Usage of Open Type Fonts with .Net

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Guest

Hi,

I am working on a project that creates Banner images programmatically. I
have the application working but need to use the Hevetica Neue font but it
does not appear in the font list. My understanding is that .net supports True
and Open Type fonts. I just downloaded this font from Adobe and it is an Open
Type font. Can you tell me how I can use it?

I have to use the Helvetica font as it's a standard within my company. The
font is installed as it is available in Photoshop and other applications,
just not in the Installed font list collection..

Any help would be greatly appreciated..

Jason
 
Hi Jason,

First of all, I would like to confirm my understanding of your issue. From
your description, I understand that you're trying to use "Hevetica Neue"
downloaded from the Adobe site. If there is any misunderstanding, please
feel free to let me know.

As you said, the font was not appeared in the font list. Could you let me
know if you have installed it after downloading? If not, please install it
first.

1. Open Control Panel / Fonts.
2. Select Install New Font... from the File menu.

After installation, I think it will appear in the font list. HTH.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."
 
Kevin,

Yes I have already installed the font. The problem is that the font is an
"Open Type" font and while all the documentation I can find say .Net supports
Open Type fonts it does not appear too. I have located a True Type font from
LinoType which is available to me from the installedfontcollection.

My question was how can I use an Open Type font?

Thanks
Jason
 
Hi Jason,

Yes, as you know, .NET supports Open-Type fonts.

I downloaded an Open-Type font from the web and installed it on my machine.
It appears in the font list in Word. And I can see it using
InstalledFontCollection class. Also, I can use it directly using the
following code just as how we use True-type fonts:

Font f = new Font("Waking the Witch", 20.0f);

After installing Hevetica Neue font, can you see it in Word? If you could
tell me where to download it, maybe I can try it on my machine.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."
 
Kevin,

Helvetica Neue is a Licensed Font. You can purchase/download from adobe.
There are many versions of Helvetica Neue. The one I downloaded is located at
this URL..

http://store.adobe.com/type/browser/F/HLNQ/F_HLNQ-10043000.html

It is an Open Type font. It does appear in the font selection box if I were
developing a web page in VS...But it does not appear in the
InstalledFontCollection. Seems to be supported in part of the tool but not
all parts...

Any ideas why?

Thanks
Jason
 
Hi Jason,

It seems I cannot download this font for free. Since you can use it, but
cannot see it in the InstalledFontCollection, will this be a license issue?

I suggest you try to download some other Open-Type fonts from the web and
install them to see if it appears in the InstalledFontCollection. If they
work fine, I suggest you try to contact Adobe to see if this is a license
issue.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."
 
Kevin,

I have downloaded other Helvetica fonts but those are True Type and they
work just fine. So, it would look like VS.Net does not support Open Type
fonts as advertised?? As the True Type fonts work and have the same licencing
issue I think we can rule out that being the problem.

While I can get the True Types to work my company only have the open type
font's included in the Corp License so my users will have to purchase the two
fonts. So, can someone tell me how to use the open type font's or tell me
they are not supported?

Thanks
Jason
 
Hi Jason,

I apologize that I might have delivered some inaccurate information in my
last post. With my further research, I found the following limitation in
current version of .NET framework.

When using Font, InstalledFontCollection, FontDialog and SystemFonts, the
following font formats are not allowed, even though the operating system
fully supports them:

- Device-specific/printer fonts
- Raster/bitmap fonts
- OpenType (erratic; Microsoft's fonts are allowed, Adobe's fonts are not
allowed)*
- Type 1

This is because of GDI+, which only supports minimal TrueType. Currently,
there is no work-around possible, as everything inside System.Windows.Forms
requires the use of Font-objects. P/Invoke is therefore not an option.

Based on the above information, I'm afraid we cannot use this font in .NET
windows form application. Sorry for the inconvenience. If anything is
unclear, please feel free to reply to this post.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."
 
You're welcome, Jason.

Thanks for your understanding!

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."
 
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