Tech-Tip: True Type Fonts and how to test them
Both InterForm400 and InterFormNG are able to use TTFs (True Type Fonts). InterForm400 does not need TTFs – only if you need to print or create PDF files in a non western code page (non Latin1), or if you want a special font, which is not supported by the printers and/or Acrobat Reader.
The easiest thing is normally to simply copy the font from a PC in C:\windows\fonts (remember to check for copyrights), but you can also download free TTFs from many different sites, but you can find, that the downloaded TTFs are quite small in size and perhaps only includes a small subset of the single byte character – as well as it may only be available in one type (Font is only normal, but not found as bold, italic, condenced.. etc.).
The main worry (if you download from a site providing free TTFs) is here to make sure that all the necessary characters are included in the font. Below I describe how to do that in both InterForm400 and InterFormNG.
Testing a TTF in InterForm400
In InterForm400 you first need to install the TTF and link it with a font number for the ASCII symbol set for either PCL, PDF or both as described in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgluaFlplOQ
Now you just need a spooled file with all the characters. If you want to check a Single Byte Characters Set, then you can create such a spooled file by selecting this in InterForm400:
12. Service functions
5. Display all displayable characters
Now right click on the screen and select ‘HostPrn’ to create an *SCS spooled file with the current screen. Now you find out where the spooled file was created by getting a command line in the same job and run the command ‘WRKJOB’ and then select ‘4. Work with spooled files’. The only thing missing is to merge this spooled file with an overlay, that is outputting the complete spooled file page in the font number linked with the TTF and check out the result.
Testing a TTF in InterFormNG
You need to restart the InterFormNG Designer (if already running) after copying the TTF into {INTERFORMNG_HOME}/resources/font.
Then you create a simple template with a text style referring to the relevant font and insert a flow area inside a page element (outside the static folder).
Inside the flow area you insert a text element, in which you should insert all the characters, that you want to test. Code charts with all the characters are listed on various sites, but many use just images of each character, so use a site, which includes the real characters as this site:
http://www.unicode.org/charts/nameslist/
To test characters you can now simply copy and paste the characters directly from the web site into the text element and InterFormNG will now list all the characters with the unicode ID on the left AND InterFormNG will even create an error list in the bottom if any characters are missing in the font and tell you exactly what is missing. Notice that multiple pages are automatically created to make room for all the characters.
The easiest thing is normally to simply copy the font from a PC in C:\windows\fonts (remember to check for copyrights), but you can also download free TTFs from many different sites, but you can find, that the downloaded TTFs are quite small in size and perhaps only includes a small subset of the single byte character – as well as it may only be available in one type (Font is only normal, but not found as bold, italic, condenced.. etc.).
The main worry (if you download from a site providing free TTFs) is here to make sure that all the necessary characters are included in the font. Below I describe how to do that in both InterForm400 and InterFormNG.
Testing a TTF in InterForm400
In InterForm400 you first need to install the TTF and link it with a font number for the ASCII symbol set for either PCL, PDF or both as described in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgluaFlplOQ
Now you just need a spooled file with all the characters. If you want to check a Single Byte Characters Set, then you can create such a spooled file by selecting this in InterForm400:
12. Service functions
5. Display all displayable characters
Now right click on the screen and select ‘HostPrn’ to create an *SCS spooled file with the current screen. Now you find out where the spooled file was created by getting a command line in the same job and run the command ‘WRKJOB’ and then select ‘4. Work with spooled files’. The only thing missing is to merge this spooled file with an overlay, that is outputting the complete spooled file page in the font number linked with the TTF and check out the result.
Testing a TTF in InterFormNG
You need to restart the InterFormNG Designer (if already running) after copying the TTF into {INTERFORMNG_HOME}/resources/font.
Then you create a simple template with a text style referring to the relevant font and insert a flow area inside a page element (outside the static folder).
Inside the flow area you insert a text element, in which you should insert all the characters, that you want to test. Code charts with all the characters are listed on various sites, but many use just images of each character, so use a site, which includes the real characters as this site:
http://www.unicode.org/charts/nameslist/
To test characters you can now simply copy and paste the characters directly from the web site into the text element and InterFormNG will now list all the characters with the unicode ID on the left AND InterFormNG will even create an error list in the bottom if any characters are missing in the font and tell you exactly what is missing. Notice that multiple pages are automatically created to make room for all the characters.