[HarfBuzz] Example application using FriBidi, FreeType, and HarfBuzz

[Rajeesh K V]

On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 8:58 PM, Salah-Eddin Shaban <salshaaban at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I would like to thank you very much for HarfBuzz.
>
> I'm currently trying to use it to add complex-script support to the
> text renderer of VLC Media Player, mainly for Arabic subtitle files. I
> tried first using Pango but was told there were compatibility issues
> with GLib, so HarfBuzz is the way to go.
>
> I had to struggle a little with the Unicode bidirectional algorithm
> and with getting to understand how Fribidi, FreeType, and HarfBuzz
> work together. Documentation is rather scarce so I had to dig through
> some source code, and to experiment with a test application.
>
> I still can't claim to understand everything about the algorithm or
> the process of rendering text. When I compare my code to the source
> code of Pango it seems too simple to be correct. But it's producing
> correct results, as far as I can see, for all text I test it on, and
> not just subtitle files.

This is a quite nifty little tool! I just tested with Malayalam texts
and (unsurprisingly) the text is rendered correctly.
Doubly exciting to hear that the complex-script shaping support is
being added to VLC. I know community efforts of translating subtitles
of world movies who were looking for ways to get to work with VLC
(GNOME Videos/totem does have the support).

>
> Anyway, I thought it might help someone get the general picture, if
> you think it's appropriate as another user example on the HarfBuzz
> wiki.
>
> Any comments or corrections are greatly appreciated.
>
> https://github.com/salshaaban/BidiRenderer



-- 
Cheers,
Rajeesh