About Fonts and Language Support

Johnny

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Dec 6, 2007, 9:41:00 PM12/6/07

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I've known that there are only two fonts available now. (NinaB.tinyfnt,
small.tinyfnt)
Is there any plan to support more font or custom font?
and other language support rather than english?

Pavel Bansky (MSFT)

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Dec 7, 2007, 12:18:34 AM12/7/07

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Hi Johnny,

in .NET MF SDK 2.1 there is a tool called TFConvert, which converts
TrueType font to tinyfnt format, accepted by .NET MF.

You can find the tool in
\Program Files\Microsoft .NET Micro Framework\v2.0.3036\Tools\

Pavel BÁNSKÝ
Microsoft Czech Republic
http://bansky.net/blog

Qi Ma (Mobile MVP)

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Dec 7, 2007, 1:19:38 AM12/7/07

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TFConvert.exe can create the font needed.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft .NET Micro
Framework\v2.0.3036\Tools\TFConvert.exe

1. Select a font from C:\WINDOWS\Fonts
2. Create a fntdef file
2.1 AddFontToProcess
AddFontToProcess C:\Windows\Fonts\simhei.ttf Note: simhei is a popular
font of Chinese.
2.2、SelectFont, define parameters the WE（Weight）FN(Face Name) HE（Height）WI（Width）IT（Italic）UN（Underline）
2.3、ImportRange, E.g ImportRange 19968 40869

Qi Ma

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Johnny

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Dec 7, 2007, 1:57:00 AM12/7/07

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Thank you for your reply...

But it seems that .NET MF supports only English.

Does it support the other language? ( not english )

Pavel Bansky (MSFT)

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Dec 7, 2007, 3:51:47 AM12/7/07

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I don't know what you mean..
You mean character-set other then english?
There is UTF-8 in .NET MF, so special characters should not be a problem
(if you will use appropriate TrueType font)

Qi Ma (Mobile MVP)

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Dec 7, 2007, 5:28:26 PM12/7/07

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.NET MF supports the other language if you use the font of other language.
But it hasn't the IME.

"Johnny" <Joh...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

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Jan Kucera

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Dec 8, 2007, 4:54:01 AM12/8/07

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Actually you can specify the character set/script in SelectFont, which could
help you importing non-english characters.

I'm going to have finished a GUI for the TFConvert.exe tool in a week or
two, so I could probably send it to you, although I have to check if it will
work with the Chinesse chars as well Qi Ma ;-)

Jan

Johnny

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Dec 9, 2007, 10:39:01 PM12/9/07

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Yes, I meant the character-set other than English.
thank you.

Johnny

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Dec 9, 2007, 10:42:02 PM12/9/07

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I've succeeded in getting my .tinyfont file.
Thanks for your kind explanation.

Johnny

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Dec 9, 2007, 10:51:01 PM12/9/07

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(That's bad news to me...)

Otherwise, is there any alternative way to input other languages.

Is there any plan to provide the IME?

"Qi Ma (Mobile MVP)" wrote:

Jan Kucera

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Dec 10, 2007, 2:13:00 AM12/10/07

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Well if you think of the .NET Micro Framework runtime, it has no support of
data input at all today, so I guess this would be the first step towards IME
(ie. there is no TextBox).

However, you are free to implement whatever IME you want... :)

Jan

Vijay

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Dec 11, 2007, 1:51:02 PM12/11/07

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TFConvert.exe does support non english fonts. You have to add the correct ttf
font to the fntdef file.

AddFontToProcess <path>\simsun18030.ttc
SelectFont "FN:宋体-18030,HE:-13,WE:400,CS:134,PF:54"
ImportRange 49932 50000

The ImportRange should be importing the right set of characters available in
that font.
Also if you have non english chars in the font name, you have to save the
fntdef file as a unicode file (and not UTF-8).