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request-font

 [1/21] from: carl::cybercraft::co::nz at: 18-Jan-2003 15:18


Hi List, The font requester and related scripts that Gregg Irwin and I have been slowly working on have reached beta stage and have been added to the reboltech library. The idea is that you have two scripts: One that's specifically for your OS and which creates a text-file of the font-names on your system. This only needs to be run once. (Though running it again would be necessary to keep the text-file up-to-date when the fonts on your system are changed.) And another that creates the request-font function and loads the font-names data. (Having this script launched from your user.r is the obvious way to run it.) The above would then make the request-font function available to all the View scripts you ran. Well, that's the short version anyway. This is the longer one... To test this, you'll need to get the two scripts (see below) - the request-font.r script and the get-fonts-[OS-type].r script that matches your OS. (Only available for Windows and Amiga so far - it's your job, List, should you choose to accept it, to write the scripts for the other OSs View supports;) These two scripts should be downloaded and placed in the same directory, (I'd suggest making one called fonts or similar in your View home directory), as request-font.r needs to find the text-file (called fonts-data.txt) that the get-fonts[OS-type].r script creates. (Now read the scripts' headers, just in case I'm forgetting something here...) After doing the above, first run the get-fonts[OS-type].r script. This saves in the fonts-data.txt file a list of objects containing font data. (Just the fonts' names at the moment, but they're stored in objects in case other data needs to be added in the future.) Note that as these scripts are seeking information about the fonts on your system you'll probably get requests to access files outside your View directory. Say yes to this if you trust these scripts... If all goes well you can then run request-font.r. Do this from the View console as the script creates the request-font function which you'll then be able to test. And this is where the scripts are... http://www.reboltech.com/library/scripts/request-font.r http://www.reboltech.com/library/scripts/get-fonts-windows.r http://www.reboltech.com/library/scripts/get-fonts-amiga.r Gregg wrote the get-fonts-windows.r script and I the other two. Thanks must also go to Phil Bevan for some useful bug-spotting. Plus this is the post that got this under way... http://www.escribe.com/internet/rebol/m25079.html (a very long time ago, Gregg;) Now some questions: I make no great claims for the code or interface in font-request, but I'd like to know if I've chosen a good set of refinements for it and if the defaults are sensible ones. Getting those right from the start will make writing alternatives less of a hassle. This is what I decided on...
>> ? request-font
USAGE: REQUEST-FONT /title title-line /name font-name /style font-style /size font-size /color font-color /font font-obj /text string /effects /keep /multi DESCRIPTION: Requests a font-name and optional settings. Returns a font-object. If more than one font is selected the objects name will contain a block of names. With /style, /size and /color, 'keep may be given to keep the previous settings. This allows you to place the style, size and color fields in the requester without forcing them to have a specific value. REQUEST-FONT is a function value. REFINEMENTS: /title -- Change heading on request. title-line -- Title line of request. (Type: string) /name font-name -- Font name. Default is font-sans-serif. (Type: string block) /style font-style -- (Type: word block none) /size font-size -- (Type: integer none) /color font-color -- (Type: tuple word) /font font-obj -- Supply a font object. (Type: object) /text string -- Supply example text. (Type: string) /effects -- Allow editing of offset, space, align, valign, shadow and colors. /keep -- Keep previous settings and results. /multi -- Allow more than one font name to be selected. I thought about having an update button in the requester, (that'd run get-fonts[OS-type].r), but decided against it in the end, though I'm still in two minds whether it should be in or not. We've also thought about having an installer for this too. A good idea or not, in that it'd mean request-font.r would have to be included with each OS-specific script, making updating it a bit of a pain. And that's it for now. (Be much easier if RT would just add a font-requester to View of course, but they haven't yet, so...:) -- Carl Read

 [2/21] from: atruter:labyrinth:au at: 18-Jan-2003 14:20


Looks good, well done. The refinements seem not only complete, but consistent. I know it's only Beta, but a few other (non-refinement) feedback comments for you. 1) get-fonts-windows.r works under Win2000 if you change font-dir to %//winnt/fonts/ , don't know about XP though. Perhaps a series of paths (under windows) could be searched, or some other way of determining which flavour of Windows is being run? 2) The request-font dialog needs its text area display increased to accommodate the largest common/practical font size: 72pt. 3) Pressing "Select" exits the dialog but does not appear to return the selection? Looking forward to 1.0.0! ;) Regards, Ashley

