[mapserver-users] creating truetype font files

[randy james]

I've had a few problems with fonts on my system, i was
using a font that did not use unicode mapping and had
the problems you discribe. When you added the glyph to
0033 was the glyph the shape of an explanation mark? I
ask because all the problems i had were related to the
fact that when the glyph at a unicode cell was not the
glyph that should have been there, the character did
not show up.

hope this helps 
Cheers

--- Peter.Bruton at ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca wrote:
> Hello;
> 
> I am trying to create a truetype font file for use
> in MapServer.  My
> Mapserver install in version 3.6.3 on a LINUX
> platform.
> 
> To create the font, I used High Logic's Font Creator
> 3.1.1.  I selected
> "Unicode" as the font template.  For testing
> purposes I simply added 1 glyph
> at the font cell with the exclamation point caption.
>  After saving the newly
> created font, I installed it on my PC (Microsoft
> Windows 2000 OS).  Then I
> viewed the font file using the OS's Character Map. 
> The glyph appeared
> correctly.  I then opened up Microsoft WORD and
> tested the font.  The font
> correctly rendered the glyph. 
> 
> After transferring the new font file to my LINUX
> box, I used FreeType's
> "ftdump" to examine the fonts properties.  They were
> as follows:
> 
> 
> [bruton at grumbler fonts]$ ftdump mysecondfont.ttf
> There is 1 face in this file.
> 
> ----- Face number: 0 -----
> 
> font name entries
>    family:     NewUnicodeFont
>    style:      Regular
>    postscript: NewUnicodeFont
> 
> font type entries
>    FreeType driver: truetype
>    sfnt wrapped:    yes
>    type:            scalable
>    direction:       horizontal
>    fixed width:     no
>    glyph names:     yes
>    EM size:         2048
>    global BBox:     (25,0):(1280,1280)
>    ascent:          1854
>    descent:         -434
>    text height:     2355
> 
> charmaps
>    0: platform: 1, encoding: 0
>    1: platform: 3, encoding: 1
> 
> Based upon the results of previous ftdumps I
> performed on truetype fonts
> files (ESRI truetype fonts such as esri_39.ttf and
> esri_33.ttf) I have
> successfully used in a MapServer map file to
> symbolize points, I expected
> this font to work properly.  It seems that MapServer
> accepts "Windows
> Unicode" as a valid character mapping (platform = 3
> and platform specific
> encoding = 1).
> 
> I added the new font file to the "fonts.list" file
> and then added a new
> symbol based upon this file to my "symbols.sym"
> file.  
> 
> SYMBOL
>    NAME uuuuuu
>    TYPE TRUETYPE
>    FONT mysecondfont
>    FILLED TRUE
>    ANTIALIAS TRUE
>    CHARACTER "!"
> END
> 
> This symbol was then used to symbolize points from
> an ArcView point
> shapefile.  The points were being successfully
> rendered when I used a
> previously defined symbol.  However, when I changed
> the existing symbol to
> the newly added symbol, the points were no longer
> rendered on the map.
> 
> Another interesting behavior is the font files
> appearance in MapLab.  My
> organization uses DM Solutions MapLab (2.0rc2) to
> create/edit and maintain
> map files.  The MapEdit module of MapLab displays a
> sample of all font files
> contained in the "font.list" file when a map author
> clicks on the "Font"
> property of a Classes Label object.  With the
> exception of the font file I
> created, all other fonts have characters displayed.
> 
> Any assistance in creating valid truetype font file
> is appreciated.
> 
> Have a good day.
> 
> Peter Bruton
> GeoAccess Division
> Canada Centre for Remote Sensing
> 615 Booth Street, Room 650
> Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0E9, Canada
> telephone 1-613-947-0465
> fax 1-613-947-2410
> 


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