Font Support


	Status

FOP (building PDF files) normally supports only the base 14 font package defined in the Adobe PDF specification. That includes the following fonts: Helvetica, Times, Courier, Symbol and ZapfDingbats.

Font support in FOP can be extended by the addition of font metric files (written in XML) created from Adobe Type 1 fonts and Truetype fonts. No other font types (Type 0, Type 3, etc.) are supported at this time. The current method of adding fonts to FOP requires the package to be recompiled. You can also embed fonts into pdf files; see below.


	Adding additional Type 1 fonts

As mentioned above you need an XML file containing font metrics to be able to use an additional font. FOP contains a tool that can generate such a font metrics file from a PFM file, which normally comes with the font file.


	Generating a font metrics file

Run the class org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.PFMReader to generate the XML file. Important: The tool does two XSL transformations, one of which uses charlist.xml. At the moment in order for the tool to work correctly you have to copy charlist.xml temporarily to the local directory from where you intend to start the tool. (If anyone has an improvement on this...)

java -cp fop.jar;xerces.jar;xalan.jar;w3c.jar

org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.PFMReader pfm-file xml-file

Put the resulting XML file into the src/codegen directory.

Note: The tool will construct some values (FontBBox, StemV and ItalicAngle) based on assumptions and calculations which are only an approximation to the real values. FontBBox and Italic Angle can be found in the human-readable part of the PFB file. The PFMReader tool does not yet interpret PFB files, so if you want to be correct, you may have to adjust the values in the XML file manually. The constructed values however appear to have no visible influence.


	Register the fonts within FOP

Open the class org.apache.fop.render.pdf.FontSetup and add entries to the ones present according to the following example:

fontInfo.addMetrics("F14", new ZapfDingbats());

fontInfo.addMetrics("F15", new BauerBodoniRoman()); //This is the new entry.

...

fontInfo.addFontProperties("F14", "ZapfDingbats", "normal", "normal");

fontInfo.addFontProperties("F15", "BauerBodoni", "normal", "normal"); //This is the new entry.

Note: The class name to use is visible in the <class-name> element of the font metrics file.


	Adjusting build.xml

In the src/codegen directory you find the font metrics files for the base 14 fonts. The are being transformed during build into Java classes and then compiled. The newly generated font metrics file must be included in this process. To do that open build.xml and add entries according to the following example:

<property name="ZapfDingbats.xml" value="${build.codegen}/ZapfDingbats.xml"/>

<property name="BauerBodoni.xml" value="${build.codegen}/BauerBodoni.xml"/>

...

<xslt infile="${ZapfDingbats.xml}" xsltfile="${fontfile.xsl}"

outfile="${build.src}/${replacestring}/render/pdf/fonts/ZapfDingbats.java" smart="yes"/>

<xslt infile="${BauerBodoni.xml}" xsltfile="${t1fontfile.xsl}"

outfile="${build.src}/${replacestring}/render/pdf/fonts/BauerBodoniRoman.java" smart="yes"/>

Rebuild FOP!

Note: Be sure to use ${t1fontfile.xsl} instead of ${fontfile.xsl}. This is neccessary because of the additional metrics information needed for non base 14 fonts.


	Adding additional TrueType

Adding Truetype fonts is almost identical to the process of adding type 1 fonts. The main difference is in the first step.


	Generating a font metrics file

As mentioned above you need an XML file containing font metrics to be able to use an additional font. FOP contains a tool that can generate such a font metrics file from your truetype font file

Create metrics for the fontfile (we assume the file has the name cmr10.ttf und to be in c:\myfonts\):

java org.apache.fop.fonts.apps.TTFReader -fn TCM -cn TCM -ef C:\myfonts\cmr10.ttf C:\myfonts\cmr10.ttf ttfcm.xml

the -fn option sets the font name (in the example to TCM )

the -cn option set the classname (in the example to CM)

the -ef option will try to embed to font at the given path when fop is running (you can change that in the generated xml file).


	Register the fonts within FOP

Open the class org.apache.fop.render.pdf.FontSetup and add entries to the ones present according to the following example:

fontInfo.addMetrics("F14", new ZapfDingbats());

fontInfo.addMetrics("F19", new TCM()); //This is the new entry.

...

fontInfo.addFontProperties("F14", "ZapfDingbats", "normal", "normal");

fontInfo.addFontProperties("F19", "TCM", "normal", "normal"); //This is the new entry.

Note: The class name to use is visible in the <class-name> element of the font metrics file.


	Adjusting build.xml

Look for the section "Initialization target" and add the following line at the end of it

<property name="tcm.xml" value="${build.codegen}/tcm.xml">

then search for the section "Generate the source code". At the end of this section you can find templates for type 1 and truetype fonts. use them with your font name:

<xslt infile="${tcm.xml}" xsltfile="${ttffontfile.xsl}" outfile="${build.src}/${replacestring}/render/pdf/fonts/TCM.java" smart="yes"/>


	embedding fonts

edit conf\userconfig.xml and add TCM to the list of embedded fonts

Don't forget: If you have embedded fonts, you must run Fop with the flag -cuserconfig.xml, otherwise the settings in userconfig.xml will not be read.

Rebuild FOP!