Package processing.core

Class PFont

java.lang.Object
processing.core.PFont
All Implemented Interfaces:
PConstants
public class PFont extends Object implements PConstants
PFont is the font class for Processing. To create a font to use with Processing, select "Create Font..." from the Tools menu. This will create a font in the format Processing requires and also adds it to the current sketch's data directory. Processing displays fonts using the .vlw font format, which uses images for each letter, rather than defining them through vector data. The loadFont() function constructs a new font and textFont() makes a font active. The list() method creates a list of the fonts installed on the computer, which is useful information to use with the createFont() function for dynamically converting fonts into a format to use with Processing.

To create a new font dynamically, use the createFont() function. Do not use the syntax new PFont().

Advanced

Awful (and by that, I mean awesome) ASCII (non-)art for how this works: 

   |
   |                   height is the full used height of the image
   |
   |   ..XX..       }
   |   ..XX..       }
   |   ......       }
   |   XXXX..       }  topExtent (top y is baseline - topExtent)
   |   ..XX..       }
   |   ..XX..       }  dotted areas are where the image data
   |   ..XX..       }  is actually located for the character
   +---XXXXXX----   }  (it extends to the right and down
   |                   for power of two texture sizes)
   ^^^^ leftExtent (amount to move over before drawing the image

   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ setWidth (width displaced by char)
See Also:

  • Field Details

    • CHARSET

      public static char[] CHARSET
      The default Processing character set.

      This is the union of the Mac Roman and Windows ANSI (CP1250) character sets. ISO 8859-1 Latin 1 is Unicode characters 0x80 -> 0xFF, and would seem a good standard, but in practice, most P5 users would rather have characters that they expect from their platform's fonts.

      This is more of an interim solution until a much better font solution can be determined. (i.e. create fonts on the fly from some sort of vector format).

      Not that I expect that to happen.

  • Constructor Details

    • PFont

      public PFont()

    • PFont

      public PFont(Font font, boolean smooth)
      ( begin auto-generated from PFont.xml ) PFont is the font class for Processing. To create a font to use with Processing, select "Create Font..." from the Tools menu. This will create a font in the format Processing requires and also adds it to the current sketch's data directory. Processing displays fonts using the .vlw font format, which uses images for each letter, rather than defining them through vector data. The loadFont() function constructs a new font and textFont() makes a font active. The list() method creates a list of the fonts installed on the computer, which is useful information to use with the createFont() function for dynamically converting fonts into a format to use with Processing. ( end auto-generated )
      Parameters:
      font - font the font object to create from
      smooth - smooth true to enable smoothing/anti-aliasing

    • PFont

      public PFont(Font font, boolean smooth, char[] charset)
      Create a new image-based font on the fly. If charset is set to null, the characters will only be created as bitmaps when they're drawn.
      Parameters:
      charset - array of all unicode chars that should be included

    • PFont

      public PFont(Font font, boolean smooth, char[] charset, boolean stream, int density)
      Adds a parameter that indicates the font came from a file, not a built-in OS font.

    • PFont

      public PFont(InputStream input) throws IOException
      Parameters:
      input - InputStream
      Throws:
      IOException

  • Method Details

    • save

      public void save(OutputStream output) throws IOException
      Write this PFont to an OutputStream.

      This is used by the Create Font tool, or whatever anyone else dreams up for messing with fonts themselves.

      It is assumed that the calling class will handle closing the stream when finished.

      Throws:
      IOException

    • getName

      public String getName()

    • getPostScriptName

      public String getPostScriptName()

    • setNative

      public void setNative(Object font)
      Set the native complement of this font. Might be set internally via the findFont() function, or externally by a deriveFont() call if the font is resized by PGraphicsJava2D.

    • getFont

      @Deprecated public Font getFont()
      Deprecated.
      Use the getNative() method instead, which allows library interfaces to be written in a cross-platform fashion for desktop, Android, and others.

    • getNative

      public Object getNative()
      Return the native java.awt.Font associated with this PFont (if any).

    • getSize

      public int getSize()
      Return size of this font.

    • getDefaultSize

      public int getDefaultSize()
      Returns the size that will be used when textFont(font) is called. When drawing with 2x pixel density, bitmap fonts in OpenGL need to be created (behind the scenes) at double the requested size. This ensures that they're shown at half on displays (so folks don't have to change their sketch code).

    • isSmooth

      public boolean isSmooth()

    • isStream

      public boolean isStream()

    • setSubsetting

      public void setSubsetting()

    • findNative

      public Object findNative()
      Attempt to find the native version of this font. (Public so that it can be used by OpenGL or other renderers.)

    • getGlyph

      public PFont.Glyph getGlyph(char c)

    • kern

      public float kern(char a, char b)
      Currently un-implemented for .vlw fonts, but honored for layout in case subclasses use it.

    • ascent

      public float ascent()
      Returns the ascent of this font from the baseline. The value is based on a font of size 1.

    • descent

      public float descent()
      Returns how far this font descends from the baseline. The value is based on a font size of 1.

    • width

      public float width(char c)
      Width of this character for a font of size 1.

    • getGlyphCount

      public int getGlyphCount()

    • getGlyph

      public PFont.Glyph getGlyph(int i)

    • getShape

      public PShape getShape(char ch)

    • getShape

      public PShape getShape(char ch, float detail)

    • list

      public static String[] list()
      Gets a list of the fonts installed on the system. The data is returned as a String array. This list provides the names of each font for input into createFont(), which allows Processing to dynamically format fonts.
      In brief:
      Gets a list of the fonts installed on the system
      Usage:
      application

    • loadFonts

      public static void loadFonts()
      Make an internal list of all installed fonts. This can take a while with a lot of fonts installed, but running it on a separate thread may not help much. As of the commit that's adding this note, loadFonts() will only be called by PFont.list() and when loading a font by name, both of which are occasions when we'd need to block until this was finished anyway. It's also possible that running getAllFonts() on a non-EDT thread could cause graphics system issues. Further, the first fonts are usually loaded at the beginning of a sketch, meaning that sketch startup time will still be affected, even with threading in place. Where we're getting killed on font performance is due to this bug: https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8179209

    • findFont

      public static Font findFont(String name)
      Starting with Java 1.5, Apple broke the ability to specify most fonts. This bug was filed years ago as #4769141 at bugreporter.apple.com. More: Bug 407.
      This function displays a warning when the font is not found and Java's system font is used. See: issue #5481