Text output is the most common type of graphic output found within the client area of Windows-based applications. It is used by Windows-based applications in different ways. Word processing and desktop publishing applications create documents with formatted text; spreadsheet applications use text, numbers, and symbols to specify formulas, label columns, and list values; database applications create records and display queries with text, and CAD applications use text to label objects and display dimensions.
The Win32® application programming interface (API) provides a complete set of functions to format and draw text in an application's client area and on a page of printer paper. These functions can be divided into two categories: those that format the text (or prepare it for output) and those that actually draw the text. The formatting functions align text, set the intercharacter spacing, set the text and text-background colors, and justify text. The drawing functions draw individual characters (or symbols) or entire strings of text.