Fontconfig - Nov 2005 - font pattern -> font file : without X11 dependencies?

Keith Packard wrote:
>>Why is "Helvetica" not matched to a sans-serif font?
>>    
>>
>
>it probably should be; your /etc/fonts/fonts.conf file should map
>''Helvetica'' to ''sans-serif'' and then
''sans-serif'' to a list of possible
>sans-serif faces.
>  
>
It was already in there.  The problem was that I was missing the
    FcConfigSubstitute(0,pattern,FcPatternMatch);
statement.  I was thinking it was unnecessary if I was setting the pattern


Thanks for fontconfig.  This is exactly what I needed.

John

Around 0 o''clock on Mar 17, John Ellson wrote:
>    FcConfigSubstitute(0,pattern,FcPatternMatch);
This is the step which performs the various editing manipulations 
described in the configuration.  Drop this and you won''t get any
of the customization specified therein before the match occurs.
> Thanks for fontconfig.  This is exactly what I needed.
Thanks for giving it a try; every app that adopts fontconfig is one fewer 
app with a private font configuration mechanism.  If you report any
troubles you find, future fontconfig releases can be even more useful.

-keith

OK, Progress.   I now have a working "fam2font" program which is short
enough to post here:


---------------------fam2font.c------------------------------------------------
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fontconfig/fontconfig.h>

int main (int argc, char *argv[]) {
  FcPattern *pattern = 0, *match = 0;
  FcChar8 *file = 0;

  if ((argc < 2) || !(FcInit())) return -1;
  pattern = FcPatternBuild(0,FC_FAMILY,FcTypeString,argv[1],0);
  FcDefaultSubstitute(pattern);
  if (!(match = FcFontMatch(0,pattern,0))) return -1;
  if (FcPatternGetString(match,FC_FILE,0,&file) != FcResultMatch) return -1;
  fprintf(stdout,"%s\n",file);
  return 0;
}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compile with:
    gcc -Wall fam2font.c -lfontconfig -o fam2font

Example usage:
    gnome-font-viewer `./fam2font fixed`
    gnome-font-viewer `./fam2font Times`

Those worked OK for me, but I was expecting to get a sans-serif font with:
    gnome-font-viewer `./fam2font Helvetica`
instead I got the same serif font as "Times"

What are the possible font family names?

Why is "Helvetica" not matched to a sans-serif font?

John Ellson

Around 13 o''clock on Mar 16, John Ellson wrote:
> Is there any example code for converting a font-pattern to a font 
> filename *without* any X11 dependencies?
I don''t know of any examples, but certainly Xft itself has code which
does
that that you can rip out of the library and use.   The basic routine is 
something like:


    if (!FcInit (0))
        return 0;

    FcConfigSubstitute (0, pattern, FcMatchPattern);
    FcDefaultSubstitute (pattern)
 
    match = FcFontMatch (0, pattern, result);
    return match;

''match'' now contains all of the information needed to access
the font file.

If you want to find a list of fonts, you use FcFontSort instead; that''s
useful if you need to do glyph fill-in to handle glyphs not present in the 
best matching font.

-keith

Around 20 o''clock on Mar 16, John Ellson wrote:
> What are the possible font family names?
fc-list will show the available font names
> Why is "Helvetica" not matched to a sans-serif font?
it probably should be; your /etc/fonts/fonts.conf file should map
''Helvetica'' to ''sans-serif'' and then
''sans-serif'' to a list of possible
sans-serif faces.

-keith

Please excuse me if this is a FAQ.  I''ve just started looking at
fontconfig.

Is there any example code for converting a font-pattern to a font 
filename *without* any X11 dependencies?


John Ellson