Re: How-to find printable fonts, etc

["Robert Roebling" <robert roebling de>]

> > How do I know which fonts libgnomeprint actually
> > can print? Basically, I'd like to present the
> > user with a font dialog that only displays fonts
> > which can be printed. Ideally, gnome-print could
> > print all fonts that Pango can display on screen,
> > but I'd like to be sure if that is the case.
> 
> It's close but not exact ... bitmap fonts are the exception.
> they'll appear blank in the output.
> 
>  http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=143874
> 
> has some discussion at the end.

Thanks for the pointer.

> The postscript output is all outline based, so dpi isn't
> very relevant. If you use the default transformation
> matrix, 12 point font should appear on the page
> at a size that is 12/72 inches high (0.42 cm)

OK, I'll have to play with that a little.

> > What is a GnomeFont in contrast to a PangoFont?
> 
> My somewhat biased view is that GnomeFont is an internal
> implementation detail that you don't have to worry about;
> you should avoid gnome-prints font and text routines
> and only use routines from gnome-print-pango.h
> 
> (Actually, PangoFont is basically an implementation detail
> as well. PangoFontDescription is the application-level object.)

I'm aware of that, but I understood that you basically
give Pango's different backends the font description
and each backend tries to find the best match - not
necessarily the same match.

> > If I want to avoid using libgnomeprintUI and 
> > I don't want/need to use the preview canvas, 
> > do I need much more than wrap gnome_print_config
> > with a GUI? I'm always thinking of way how to
> > reduce library dependencies since I only want
> > to print.
> 
> If you don't use libgnomeprintui, your app won't be consistent
> with other apps on the desktop.
> 
> libgnomeprintui is the way to use gnome-print from a GTK+ 
> application. Yes, it drags in libart and gnome-canvas, but that's
> a small cost for getting a consistent UI appearance, and not
> having to write several thousand lines of code.

Since libgnomeprintui and libgnomeprint itself are not
ABI compatible across different major versions, I could
only write an app for gnome 2.4 another, one for gnome 2.6
and probably for gnome 2.8 again, unless the app is
shipped with GNOME. I don't see any better practical
way than to ship a few of the libraries with my app
and load them locally if the system libraries don't match
or haven't been installed. This is a terrible solution,
but as far as I know the only solution.

Regards,

  Robert