doc/src/platforms/emb-fonts.qdoc
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    40 ****************************************************************************/
       
    41 
       
    42 /*!
       
    43     \page qt-embedded-fonts.html
       
    44 
       
    45     \title Qt for Embedded Linux Fonts
       
    46     \ingroup qt-embedded-linux
       
    47 
       
    48     \l {Qt for Embedded Linux} uses the
       
    49     \l{http://freetype.sourceforge.net/freetype2/index.html}{FreeType 2}
       
    50     font engine to produce font output. The formats supported depends on
       
    51     the locally installed version of the FreeType library. In addition,
       
    52     \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} supports the Qt Prerendered Font formats (\l QPF and \l QPF2):
       
    53     light-weight non-scalable font formats specific to \l {Qt for Embedded Linux}.
       
    54     QPF2 is the native format of \l{Qt for Embedded Linux}. QPF is the legacy
       
    55     format used by Qt/Embedded 2.x and 3.x. Several of the formats may be rendered
       
    56     using anti-aliasing for improved readability.
       
    57 
       
    58     When \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} applications run, they look for fonts in
       
    59     Qt's \c lib/fonts/ directory. \l {Qt for Embedded Linux} will automatically detect
       
    60     prerendered fonts and TrueType fonts. For compatibility, it will also read the
       
    61     legacy \c lib/fonts/fontdir file.
       
    62 
       
    63     Support for other font formats can be added. To make a suggestion,
       
    64     please create a task in our bug tracker at \l
       
    65     {http://bugreports.qt.nokia.com}{http://bugreports.qt.nokia.com}.
       
    66 
       
    67     \tableofcontents
       
    68 
       
    69     \table 100%
       
    70     \row
       
    71     \o
       
    72     \bold {Optimization}
       
    73 
       
    74     The \l FreeType, \l QPF2 and \l QPF formats are features that can be
       
    75     disabled using the
       
    76     \l{Fine-Tuning Features in Qt}{feature definition system},
       
    77     reducing the size of Qt and saving resources.
       
    78 
       
    79     Note that at least one font format must be defined.
       
    80 
       
    81     See the \l {Fine-Tuning Features in Qt} documentation for
       
    82     details.
       
    83 
       
    84     \o
       
    85     \inlineimage qt-embedded-fontfeatures.png
       
    86     \endtable
       
    87 
       
    88     All supported fonts use the Unicode character encoding. Most fonts
       
    89     available today do, but they usually don't contain \e all the
       
    90     Unicode characters. A complete 16-point Unicode font uses over 1
       
    91     MB of memory.
       
    92 
       
    93     \target FreeType
       
    94     \section1 FreeType Formats
       
    95 
       
    96     The \l {http://freetype.sourceforge.net/freetype2/index.html}{FreeType 2}
       
    97     library (and therefore \l{Qt for Embedded Linux}) can support the following font formats:
       
    98 
       
    99     \list
       
   100         \o TrueType (TTF)
       
   101         \o PostScript Type1 (PFA/PFB)
       
   102         \o Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF)
       
   103         \o CID-keyed Type1
       
   104         \o Compact Font Format (CFF)
       
   105         \o OpenType fonts
       
   106         \o SFNT-based bitmap fonts
       
   107         \o Portable Compiled Format (PCF)
       
   108         \o Microsoft Windows Font File Format (Windows FNT)
       
   109         \o Portable Font Resource (PFR)
       
   110         \o Type 42 (limited support)
       
   111     \endlist
       
   112 
       
   113     It is possible to add modules to the \l
       
   114     {http://freetype.sourceforge.net/freetype2/index.html}{FreeType 2}
       
   115     font engine to support other types of font files. For more
       
   116     information, see the font engine's own website: \l
       
   117     http://freetype.sourceforge.net/freetype2/index.html.
       
   118 
       
   119     Glyphs rendered using FreeType are shared efficiently between applications,
       
   120     reducing memory requirements and speeding up text rendering.
       