 [3/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 18-Jan-2003 18:05


On 18-Jan-03, Ashley Truter wrote:
> Looks good, well done. The refinements seem not only complete, but > consistent.
Thanks.
> I know it's only Beta, but a few other (non-refinement) feedback > comments for you. > 1) get-fonts-windows.r works under Win2000 if you change font-dir to > "%//winnt/fonts/", don't know about XP though. Perhaps a series of > paths (under windows) could be searched, or some other way of > determining which flavour of Windows is being run?
Gregg's department. Gregg?
> 2) The request-font dialog needs its text area display increased to > accommodate the largest common/practical font size: 72pt.
Okay, though it'd be better to make it a resizable window I think. I didn't try to get too clever with the GUI in the hope we'll have richer styles to work with sometime soon.
> 3) Pressing "Select" exits the dialog but does not appear to return > the selection?
It's returning an object. Try... probe request-font
> Looking forward to 1.0.0! ;)
Oh? I'm looking forward to the Linux support myself. ;-) -- Carl Read

 [4/21] from: greggirwin:mindspring at: 17-Jan-2003 23:28


Hi Ashley, AT> 1) get-fonts-windows.r works under Win2000 if you change font-dir to AT> "%//winnt/fonts/", don't know about XP though. Perhaps a series of paths AT> (under windows) could be searched, or some other way of determining which AT> flavour of Windows is being run? I thought about that. What path for XP folks? -- Gregg

 [5/21] from: ammon:addept:ws at: 18-Jan-2003 0:53


windows/fonts Enjoy!! Ammon Johnson CIO of Addept ---------- (www.addept.ws) 435.616.2322 ---------- (ammon AT addept.ws)

 [6/21] from: anton:lexicon at: 18-Jan-2003 19:22


Sounds like good work. Why not have a button in the font-request window which updates the fonts by running the appropriate get-fonts-xxx.r file. No need for the user to worry about which file to download and run. It can be automatic. Anton.

 [7/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 18-Jan-2003 22:46


On 18-Jan-03, Anton wrote:
> Sounds like good work. > Why not have a button in the font-request window
<<quoted lines omitted: 3>>
> It can be automatic. > Anton.
See what I'd said at the end. ;) One reason not to include it was that font-request is cross-platform, but as currently written the get-font scripts have OS-specific file-names. Some method of determining which script to run based on View's version number could be worked out though, I'm sure. The get-fonts scripts might then need to be named get-fonts.3.1.r for Windows and so on. Carl.
>> Hi List, >> The font requester and related scripts that Gregg Irwin and I have
<<quoted lines omitted: 97>>
>> [rebol-request--rebol--com] with "unsubscribe" in the >> subject, without the quotes.
-- Carl Read

 [8/21] from: anton:lexicon at: 18-Jan-2003 22:52


Yep, I see now. Still, why not have an update button? Every good font requester has an option to get the currently installed fonts. Anton.

 [9/21] from: greggirwin:mindspring at: 18-Jan-2003 12:09


Hi Anton, We could keep the OS-specific names for download, but allow people to rename them on their local system. The requestor would look for get-fonts.r (as a standard name) and display an update button if it exists. Just rename the file to what request-font is looking for and go from there. -- Gregg

 [10/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 19-Jan-2003 9:34


On 19-Jan-03, Gregg Irwin wrote:
> Hi Anton, > We could keep the OS-specific names for download, but allow people > to rename them on their local system. The requestor would look for > get-fonts.r (as a standard name) and display an update button if it > exists. Just rename the file to what request-font is looking for and > go from there.
I'd thought of that, but by having them have different version numbers (as I suggested) you can have more than one get-fonts version in the same directory. I've Windows and Linux on my PC, but my View directory is the same for both of them, it being in the Window's partition. -- Carl Read

