I think there ara som issues with the fonts.

frmreportdesignermain.pp around line 395

   if gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Count=0 then
     begin
     {$IFDEF UNIX}
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add(ExtractFilePath(ParamStr(0))+'../demos/fonts/');
     gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add(GetUserDir + '.fonts/');
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ubuntu-font-family/');
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/');
     {$ENDIF}
     end;
   if (gTTFontCache.Count=0) then
     gTTFontCache.BuildFontCache;  //  calls directly to fpTTF

in fpTTF

procedure TFPFontCacheList.BuildFontCache;
var
   lPath: String;
   i: integer;
begin
   if FSearchPath.Count < 1 then
     raise ETTF.Create(rsNoSearchPathDefined);  // here is the exception
raised

I think in windows is no searchpath definded by default. The lines in should: because its also true for windows.

   if gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Count=0 then
     begin
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add(ExtractFilePath(ParamStr(0))+'../demos/fonts/');
     gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add(GetUserDir + '.fonts/');
     {$IFDEF UNIX}
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ubuntu-font-family/');
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/');
     {$ENDIF}
     end;

---------------------------------

If i say create a new report, another issue is, the DPI settings in Ruler are not initialised or set. So you get un runtimeerror here

procedure TDrawRuler.RecalcParams;
var I:Integer;
begin
   FPPU:=PixelsPerUnit(DPI,FUnits);    // DPI is zero
   FMajorTicks:=(DPI/FPPU);                  //<- FFPPU is zero ->
divison by zero!
   I:=Trunc(FMajorTicks);
   case I of

Fix:

constructor TDrawRuler.Create(ACanvas: TCanvas);
begin
   FCanvas:=ACanvas;
   FFont:=TFont.Create;
   Color:=clWhite;
   FTickColor:=cldkGray;
   FType:=rtTop;
   FUnits:=ruCm;
   FZeroOffset:=0;
   FDPI:=96;        //<--- should be an basic value
   RecalcParams;
end;

Andreas

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lazarus-ide.org/pipermail/lazarus/attachments/20170821/b22f3a57/attachment.html>

I will '../demos/fonts' and other hardcoded values are maybe not really a good idea :)

VERY strange, I never had this error. I patched the code.

Michael.

Michael Van Canneyt wrote

The '../demos/fonts' and other hardcoded values are maybe not really a good idea:)

For the life of me, I couldn't think of another solution. eg: you might have a headless reporting CGI app and needs to look for fonts in a specific location, not the general "fonts" directories of the system.

But yes, the hard-coded paths like....

    gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/....');

isn't ideal. Especially if you consider the inconsistency between Linux distros, and the fact that FreeBSD uses /usr/local/share/fonts/ instead of /usr/share/fonts/

But again, unless we extend the IFDEFs for most used OSes, I couldn't think of a better solution.

What if we introduce a global (or user-defined)
~/.config/fpreport/fpreport.ini file that specifies default font search paths for our specific reporting needs - per system? But then again, isn't that what the standardised $HOME/.fonts/ is for?

Sorry, just thinking out loudly. ;-)

Regards,
Graeme

These problems will only occur if you're using non-standard fonts.

If you recall, I wanted to analyse /etc/fonts/fonts.conf on unix. (not sure if that is used on FreeBSD)

On windows, normally only the windows fonts dir should be needed.

Michael.

Michael Van Canneyt wrote

These problems will only occur if you're using non-standard fonts.

What if you wanted "self contained reports" eg like the demos in fpReport where we use fonts that are not available on all systems. eg: Windows doesn't come standard with DejaVu. Other Linux distros and FreeBSD doesn't come standard with the Ubuntu font.

If you recall, I wanted to analyse /etc/fonts/fonts.conf on unix. (not sure if that is used on FreeBSD)

Yes, FreeBSD uses that too, but again, it is located in the user-installed apps location... /usr/local/etc/fonts/

Looking at that file here (again, not sure how Linux distro compare or differ), but there are <dir>.... </dir> tags in the beginning of the fonts.conf file. Simply adding those to fpTTF's search path should already go a long way. That should be pretty easy to add.

