How can I tell if a point belongs to a certain line?

Question

How can I tell if a point belongs to a certain line?

Examples are appreciated, if possible.

Answer 1

I just wrote an function which handles a few extra requirements since I use this check in a drawing application:

• Fuzziness - There must be some room for error since the function is used to select lines by clicking on them.
• The line got an EndPoint and a StartPoint, no infinite lines.
• Must handle straight vertical and horizontal lines, (x2 - x1) == 0 causes division by zero in the other answers.

private const double SELECTION_FUZZINESS = 3;

internal override bool ContainsPoint(Point point)
{
    LineGeometry lineGeo = geometry as LineGeometry;
    Point leftPoint;
    Point rightPoint;

    // Normalize start/end to left right to make the offset calc simpler.
    if (lineGeo.StartPoint.X <= lineGeo.EndPoint.X)
    {
        leftPoint   = lineGeo.StartPoint;
        rightPoint  = lineGeo.EndPoint;
    }
    else
    {
        leftPoint   = lineGeo.EndPoint;
        rightPoint  = lineGeo.StartPoint;
    }

    // If point is out of bounds, no need to do further checks.                  
    if (point.X + SELECTION_FUZZINESS < leftPoint.X || rightPoint.X < point.X - SELECTION_FUZZINESS)
        return false;
    else if (point.Y + SELECTION_FUZZINESS < Math.Min(leftPoint.Y, rightPoint.Y) || Math.Max(leftPoint.Y, rightPoint.Y) < point.Y - SELECTION_FUZZINESS)
        return false;

    double deltaX = rightPoint.X - leftPoint.X;
    double deltaY = rightPoint.Y - leftPoint.Y;

    // If the line is straight, the earlier boundary check is enough to determine that the point is on the line.
    // Also prevents division by zero exceptions.
    if (deltaX == 0 || deltaY == 0) 
        return true;

    double slope        = deltaY / deltaX;
    double offset       = leftPoint.Y - leftPoint.X * slope;
    double calculatedY  = point.X * slope + offset;

    // Check calculated Y matches the points Y coord with some easing.
    bool lineContains = point.Y - SELECTION_FUZZINESS <= calculatedY && calculatedY <= point.Y + SELECTION_FUZZINESS;

    return lineContains;            
}