Question

I’m trying to write some code that displays my player’s X value in text.
It tells me that the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.SpriteBatch.DrawString line needs an object reference. Any ideas? Here is my code:

public void Effects(Player player)
{
    string compassString = "";
    int playerY = (int) (((player.position.X + player.width) * 2f) / 16f);
    if (playerY > 0)
    {
        compassString = "Distance: " + playerY + " feet left";
        if (playerY == 1)
        {
        compassString = "Distance: " + playerY + " foot left";
        }
    }
    else if (playerY < 0)
    {
        playerY *= -1;
        compassString = "Distance: " + playerY + " feet right";
        if (playerY == 1)
        {
            compassString = "Distance: " + playerY + " foot right";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        compassString = "Distance: Level";
    }
    Color black;
    black.R = (byte)((0xff + black.R) / 2);
    black.G = (byte)((0xff + black.R) / 2);
    black.B = (byte)((0xff + black.R) / 2);
    Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.SpriteBatch.DrawString(Main.fontMouseText, compassString, new Vector2((float) (0x16), (float) ((0x4a + (0x16)) + 0x30)), black, 0f, new Vector2(), (float) 1f, SpriteEffects.None, 0f);

}

Answer 1

If you want to display the coordinates as string in XNA you have to:

1. Define a new SpriteFont in your application.
2. In your Game.Draw() method (and not just somewhere in your code!) use the default spriteBatch instance to draw the coordinates using the just defined SprinteFont.

Here is a good tutorial on these steps from MSDN webpage.

Here is the quote from above linked page:

protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) // <- do it here, not somewhere else!
{
    GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);

    spriteBatch.Begin(); // <-- before you start to draw

    spriteBatch.DrawString(Font1, output, FontPos, Color.LightGreen,
        0, FontOrigin, 1.0f, SpriteEffects.None, 0.5f);

    spriteBatch.End(); // <-- after you draw
    base.Draw(gameTime);
}