Godot 4.0.beta9: Center label text on panel container

Question

Via script, I am creating a static body that has a child panel container that has a child label node. When text is applied to the label, the top-left corner of the panel container is centered on the static body, resulting in off-center text (see screenshot below).

The following code is used to create the nodes:

func create_distance_marker():
    var static_body = StaticBody2D.new()
    static_body.name = "distance_location"
    static_body.position = Global.mid_point
    add_child(static_body)
    
    var panel_container = PanelContainer.new()
    panel_container.name = "panel_container"
    static_body.add_child(panel_container)
    
    var distance_label = Label.new()
    distance_label.name = "distance_label"
    distance_label.text = str(Global.distance)
    panel_container.add_child(distance_label)

The following code is used to place the static body and update the label text:

func display_distance_marker():
    var static_body = get_node("distance_location")
    static_body.position = Global.mid_point

    Global.distance = round(point_one.distance_to(point_two) / 35)
    var distance_label = get_node("distance_location/panel_container/distance_label")
    distance_label.text = str(Global.distance)

I've found similar questions already asked, but the answers were geared towards configuring the nodes via the inspector. I suspect that the align and valign controls to need to be set to 'center', but can't figure out how to do that via script.

Answer 1

So, the first step was to simplify things and eliminate the panel container. Then I used conditional logic to center both single-digit and double-digit distances within the distance marker circle.

func display_distance_marker():
    var distance_label
    var static_body = get_node("distance_location")
    if Global.click_and_drag and Global.shift_pressed:
        static_body.position = Global.mid_point
        static_body.visible = true

        Global.distance = round(point_one.distance_to(point_two) / 35)
        distance_label = get_node("distance_location/distance_label")
        distance_label.text = str(Global.distance)
        
        var label_size = distance_label.size
        var label_coord
        if Global.distance < 10:
            label_coord = Vector2(-.1 * label_size.x, -10)
        else:
            label_coord = Vector2(-.2 * label_size.x, -10)
        distance_label.position = label_coord
    else:
        static_body.visible = false