How to make sure a font exists before using it with .NET
Question
I have a VB.NET Windows Forms project that at one point paints text directly to onto the form at runtime. Before I paint with the font though, I want to make sure that the font and font-size exists on the user's machine. If they don't, I'll try a few other similar fonts, eventually defaulting with Arial or something.
What's the best way to test and validate a font on a user's computer?
Solution
From an MSDN article titled "How To: Enumerate Installed Fonts", I found this code:
InstalledFontCollection installedFontCollection = new InstalledFontCollection();
// Get the array of FontFamily objects.
FontFamily[] fontFamilies = installedFontCollection.Families;
OTHER TIPS
Here is one solution, in c#:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
SetFontFinal();
InitializeComponent();
}
/// <summary>
/// This method attempts to set the font in the form to Cambria, which
/// will only work in some scenarios. If Cambria is not available, it will
/// fall back to Times New Roman, so the font is good on almost all systems.
/// </summary>
private void SetFontFinal()
{
string fontName = "Cambria";
Font testFont = new Font(fontName, 16.0f, FontStyle.Regular,
GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
if (testFont.Name == fontName)
{
// The font exists, so use it.
this.Font = testFont;
}
else
{
// The font we tested doesn't exist, so fallback to Times.
this.Font = new Font("Times New Roman", 16.0f,
FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}
}
}
And here is one method in VB:
Public Function FontExists(FontName As String) As Boolean
Dim oFont As New StdFont
Dim bAns As Boolean
oFont.Name = FontName
bAns = StrComp(FontName, oFont.Name, vbTextCompare) = 0
FontExists = bAns
End Function
See also this same question that results in this code:
private bool IsFontInstalled(string fontName) {
using (var testFont = new Font(fontName, 8)) {
return 0 == string.Compare(
fontName,
testFont.Name,
StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
}
}
Arial Bold Italic is unlikely to be a font. It's a subclass of the Arial family.
Try keeping it simple and test for 'Arial'.
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