Category : C++ Source Code
Archive   : C_ALL.ZIP
Filename : TI737.ASC

 
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PRODUCT : Resource Workshop NUMBER : 737
VERSION : 1.0
OS : WIN
DATE : August 12, 1992 PAGE : 1/5

TITLE : Creating and Using Custom Fonts with Resource
Workshop




INTRODUCTION:

One of the greatest features of Microsoft Windows is its ability
to allow applications to share system resources (fonts, printer
drivers, etc.). This 'device independent' approach is a mixed
blessing to application developers: While this capability makes
Windows work better for its users, it makes life a nightmare for
an application developer.

This document addresses the issue of how to create a custom font,
to cause Windows to recognize it, and to actually use it in your
own applications. It is divided into two sections:

I. Creating a custom font library

II. Using custom fonts in your applications

This document assumes that you own Borland C++ 2.0. It is
recommended that you own Resource Workshop as well.

I. CREATING A CUSTOM FONT LIBRARY:

Windows supports the use of custom fonts by allowing the
user (or an application) to install a 'font resource' into
the system font pool. A font resource is a font library
(.FON) file which contains at least one font (.FNT).
Individual .FNT files apparently do not count as font
resources.

Creating the custom font:

First, you can use the Resource Workshop to create a .FNT
font file. RW can edit both .FNT and .FON files, but can
only create .FNT files. .FNT files are individual fonts
while .FON files are collections of .FNT files (usually
representing different sizes of the same font). Since
Windows expects .FON files, and since Resource Workshop
creates only .FNT files, you must create .FON files
manually. Once you have created a .FON file, you can use
your new font(s) in your own applications!

Constructing a font library:













PRODUCT : Resource Workshop NUMBER : 737
VERSION : 1.0
OS : WIN
DATE : August 12, 1992 PAGE : 2/5

TITLE : Creating and Using Custom Fonts with Resource
Workshop




A font library is basically just a DLL with an empty code
segment and a file extension of .FON. You may choose any
name for your font library up to eight letters. Before you
begin, you will need the following:

* At least one .FNT font file (possibly created using
Resource Workshop)

* A .ASM file containing the empty code segment

* A .RC file listing the fonts to be included in the
font library

* A .DEF file for the font library

The .ASM empty code segment module:

In order to build the font library, you need to have at
least one code segment. This segment should be empty. Here
is some sample code that will do the trick:

.model large
CODE SEGMENT
CODE ENDS
end

You will need to create an empty .ASM file (give it the same
name as your font) and insert this code. Once you have
created this file, you will need to assemble it using:

TASM XXXXXXXX.asm

"XXXXXXXX" should be replaced with the name of your font.
You have now created the empty code segment module.

The .RC resource script file:

You should create a new file with the extension '.RC'. Give
the file the same name as your font. The .RC file may
contain as many lines as you wish. Here is the format for
the file:

1 FONT xxxxxxxx.FNT












PRODUCT : Resource Workshop NUMBER : 737
VERSION : 1.0
OS : WIN
DATE : August 12, 1992 PAGE : 3/5

TITLE : Creating and Using Custom Fonts with Resource
Workshop




2 FONT yyyyyyyy.FNT
:
:

"xxxxxxxx" and "yyyyyyyy" are the names of .FNT font files
that make up the individual fonts in the font library.

The .DEF module definition file:

The module definition file should be a file with the same
name as your font, with a .DEF extension. The .DEF file
should look like this:

LIBRARY XXXXXXXX
DESCRIPTION 'FONTRES yyyyyyy'
STUB 'WINSTUB.EXE'
DATA NONE

"XXXXXXXX" should be the UPPERCASE name of your font
library. "yyyyyyyy" can be in one of three formats:

- aspect, logpixelsx, logpixelsy: comment

- CONTINUOUSSCALING: comment

- DEVICESPECIFIC devicetypegroup: comment

See Chapter 18 of the Microsoft Windows Guide to Programming
book for details on each of these three formats.

Putting it all together: Building the .FON file:

There are essentially two steps to building the finished
.FON font library file:

1. Linking the empty code segment module into an
'executable' .FON file

2. Adding the actual font resources to the library

To link the empty code segment module into a .FON file, you
can use the following command:













PRODUCT : Resource Workshop NUMBER : 737
VERSION : 1.0
OS : WIN
DATE : August 12, 1992 PAGE : 4/5

TITLE : Creating and Using Custom Fonts with Resource
Workshop




TLINK -Twd xxxxxxxx.obj, xxxxxxxx.fon,,,xxxxxxxx.def

"xxxxxxxx" is the name of your font library. Notice the -
Twd switch, which tells TLINK to form a Dynamic Link Library
(DLL). Font libraries are really just resource-only DLL's
(which have no code).

To complete the .FON file, you must append the font
resources onto the font library. This is done with:

RC xxxxxxxx.rc xxxxxxxx.fon

"xxxxxxxx" is the name of your font library.

II. USING CUSTOM FONTS

Congratulations! You have now created a custom font. You
are almost certainly ready to use the custom font resource
in your own program.

Loading the font:

The first order of business is to get Windows to recognize
the font. This can be accomplished in one of two ways.
First, you can use the Windows Control Panel to add the font
to the list of system fonts. Alternately, you can use the
function AddFontResource(). This function takes a filename
and causes Windows to load your font. Don't forget to use
RemoveFontResource() when your program terminates.

Using the font:

First, you should initialize a LOGFONT structure with the
information describing the font that you wish to use. Use
CreateFontIndirect to get a handle to your font (HFONT).
Once this HFONT is selected into a device context, any text
output functions using that device context will use your
font.

Cleanup:

You should use DeleteObject to remove the font (HFONT) when
you are finished with it. Also, if you have used












PRODUCT : Resource Workshop NUMBER : 737
VERSION : 1.0
OS : WIN
DATE : August 12, 1992 PAGE : 5/5

TITLE : Creating and Using Custom Fonts with Resource
Workshop




AddFontResource to load the font, you should call
RemoveFontResource.

DISCLAIMER: You have the right to use this technical information
subject to the terms of the No-Nonsense License Statement that
you received with the Borland product to which this information
pertains.












































  3 Responses to “Category : C++ Source Code
Archive   : C_ALL.ZIP
Filename : TI737.ASC

  1. Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!

  2. This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.

  3. But one thing that puzzles me is the “mtswslnkmcjklsdlsbdmMICROSOFT” string. There is an article about it here. It is definitely worth a read: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mtswslnk/