 [11/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 19-Jan-2003 9:25


On 19-Jan-03, Anton wrote:
> Yep, I see now. > Still, why not have an update button? > Every good font requester has an option > to get the currently installed fonts.
It did have to begin with. :) It also needed three scripts to begin with, but it went through quite a few major changes and I took update out somewhere along the way. One possible reason not to include it is the permissions that are required when updating. I don't like the idea of training people to hit okay on permissions as a matter of course. Is this an unfounded worry? Otherwise, there's no reason it can't be added. I had it as an refinement before, so the button could be left off if not wanted. Anyway, are any of you interested in doing the scripts for any of the other platforms? Instructions are in the current get-fonts scripts, but I'll repeat them here... ---<--- 3) * How to write versions of the get-fonts script for other OSs * All that's required of the script is that it extracts the font names from those available on the OS and saves them to a file called fonts-data.txt in the directory the script was run from. The objects should be made as follows... make object! [ name: "font name" ] where "font name" is a string containing a font's name. How you write the script is up to you, but it should not add any words to the global context. One way to do this is to hide the code in a function. For example... do make function! [/local word1 word2 word3][ ... code using word1, word2 and word3 ... ] Note that the objects do not have to be sorted or checked for duplicates as this is done by the request-font.r script. The file-name of the script should reflect the OS it is written for. ie, get-fonts-[OS-type].r. At the time of writing (19-Oct-2002) two versions have been written for the Windows and Amiga OSs. Their scripts are named get-fonts-windows.r and get-fonts-amiga.r. Check the list here... http://www.rebol.com/view-platforms.html for the OSs that still need a get-fonts-[OS-type].r script written for them... ---8<--- And, as extracting the font-names for Amiga proved very simple and didn't require much code, here's that code as an example... ; Enclose code in function to prevent ; words being added to global context ;------------------------------------- do make function! [/local names file][ ; file-path to save block of fonts data to ;------------------------------------------ file: join what-dir %fonts-data.txt ; Get contents of Amiga font directory ;-------------------------------------- if error? try [names: read %/fonts/.][ print "Error attempting to read Amiga fonts: directory!" halt ] ; Change file-names with a .font extension into an object ; and remove all other file and directory names from the block ;-------------------------------------------------------------- forall names [ either all [file? names/1 %.font = skip tail names/1 -5][ names/1: make object! [ name: to-string copy/part names/1 (length? names/1) - 5 ] ][ remove names names: back names ] ] ; Save block of fonts-data objects ;---------------------------------- if error? try [save file head names][ print "Error attempting to save block of Amiga fonts data" print ["to:" file] halt ] ] Gregg's Windows' version extracts TrueType font-names from the fonts themselves (I believe), should you need an example of how to do that. -- Carl Read

 [12/21] from: anton:lexicon at: 20-Jan-2003 1:04


Carl, Yes, that worry is unfounded. Your script will be so well known and documented that people will trust you. :) If they don't, they can read the code. Come on, there's lots of code you run without reading the code, admit it. If you don't have some level of trust you would never get anything done. I don't like training people to rename and locate files in the filesystem if it can be so easily avoided. So I too would favour a different filename per platform. Anton.

 [13/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 20-Jan-2003 19:47


On 20-Jan-03, Anton wrote:
> Carl, > Yes, that worry is unfounded. > Your script will be so well known and > documented that people will trust you. :)
Oh, of course - silly me. ;) But a font-requester is used by other programs, and while the requester that's put up may look like my one, it may not be.
> If they don't, they can read the code.
No use if you're not a REBOL programmer.
> Come on, there's lots of code you run > without reading the code, admit it.
Of course, but it's in a sandbox, remember. Clicking OK at the permission request takes you out of that safty-zone.
> If you don't have some level of trust > you would never get anything done.
Sure, but we don't want to get to the point with REBOL where we're asked for permission so often that we end up clicking on OK as a reflex action. I think a better way than an update button on the requester would be to have it as a choice on the View Desktop. (ie, as a service.) Apart from being safer, this would better indicate that it's a REBOL-wide change we're making, whereas in the requester it might suggest it's just for a specific application. If this is the approach taken though, the requester will need a Reload button.
> I don't like training people to rename > and locate files in the filesystem if > it can be so easily avoided. > So I too would favour a different filename > per platform.
I think REBOL's OS version numbers are the way to go.
> Anton. >>> Still, why not have an update button?
<<quoted lines omitted: 9>>
>> wanted. >> Carl Read
-- Carl Read

