How do I change the text lineheight?

Khosrou · August 2018

Hi guys,

I'm trying to change the lineheight of a label but I couldn't figure it out. Can somebody help me out?

JohnHardman · August 2018

@Khosrou said:
Im trying to change the lineheight of a label but I cou;dn't figure it out. Can somebody help me out?

Do you want to make the text bigger or just have more empty space? If you want bigger text, change the FontSize property of the Label. If you want more empty space see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/xamarin-forms/user-interface/layouts/margin-and-padding

@Khosrou said:
Hi guys,

Call me politically correct if you like, but please remember that not everybody in these forums is male. The way you start your post can easily alienate a number of people who would otherwise answer questions.

AlessandroCaliaro · August 2018

I think it is present in XF 3.2

https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/issues/1734

nefgrixis · September 2018

It actually doesn't work. I tried it today.

EsamSherif · October 2018

Label's "LineHeight" works on iOS and UWP but not android

BradNotBread · October 2018

@EsamSherif said:
Label's "LineHeight" works on iOS and UWP but not android

EsamSherif is correct in that Label's LineHeight does not seem to currently work on Android. Today I found a work around utilising Span to the same effect without requiring any kind of native code.

        <!-- This doesn't work on Android but works on all other platforms. -->
        <Label Text="Text goes here!"
               LineHeight="1.2" />

        <!-- This works on all platforms with no need for any native implementation. -->
        <Label LineBreakMode="WordWrap">
            <Label.FormattedText>
                <FormattedString>
                    <Span Text="Text goes here!"
                          LineHeight="1.2" />
                </FormattedString>
            </Label.FormattedText>
        </Label>

This works for me! Let me know if it works for you.

Khosrou · October 2018

Im sure that works, but Im running XF 2.5 guys

BradNotBread · October 2018

@Khosrou said:
Im sure that works, but Im running XF 2.5 guys

The LineHeight property is only supported in 3.2.

You would need to implement it natively in older versions but sadly I can't help with that sorry!

JohannesH · December 2018

How can i find the right value for LineHeight? I want a LineHeight of 22pt, but in the docs it just says "The multiplier to apply to the default line height when displaying text", but not what the default value is. Where can i find it?

JFMG · January 2019

@JohannesH
why not simply put a breakpoint or a print message in your code behind file?

Your XAML:

<Label
  x:Name="MyLabel"
  Text="My Text" />

In your code behind:

System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"Line height of MyLabel: {MyLabel.LineHeight}")

JohnHardman · January 2019

@BradNotBread said:

@Khosrou said:
Im sure that works, but Im running XF 2.5 guys

The LineHeight property is only supported in 3.2.

You would need to implement it natively in older versions but sadly I can't help with that sorry!

@Khosrou - Xamarin.Forms is open source, so you could look at the latest source code and pick out the bits that you would need to put in custom renderers to get the same result using XF 2.5

JohannesH · January 2019

@JFMG said:
@JohannesH
why not simply put a breakpoint or a print message in your code behind file?

Your XAML:
<Label
  x:Name="MyLabel"
  Text="My Text" />
In your code behind:
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"Line height of MyLabel: {MyLabel.LineHeight}")

Hey JFMG, thanks for the response, but i think you got my question wrong. My problem is: I got an Zeplin/Sketch Screen and it tells me the LineHeight is 24pt. Now LineHeight only gives the ability to set a multiplier that is applied to the "default line height" and i don't know where to get this value.

JFMG · January 2019

@JohannesH
That is a problem of Zeplin. Theoretically, you can display the source code for the label in Swift or AXML. Then you will see the line height multiplier. At least that is possible with InVision.

Hayden_Hancock · June 2019

I was using Xamarin Forms 2.5 and upgraded to 3.2.839982 and although I get the LineHeight property now, it still doesn't render correctly on Android. As @BradNotBread mentioned, using FormattedText seemed to fix it on Android.

Does anyone know if this has been fixed in more recent versions of Xamarin Forms?

