Drawing text in vb.net to match a menu item

Question

I would like to put the number on the left edge of the menu item in vb.net 2010, but it seems that this can only be set on the image. So, I am trying to create an image with the number I want there using Graphics.DrawString(). I tried different ways, but I can not make the resulting image look like text in the menu item itself - is there a way to do this? Here's my current code (highlighting an image to measure text, and then redistributing to the correct size around version 3 of this is pretty ugly, but I'm not sure how to measure it yet).

mnuItem = New ToolStripMenuItem
numPeople = CInt(Math.Ceiling(Rnd() * 20))

' Calculate the size of the text
qImg = New Bitmap(1, 1)
sf.Alignment = StringAlignment.Center
sf.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
gr = Graphics.FromImage(qImg)
gr.TextRenderingHint = Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias
sz = gr.MeasureString(numPeople, mnuItem.Font, New Point(0, 0), sf)
w = CInt(Math.Ceiling(sz.Width))
h = CInt(Math.Ceiling(sz.Height))
m = Math.Max(w, h)

' Now allocate an image of the correct size
qImg = New Bitmap(m, m)
gr = Graphics.FromImage(qImg)
gr.TextRenderingHint = Drawing.Text.TextRenderingHint.AntiAlias
gr.DrawString(numPeople, mnuItem.Font, Brushes.Black, New RectangleF((m - w) / 2, (m - h) / 2, w, h), sf)

mnuItem.Image = qImg

Here are some examples of what this gives - note how the fuzzy text of the field (image) compares with the text of the menu item:

TextRenderingHint, , . ?

Answer 1

ToolStripMenuItem?

Class CustomToolStripMenuItem
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem
    Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)
        MyBase.OnPaint(e)
        e.Graphics.DrawString("11", Me.Font, System.Drawing.Brushes.Black, New System.Drawing.PointF(0, 0))
    End Sub
End Class

, , , . (. " " )

Answer 2

, , , , , , .

. , Professional Colors, .

Dim mnuItem = TestToolStripMenuItem
Dim numPeople = CInt(Math.Ceiling(Rnd() * 20))

Dim qImg = New Bitmap(mnuItem.Height, mnuItem.Height)
Using gr = Graphics.FromImage(qImg)
    Dim sz = gr.MeasureString(numPeople, mnuItem.Font)

    Dim w = CInt(Math.Ceiling(sz.Width))
    Dim h = CInt(Math.Ceiling(sz.Height))

    Dim linGrBrush As New LinearGradientBrush( _
       New Point(0, 0), _
       New Point(qImg.Width, 0), _
       ProfessionalColors.ToolStripGradientBegin, _
       ProfessionalColors.ToolStripGradientEnd)

    gr.FillRectangle(linGrBrush, New Rectangle(0, 0, qImg.Width, qImg.Height))
    gr.DrawString(numPeople, mnuItem.Font, Brushes.Black, New Point((qImg.Width / 2) - (w / 2), (qImg.Height / 2) - (h / 2)))
End Using

mnuItem.Image = qImg

Imports System.Drawing.Drawing2D