 [14/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 20-Jan-2003 18:37


On 19-Jan-03, Carl Read wrote:
> On 19-Jan-03, Gregg Irwin wrote: >> Hi Anton,
<<quoted lines omitted: 8>>
> my View directory is the same for both of them, it being in the > Window's partition.
I've just realised this wouldn't work with the current get-fonts and request-fonts as the fonts-data.txt file would be holding font names for a particular OS. So, fonts-data.txt will need an OS-name (or number) in its file-name too... -- Carl Read

 [15/21] from: anton:lexicon at: 20-Jan-2003 23:17


Carl, you definitely worry too much. Scanning the fonts directory of the system is inevitable for this application. Asking for permission to read/write a system directory is unavoidable. For now, don't assume that RT will incorporate get-fonts into the view desktop. Just get it going for now and worry about incorporation later. (It's a good idea, but it will slow you down a bit if you depend on them absorbing your code.) Anyway, I'll leave you to it. I'll more likely use it if it has that feature, that's all. Anton.
> On 20-Jan-03, Anton wrote: > > Carl,
<<quoted lines omitted: 27>>
> > per platform. > I think REBOL's OS version numbers are the way to go.
I agree here.

 [16/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 21-Jan-2003 8:50


On 21-Jan-03, Anton wrote:
> Carl, you definitely worry too much.
Probably. :) No, I'm thinking about what's the best way for people to use View.
> Scanning the fonts directory of the system > is inevitable for this application. > Asking for permission to read/write a system > directory is unavoidable.
I know all this. But there's alternatives to having the update button in the requester.
> For now, don't assume that RT will incorporate > get-fonts into the view desktop.
I'm not. I'm assuming they'll eventully get around to doing it themselves. This is just something to get us by till they do.
> Just get it going for now and worry about incorporation > later. (It's a good idea, but it will slow you > down a bit if you depend on them absorbing your code.)
It doesn't need RT to do it - assuming we bundle it in an installer script, that script could add it to the View Desktop as a service.
> Anyway, I'll leave you to it. > I'll more likely use it if it has that feature, > that's all.
What do others think? -- Carl Read

 [17/21] from: greggirwin:mindspring at: 21-Jan-2003 10:56


Hi Carl,
>> Anyway, I'll leave you to it. >> I'll more likely use it if it has that feature, >> that's all.
CR> What do others think? I don't know how biased I am, but I don't think other font requestors have an update button, and I don't think it's a good place for it. How often do fonts change on your system? Not very in my case. I don't know what the best solution is, to avoid the security popup but an automatic system would be best. My second choice would be a utility (as it is today) that you run to update the list, but not from the requestor itself I think. -- Gregg

 [18/21] from: atruter:labyrinth:au at: 22-Jan-2003 12:02


> What do others think?
I would prefer the get-fonts script to be run once upon installation (as I know what I am running at that point) and not have to worry about it again. In the rare event I update my fonts, I'll manually run get-fonts again. If fonts are updated regularly, you could do what ref-words does and prompt for a "rebuild" after a certain amount of [user configurable?] time has elapsed. Regards, Ashley

 [19/21] from: ammon:addept:ws at: 21-Jan-2003 20:22


I personally do a considerable amount of Graphics Design and my fonts change often. Now, why I would want all of those fonts in REBOL, I have no clue, but... -- Enjoy!! Ammon Johnson CIO of Addept ------ (435.616.2322) (www.addept.ws) ---- (ammonATaddeptDOTws) On 01/21/2003 06:02 pm, you wrote:

 [20/21] from: anton:lexicon at: 22-Jan-2003 15:45


Exactly. Most font-requesters don't have an update button because they perform the update automatically when the window is opened. I think since we are causing a security popup we should have the separate function triggered by a separate update button. Anton.

 [21/21] from: carl:cybercraft at: 22-Jan-2003 18:17


On 22-Jan-03, Ammon Johnson wrote:
> I personally do a considerable amount of Graphics Design and my > fonts change often. Now, why I would want all of those fonts in > REBOL, I have no clue, but...
I think you've been out-voted Ammon. ;) But anyway, there's a solution that will please everyone, (I hope), and that is to allow an argument to be added to the request-font.r script that adds an Update button to the requester. Thus there would be no update button with... do %request-font.r but one would be there with... do/args 'get-fonts-button When if doubt, give the user the choice... -- Carl Read

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