A text style is an object that defines the font, size, typeface, orientation, direction, letter side, scale factor, and oblique angle of characters for text objects that are assigned the text style. These parameters influence the representation of text objects that are associated with the text style. For example:
A text style can be applied both to geometric and non-geometric objects:
- Geometric objects (OdDbText, OdDbMText, OdDbShape, OdDbMLeader, OdDbArcAlignedText) use a text style to define how to render its characters. When a new text entity is created, it is associated with a text style.
- Non-geometric objects (OdDbMLeaderStyle, OdDbLinetypeTableRecord, OdDbDimStyleTableRecord) use a text style to define the style of text boxes and text that is accessed in those objects.
To refer to a text style, objects use the Object ID which isstored with their own data. The database associates an ID with each text style and also requires each text style to have a unique name.
Using text styles allows for the same text parameters to be applied to many objects in a drawing, which reduces the amount of data required to store text objects. Using text styles represents a single interface for modifying the text properties of various objects.