8.7. Writing a Custom Text Container

One of the most common ways of customizing the text system is to add new text containers. These allow all of the normal text system components to be used to lay out text in non-rectangular spaces.

In this example, we will write a simple text container that lays out text in a wheel shape, a circle with a circular hole in the middle. This provides an example of clipping both the outside and the inside of a text region and so can be generalized to any desired shape. The final result can be seen in Figure 8.9.