   121 
       
   122     \omit
       
   123     \l {Qt for Embedded Linux} will by default use the system FreeType library if it exists.
       
   124     Otherwise it will use a copy of the FreeType library in Qt, which by default only
       
   125     supports TrueType fonts to reduce footprint.
       
   126     \endomit
       
   127 
       
   128     \target QPF2
       
   129     \section1 Qt Prerendered Font (QPF2)
       
   130 
       
   131     The Qt Prerendered Font (QPF2) is an architecture-independent,
       
   132     light-weight and non-scalable font format specific to \l{Qt for Embedded Linux}.
       
   133 
       
   134     Nokia provides the cross-platform \l makeqpf tool, included in the
       
   135     \c tools directory of both \l {Qt} and \l{Qt for Embedded Linux}, which allows
       
   136     generation of QPF2 files from system fonts.
       
   137 
       
   138     QPF2 supports anti-aliasing and complex writing systems, using information
       
   139     from the corresponding TrueType font, if present on the system. The format
       
   140     is designed to be mapped directly to memory. The same format is used to
       
   141     share glyphs from non-prerendered fonts between applications.
       
   142 
       
   143     \target QPF
       
   144     \section1 Legacy Qt Prerendered Font (QPF)
       
   145 
       
   146     Nokia provides support for the legacy QPF format for compatibility
       
   147     reasons. QPF is based on the internal font engine data structure of Qt/Embedded
       
   148     versions 2 and 3.
       
   149 
       
   150     Note that the file name describes the font, for example \c helvetica_120_50.qpf
       
   151     is 12 point Helvetica while \c helvetica_120_50i.qpf is 12 point Helvetica \e italic.
       
   152 
       
   153     \omit
       
   154     \section1 Memory Requirements
       
   155 
       
   156     Taking advantage of the way the QPF format is structured, Qt for
       
   157     Embedded Linux memory-maps the data rather than reading and parsing it.
       
   158     This reduces RAM consumption even further.
       
   159 
       
   160     Scalable fonts use a larger amount of memory per font, but
       
   161     these fonts provide a memory saving if many different sizes of each
       
   162     font are needed.
       
   163     \endomit
       
   164 
       
   165     \section1 The Legacy \c fontdir File
       
   166 
       
   167     For compatibility reasons \l{Qt for Embedded Linux} supports the \c fontdir
       
   168     file, if present. The file defines additional fonts available to the
       
   169     application, and has the following format:
       
   170 
       
   171     \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_emb-fonts.qdoc 0
       
   172 
       
   173     \table 100%
       
   174     \header \o Field \o Description
       
   175     \row \o \bold name
       
   176     \o The name of the font format, e.g.,\c Helvetica, \c Times, etc.
       
   177     \row \o \bold file
       
   178     \o The name of the file containing the font, e.g., \c
       
   179     helvR0810.bdf, \c verdana.ttf, etc.
       
   180     \row \o \bold renderer
       
   181     \o Specifies the font engine that should be used to render the
       
   182     font, currently only the FreeType font engine (\c FT) is
       
   183     supported.
       
   184     \row \o \bold italic
       
   185     \o Specifies whether the font is italic or not; the accepted
       
   186     values are \c y or \c n.
       
   187     \row \o \bold weight
       
   188     \o Specifies the font's weight: \c 50 is normal, \c 75 is bold,
       
   189     etc.
       
   190     \row \o \bold size
       
   191     \o Specifies the font size, i.e., point size * 10. For example, a
       
   192     value of 120 means 12pt. A value of 0 means that the font is
       
   193     scalable.
       
   194     \row \o \bold flags
       
   195     \o The following flag is supported:
       
   196     \list
       
   197         \o \c s: smooth (anti-aliased)
       
   198     \endlist
       
   199     All other flags are ignored.
       
   200     \endtable
       
   201 */