLine when content must flow around obstacles or into fixed slots. Because the API returns one line at a time, you can decide where to place the next line, how much width remains, and whether a region should continue into a second column or frame.

Typical flow:

  1. prepare the paragraph once
  2. compute the next available slot for the current y-band
  3. call LayoutNextLine(prepared, cursor, slotWidth)
  4. place the line and advance the cursor
  5. continue into the next slot, band, or column

Why these patterns matter

Both patterns depend on the same property of Pretext: width-dependent layout is cheap after preparation, so you can build higher-level algorithms without reparsing the paragraph.

In Pretext.Layout, these helpers support the same patterns:

  • PreparedTextMetrics
  • ColumnFlowLayout
  • ObstacleLayoutHelper