[cairo] Using Pango and TrueType Fonts

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On 15-02-20 09:25 AM, Michael Gerbracht wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I would like to use Pango with Cairo to display data in graphs. As data
> points I would like to use characters since there are a lot of symbols fonts
> available which allow great flexibility. However I have three problem to
> implement it correctly and I hope you can help me. (I could not find a
> dedicated pango mailing list so if you thing there is a better list for this
> question please tell me so).
> 
> I am using a pangocairo library for lua running on windows to generate the
> graphics - this works in general. However, I still have theese problems:
> 
> First I noiced that I can display OpenType fonts but TrueType fonts are not
> displayed (just a crossed out rectangle is shown instead). I am using the
> pango_font_description_from_string method to set the font. Do I have to
> convert TrueType fonts first?

What do you mean by TrueType fonts/  Give us an example.


> Secondly I noticed that it is difficult to center the characters. As they
> should represent a data point I would like to center the symbol at this
> specific point. Currently I create a layout, set text and font description
> and then use the get_size methode to read out the size. While this is not
> completely wrong I often notice that it is not perfectly centered. Is there a
> better way to get the dimension of a single character?

An example would help.  Try get_extents(), which returns two different boxes,
try both, see which one suits your need better.


> Finally I would like to be able to rotate the symbol. I can do this by
> rotating the surface, drawing the character, and rotate back. But is this the
> best way to do it or would you prefer another solution?

cairo_rotate before calling into Pango should work.



> Sorry, I am quite new to Cairo und Pango but could not find the answers by
> searching the web.
> 
> thanks a lot,
> Michael
> 

-- 
behdad
http://behdad.org/