resize frame to fit text

[Spawnova]

My frame has a lot of text that changes and often it will extend beyond the frame, how would I go about setting the frame width correctly fit the text when it changes?

[Nibelheim]

Originally Posted by Spawnova My frame has a lot of text that changes and often it will extend beyond the frame, how would I go about setting the frame width correctly fit the text when it changes?

When you set the FontString's text, use :GetStringWidth() on your FontString, this will tell you how wide the string is and you can set the width of your Frame accordingly.

[Spawnova]

Perfect, thanks!

[semlar]

You could just set the frame's points relative to the font string's like frame:SetPoint('TOPRIGHT', fontstring, 4, 4) and that will automatically size the frame based on the fontstring.

[Phanx]

That won't work if the font string won't work if the font string is anchored to the frame -- you'll get an error about circular references.

[SDPhantom]

The way to make it work by anchoring is to create the frame first, then the fontstring, both with anchors not set yet. Instead of the conventional anchor fontstring to frame and frame to parent, you do the reverse. Anchor the frame to the fontstring and the fontstring to the frame's parent.

local Frame=CreateFrame("Frame",nil,UIParent);
local Text=Frame:CreateFontString(nil,"OVERLAY","GameFontNormal");
 
Frame:SetAllPoints(Text);-- Set points for frame
Text:SetPoint("CENTER",UIParent,"CENTER",0,0);--    Move text to location

[humfras]

For me, hooking the fontstring's SetText function would be the easiest way because you wouldn't need to change anchors.

e.g.
hooksecurefunc(fontstring, "SetText", function(self) self:GetParent():SetWidth(self:GetWidth()) end)

[Seerah]

Using the anchors is cheaper than hooking and using a function (that calls 3 other functions), though. The anchors are the more "elegant" method.

[humfras]

Originally Posted by Seerah Using the anchors is cheaper than hooking and using a function (that calls 3 other functions), though. The anchors are the more "elegant" method.

The question is: How often will the text change? How's the frames' structure?
We don't know nothing about^^

[Lombra]

Does anchoring really work? The font string object is never automatically resized to fit the text, is it? I'd go with the GetStringWidth approach.

[semlar]

Yes, anchoring really works. It's how I normally handle this.