BradNotBread · June 2019

@Hayden_Hancock said:
I was using Xamarin Forms 2.5 and upgraded to 3.2.839982 and although I get the LineHeight property now, it still doesn't render correctly on Android. As @BradNotBread mentioned, using FormattedText seemed to fix it on Android.

Does anyone know if this has been fixed in more recent versions of Xamarin Forms?

Looking at the official Xamarin Forms Github repository this issue was marked as closed for 3.2 but that clearly isn't the case. Perhaps it would just be worth trying in the latest release. Otherwise it would be great to get an official response on why this issue is still present and when we can expect a fix.

Khosrou · June 2019

I fixed it by upgrading XF!

elashi · October 2019

@EsamSherif said:
Label's "LineHeight" works on iOS and UWP but not android

It seems it is fixed , I tested it today on XF 4.2.0 and it worked on Android also

UnreachableCode · November 2019

@JohannesH said:
@JFMG said:
@JohannesH
why not simply put a breakpoint or a print message in your code behind file?

Your XAML:
<Label
  x:Name="MyLabel"
  Text="My Text" />
In your code behind:
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"Line height of MyLabel: {MyLabel.LineHeight}")
Hey JFMG, thanks for the response, but i think you got my question wrong. My problem is: I got an Zeplin/Sketch Screen and it tells me the LineHeight is 24pt. Now LineHeight only gives the ability to set a multiplier that is applied to the "default line height" and i don't know where to get this value.

As far as I can tell this is still a problem. Xamarin Forms let's you set a multiplier on the default lineheight. But it doesn't tell you what this height is!

NMackay · November 2019

@UnreachableCode said:
@JohannesH said:
@JFMG said:
@JohannesH
why not simply put a breakpoint or a print message in your code behind file?

Your XAML:
<Label
  x:Name="MyLabel"
  Text="My Text" />
In your code behind:
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine($"Line height of MyLabel: {MyLabel.LineHeight}")
Hey JFMG, thanks for the response, but i think you got my question wrong. My problem is: I got an Zeplin/Sketch Screen and it tells me the LineHeight is 24pt. Now LineHeight only gives the ability to set a multiplier that is applied to the "default line height" and i don't know where to get this value.
As far as I can tell this is still a problem. Xamarin Forms let's you set a multiplier on the default lineheight. But it doesn't tell you what this height is!

A problem in Xamarin Form 4.2.0 or 4.3.0 ? the label renderer is pretty broken in Forms 4.3.0

UnreachableCode · November 2019

Ah. We're on 4.3.0 at the moment. But an update is available. I'll need to update soon.

But no, the problem I'm referring to is as @JohannesH said. We use Zeplin, and InVision which provide line heights of say, 30. But Xamarin Forms deals in multipliers. What is this a multiplier of? The Fontsize?

So With a font size of 25px and a lineheight of 30px, I'd apply a lineheight multiplier of 1.2?

JFMG · November 2019

@UnreachableCode said:
So With a font size of 25px and a lineheight of 30px, I'd apply a lineheight multiplier of 1.2?

Yes.

Btw: In InVision you can display the source code for the label in Swift or AXML. Then you will see the line height multiplier for iOS and Android.

@NMackay said:
A problem in Xamarin Form 4.2.0 or 4.3.0 ? the label renderer is pretty broken in Forms 4.3.0

What exactly is broken?

NMackay · November 2019

https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/issues/8520

UnreachableCode · November 2019

@JFMG said:

@UnreachableCode said:
So With a font size of 25px and a lineheight of 30px, I'd apply a lineheight multiplier of 1.2?

Yes.

Btw: In InVision you can display the source code for the label in Swift or AXML. Then you will see the line height multiplier for iOS and Android.

@NMackay said:
A problem in Xamarin Form 4.2.0 or 4.3.0 ? the label renderer is pretty broken in Forms 4.3.0

What exactly is broken?

@JFMG I realise now you already posted this exact same answer. It is the correct answer to @JohannesH's question! Thank you.

JFMG · November 2019

@NMackay said:
https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/issues/8520

Yes, this one is awkward. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Xamarin

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