6.3 Font

A font definition consists of the font name and, optionally, a size specification and further make-up, such as bold or italic.

The font name is specified in the edittext according to the font definition of the target window system. Please refer to the “Resource Reference”.

To select a font, the known fonts are listed. A font is taken from this list with a double click. A search pattern can be specified in the edittext below the listbox, decreasing the amount of fonts to be searched through.

Under Microsoft Windows, the font list has an additional specification to characterize a font. The following specifications are available:

• UNKNOWN CP

  The specified font has a character set (code page) differing from WIN_ANSI.

  This has the effect that not all characters can be displayed correctly (e.g. umlauts may be wrong).

• Internal

  The specified font is a so-called stock font. A font of this type is available in only one size. These fonts are therefore not suitable for high resolutions. Instead, the UI-Fonts should be used.

• Raster

  The specified font is a raster font. The specified sizes are installed in the system.

• Vector

  The specified font is a vector font. We do not recommend that you use sizes < 8, since Microsoft Windows may choose to use another font in that case.

• True Type

  The specified font is a True Type font. True Type fonts are treated analogously to vector fonts.

• Symbol CS

  The character set is used to display small images and symbols.

• UI Font

  This is a predefined character set that can be configured in the Microsoft Windows Control Panel and is suitable for high resolutions. No size must be specified, as this is part of the configuration.

• OpenType

  The character set is an OpenType character set. The same applies as for "True Type".

In addition, a comma-separated list of options is given which are supported by the character set in question. If an option is not listed, the Microsoft Windows font mapper will decide. Finally, the font family is displayed. This is determined by the facename and cannot be specified separately. However, by displaying it, it is possible to search for all fonts of a family, e.g. "*swiss*". The following font families exist under Microsoft Windows:

• decorative

  New fonts like "Old English.

• modern

  Fonts with fixed width, with or without serifs. For example, "Pica", "Elite" and "CourierNew".

• roman

  Proportional font with serifs, such as "MS Serif".

• script

  Fonts that look like handwritten, such as "Script" and "Cursive".

• swiss

  Proportional font without serifs, like "MS Sans Serif"

• unknown

  Either a new unknown family or no family was specified for the font.

If the selected font is known, it will be displayed in the lower right corner in a separate edittext. You can input any text in this edittext to evaluate the character layout.

6.3.1 Reference Font

A defined font can also be used as a reference font to calculate the underlying grid for the layout of windows and groupboxes. The width of a character in the reference font is used to determine the grid width. The necessary additional space for object borders (e.g. edittext borders) is added to the character height to calculate the grid height.

Please note that fonts where all characters have the same width are different from proportional fonts, where the grid width is calculated from the medium width of all characters.

The calculated values can be adapted to specific requirements with multiplying or adding factors. The multiplying factor is a percentage value, used to proportionally change the grid. The adding factor is a fixed pixel value added to the calculated grid value.