set_font

set_font ( : : WindowHandle, Font : )

Set the font used for text output.

set_font sets the font for the output window. The font is used by the operators write_string, read_string etc. A default font (which can be set via set_system('default_font',Fontname)) is assigned when a window is opened. The assigned font can be changed with set_font. All available fonts can be queried with query_font. Fonts are not used for file operations.

The syntax for the specification of a font (in Font) differs for UNIX and Windows environments: In Windows a string with the following components is used:

-FontName-Height-Width-Italic-Underlined-Strikeout-Bold-CharSet-

where ``Italic'', ``Underlined'', ``Strikeout'' and ``Bold'' can take the values 1 and 0 to activate or deactivate the corresponding feature. ``Charset'' can be used to select the character set, if it differs from the default one. You can use the names of the defines (ANSI_CHARSET, BALTIC_CHARSET, CHINESEBIG5_CHARSET, DEFAULT_CHARSET, EASTEUROPE_CHARSET, GB2312_CHARSET, GREEK_CHARSET, HANGUL_CHARSET, MAC_CHARSET, OEM_CHARSET, RUSSIAN_CHARSET, SHIFTJIS_CHARSET, SYMBOL_CHARSET, JOHAB_CHARSET, HEBREW_CHARSET, ARABIC_CHARSET) or the integer value.

All parameters beside ``FontName'' und ``Height'' are optional, however it is only possible to omit parameters from the end of the string. At the begin and end of the string a minus is required. To use the default setting, a * can be used for the corresponding feature. Examples:

  -Arial-10-*-1-*-*-1-ANSI_CHARSET-
  -Arial-10-*-1-*-*-1-
  -Arial-10-

Please refer to the Windows documentation (Fonts and Text in the MSDN) for a detailed discussion.

On UNIX environments the Font is specified by a string with the following components:

     -FOUNDRY-FAMILY_NAME-WEIGHT_NAME-SLANT-SETWIDTH_NAME-ADD_STYLE_NAME-PIXEL_SIZE-POINT_SIZE
     -RESOLUTION_X-RESOLUTION_Y-SPACING-AVERAGE_WIDTH-CHARSET_REGISTRY-CHARSET_ENCODING,

where FOUNDRY identifies the organisation that supplied the Font. The actual name of Font is given in FAMILY_NAME (e.g. 'courier'). WEIGHT_NAME describes the typographic weight of the Font in human readable form (e.g. 'medium', 'semibold', 'demibold', or 'bold'). SLANT is one of the following codes:

  - r for Roman
  - i for Italic
  - o for Oblique
  - ri for Reverse Italic
  - ro for Reverse Oblique
  - ot for Other

SET_WIDTH_NAME describes the proportionate width of the font (e.g. 'normal'). ADD_STYLE_NAME identifies additional typographic style information (e.g. 'serif' or 'sans serif') and is empty in most cases.

The PIXEL_SIZE is the height of the Font on the screen in pixel, while POINT_SIZE is the print size the Font was designed for. RESOLUTION_Y and RESOLUTION_X contain the vertical and horizontal Resolution of the Font. SPACING may be one of the following three codes:

  - p for Proportional,
  - m for Monospaced, or
  - c for CharCell.

The AVERAGE_WIDTH is the mean of the width of each character in Font. The character set encoded in Font is described in CHARSET_REGISTRY and CHARSET_ENCODING (e.g. ISO8859-1).

An example of a valid string for Font would be

'-adobe-courier-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-m-70-iso8859-1',

which is a 12px medium weighted courier font. As on Windows systems not all fields have to be specified and a * can be used instead:

'-adobe-courier-medium-r-*--12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*'.

Please refer to "X Logical Font Description Conventions" for detailed information on individual parameters.

Attention

For different machines the available fonts may differ a lot. Therefore it is suggested to use wildcards, tables of fonts and/or the operator query_font.

Parameters

`WindowHandle` (input_control)	window `->` integer
Window identifier.

`Font` (input_control)	string `->` string
Name of new font.

Example

get_system ('operating_system', OS)
if (OS{0:2} = 'Win')
  set_font (WindowHandle, '-Courier New-18-*-*-*-*-1-')
else
  set_font (WindowHandle, '-*-courier-bold-r-normal--22-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1')

Result

set_font returns 2 (H_MSG_TRUE) if the font name is correct. Otherwise an exception handling is raised.

Parallelization Information

set_font is reentrant, local, and processed without parallelization.

Possible Predecessors

open_window, open_textwindow

Possible Successors

query_font

Module

Foundation