Font viewer
Managing fonts in Java
This week we will examine the font system of Java, and see how we obtain information about the fonts
on the local system and then go on to use those fonts.
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If you have not worked with fonts in Java before, it would be wise to study the related classes. The main class is
java.awt.Font and if want to get the vector information from the fonts the neccesary
classes are located in the package java.awt.font.
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Now let's use the information from the local system to show a list of all available fonts. Another important class
to study in this context is java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment. Look at the Java Doc,
and it should be fairly simple to get an array of font names.
Hint: GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment()
FontNames.java
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When you know the name, style and size of the font you want to use, it is possible to construct a Font object containing
that information. Then you use that object to format your text. Make a small application that draws "Hello World" on
a JFrame using font information from the command line.
FontViewer.java
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Finally, this week, you have the chance to enhance the Java API with a class that is missing: the
FontChooser. Bellow is a suggusted GUI for such a dialog box, made by
Svein Ivar Kristiansen. You could also look at the javax.swing.colorchooser and javax.swing.filechooser
packages for some guidance.
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