How to get TextWidth of string (without Canvas)?

Question

I would like to get text width of a string before an application starts. Everything works fine until Application.MainForm canvas present. The problem is, when I try dynamica

Answer 1

This works:

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  c: TBitmap;
begin
  c := TBitmap.Create;
  try
    c.Canvas.Font.Assign(self.Font);
    Caption := IntToStr(c.Canvas.TextWidth('My String'));
  finally
    c.Free;
  end;
end;

Answer 2

I'm not sure if this can be done, but if by "before the app starts" you mean "before the main form is displayed", you could always put your canvas-related code in the main form's OnCreate event. You'll have a valid canvas by that point.