<!-- Font directory list -->

<dir>/usr/local/share/fonts</dir>
<dir>/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts</dir>
<dir prefix="xdg">fonts</dir>
<!-- the following element will be removed in the future --> <dir>~/.fonts</dir>

Regards,
Graeme

Then you need to add Location+'fonts/' or so, and distribute the font.

If the font isn't there, you can't use it, clearly :)

An idea would be to have aliases for substitution.

Should indeed be easy to parse and handle...

Michael.

I'll make it so. I guess the best option would be to add it as an option API call, so if somebody wants it, simply call
<fpttf>.AddStandardFontPaths(). For those that don't want those font paths, simply do nothing.

Regards,
Graeme

It is possible to use a standard font and give a warning instead of fire an exception.

Eg. Font xxxx not found, using standardfont instead .... ?

Andreas

Andreas Frieß wrote

It is possible to use a standard font and give a warning instead of fire an exception. Eg. Font xxxx not found, using standardfont instead .... ?

That is what I meant with introducing aliases.

The problem is of course that you normally do not want this in a reporting engine, where the looks are important. So using aliases should be an option...

Michael.

Andreas Frieß wrote

It is possible to use a standard font and give a warning instead of fire an exception. Eg. Font xxxx not found, using standardfont instead .... ?

I don't like that. First, how are you going to display the warning? Remember fpReport was designed to be able to run from console or headless servers too, not just desktop apps. Secondly, how are you going to substitute the font? Which font will you choose, and how will you make that choice? Using equivalent font metrics values, simply by name, some random standard font that might make your report look crap? My personal opinion - I like to see a report the way I designed it or not at all (until I fixed what was missing or broken).

Regards,
Graeme

Michael Van Canneyt wrote

The problem is of course that you normally do not want this in a reporting engine, where the looks are important.

Exactly! Some reports could be very dependent on a specific font and font metrics for the layout (internal to fpReport and simply about looks).

Regards,
Graeme

At first this should for the visual part (Designer eg.)

And should for windows this not added ? Because in windows the fonts should reside in %windir%\Fonts (see MS documentation)

   function GetWinDirFonts: string;
   var
     dir: array [0..MAX_PATH] of Char;
   begin
     GetWindowsDirectory(dir, MAX_PATH);
     Result :=  StrPas(dir)+DirectorySeparator+'Fonts';
   end;

and

   {$ifdef mswindows}
   SearchPath.Add(GetWinDir);
   SearchPath.Add(GetWinDirFonts);
   {$endif}

in fpttf.pp around line 560

Andreas

Am 21.08.2017 11:25 schrieb "Graeme Geldenhuys via Lazarus" <

API call, so if somebody wants it, simply call
<fpttf>.AddStandardFontPaths(). For those that don't want those font paths, simply do nothing.

Why not dynamically load the fontconfig library and ask that instead of manually parsing its config file?
Note: fontconfig doesn't have GUI dependencies either.

Regards,
Sven
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lazarus-ide.org/pipermail/lazarus/attachments/20170821/3b99827f/attachment.html>

Because I didn't know such a library existed :)

Note: fontconfig doesn't have GUI dependencies either.

Well, in that case we can try to load it dynamically if it is available, and fall back to parsing if it is not.

Many thanks for the tip !!

Michael.

Is is not better to call the standard fonts of the system in TFPReportDesignerForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject); ?

   if gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Count=0 then
     begin
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add(ExtractFilePath(ParamStr(0))+'../demos/fonts/');
     gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add(GetUserDir + '.fonts/');
     {$IFDEF UNIX}
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ubuntu-font-family/');
gTTFontCache.SearchPath.Add('/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/');
     {$ENDIF}
     end;
   if (gTTFontCache.Count=0) then
     gTTFontCache.BuildFontCache;
   if (gTTFontCache.Count=0) then                // <-------
     gTTFontCache.ReadStandardFonts;        // <-------

Because the standardfonts are not read in the designer.

Andreas

Yes.
A patch for this was already provided by Pascal Riekenberg. It has been applied.

Michael.

you choose Comic Sans, of course :wink: :wink:

paths,

Ah, in that case: fontconfig is the default library to deal with font configuration on the Open Source *nix systems (Linux, FreeBSD, etc.).

Regards,
Sven
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lazarus-ide.org/pipermail/lazarus/attachments/20170821/9fb9dc96/attachment-0001.html>