simple way to draw TrueType Fonts in OpenGL

#include <windows.h>;
#include <gl.h>;
#include <glu.h>;
#define LISTBASE    10000

GLYPHMETRICSFLOAT fontlist[256];
HFONT Font;

BOOL glMakeFont(HDC ghDC, PCHAR FontName, LONG FontWeight, BOOL FontItalic)
{
    Font=CreateFont(
        1,          // Height (does'nt matter here ...)
        0,          // Width
        0,          // Angle
        0,          // baseline escapement
        FontWeight,     // Weight
        FontItalic,     // italic?
        FALSE,          // underline?
        FALSE,          // strikeout?
        DEFAULT_CHARSET,    // character set
        OUT_DEFAULT_PRECIS,     // output precision
        CLIP_DEFAULT_PRECIS,    // clipping precision
        DEFAULT_QUALITY,    // default output quality
        DEFAULT_PITCH |     // fontpitch
        FF_DONTCARE,        // font family
        FontName            // font name
    );

    // select the just created font into current device context
    SelectObject(ghDC, Font);

    return wglUseFontOutlines(
        ghDC,           // the DC
        0,              // first letter
        255,            // last letter
        LISTBASE,       // start of ListBase
        0.0f,           // deviation from original outlines
        0.0f,           // `depth` of the letters
        WGL_FONT_POLYGONS,  // make Polygons
        fontlist        // where to write all the data
    );
}

// print (nearly) aligned to center
void glPrint(PCHAR text)
{
    // take the width of letter n since it seems to be a good avarage
    glTranslatef(-fontlist[110].gmfCellIncX*strlen(text)*0.5f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
    glCallLists(strlen(text), GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, text);
}

So after creating the fontlist (the WM_CREATE event of your OpenGL window seems to be a good choice) with bold italic “Arial”

glListBase(LISTBASE);
if ( !glMakeFont(ghDC, "Arial", FW_BOLD, TRUE) )
{
    // your error message
}

you are able to draw a text at the current position in your OpenGL window with

glPrint("This is a test");

and you can now make all the funny stuff with this text like rotating or moving … Watch it in action with the Bärenzwinger screen saver.