NAME

fontadmin - font administrator

SYNOPSIS

/usr/openwin/demo/fontadmin

AVAILABILITY

This command is available with the OpenWindows environment. fontadmin uses the Motif Graphical User Interface and requires the availability of the Motif toolkit library.

DESCRIPTION

fontadmin is a demonstration program that helps system administrators and everyday users to install, delete and find information about fonts.

USAGE

The main window provides an alphabetized list of the fonts installed on the current host. In addition, font aliases are also indicated with the word "ALIAS" to the right of the name. An alias is not a font, but a logical name which represents a font. Several menu labels and buttons are provided to permit actions on these items. Press MENU to reveal the menu for a label. Press SELECT to activate a button. Menu mnemonics are indicated in square brackets.

Menus:

Fonts > [F]

Delete [D]

Deletes the currently selected font or fonts. A popup appears to confirm this action.

Install... [I]

Opens the installation dialog which permits installation of new fonts

Attributes... [A]

Opens the attributes window which provides more information about the selected font.

Exit [E] Quits the font administrator.

Options > [O]

Modify Font Path... [M]

Opens the Modify Font Path dialog. Important note: this function is restricted for system administrator use only.

Set Sample Text... [S]

Opens the Set Sample Text dialog which may be used to set the default sample text used by the main window.

Help >

Help... Displays on-line man pages in the help dialog.

About Font Administrator...

Provides information on the title of the application, copyright information and a short description.

Sample Text Point Size >

Provides the point sizes available for the currently-selected font. This menu allows setting the size of the sample text displayed in the rectangle immediately

below.

Screen Resolution >

Some bitmap fonts are designed to be used at various screen resolutions. The indicated resolution is in units of dots per inch, horizontal and vertical, respectively. This menu provides the screen resolutions available for the currentlyselected font and point size.

Buttons:

Delete Deletes the currently selected font or fonts. A popup appears to confirm this

action.

Attributes

Opens the attributes window which provides more information about the selected font.

The Installation Dialog

This window, titled "Font Administrator - Install", permits preview and installation of fonts. The list of fonts which may be installed appears in the main scrolling window.

Explanation of the other features of the Installation Dialog are as follows:

List Fonts From

Used to choose the source of the fonts to be installed. A source may be Other Media, i.e. CDROM or diskette, or a Directory in the current host's file system. Press SELECT on "Other Media..." to invoke the Other Media dialog or "Directory..." to invoke the file system browser.

Sample Text

Displays text in the typeface of the currently selected font. The text may be modified by simply typing to the text field. The newly-typed text will remain for the duration of the session. Use the Set Sample Text option on the main window to set this permanently. If multiple fonts are selected, no text appears.

Install to

Used to set the directory on the current host's filesystem into which the fonts will be installed. The "Directory..." button invokes the file system browser.

Destination

Indicates the current directory to which fonts will be installed.

Total Disk Space labels

Total Disk Space Required estimates the amount of disk space required to install the currently selected fonts. Total Disk Space Available indicates the amount of disk space available on the file system to which the Destination directory belongs.

Install

Used to copy the selected fonts into the current destination directory. In case a font with the same name is already installed on the current host, a confirmation dialog appears. The area immediately below this button shows status information on the results of the installation.

Select All

Causes all fonts currently in the list to be selected.

Attributes...

Brings up the font Attributes window already described in conjunction with the main window.

Cancel Closes the Installation Dialog.

Help

Provides more information about the Installation Dialog.

The Other Media Dialog

Used to acquire access to a floppy or CDROM device for fontadmin. "Check Fonts From" allows selection of either Floppy (diskette) or CDROM devices.

For systems containing multiple CDROM drives, only the first is available. When a drive type has been selected, clicking SELECT on the "Check" button attempts to access the drive on behalf of fontadmin.

If another application has control of the device, a message will appear in the status line at the bottom of the window. In most cases, it will be necessary to go to the other application and release the device from use before fontadmin can access it.

Eject

Used to release fontadmin's lock on the media and eject it from the currently selected drive type.

Close

Used to take down the Other Media Dialog, but does not release the application's hold on the media. It is necessary to use Eject to accomplish this.

Help

Provides more information about the Other Media Dialog.

The Attributes Window

This informational window provides secondary data about the currently selected font or alias. If multiple fonts are selected, no information appears. In particular, the following facts are provided:

Font

The name of the font as it appears in the Main Window or Installation Dialog. If the name selected is an alias, then the Alias field shows the name of the alias and the name of the font that the alias is pointing to.

XLFD Name

For those familiar with the details of the implementation of the X11 Window System, this field contains the X Logical Font Description name of the font. This is the font name which often appears inside font files. If the name selected is an alias, then this field shows the XLFD name of the font that the alias is pointing to. If a font does not have an XLFD name, the name of the font as it appears in the Main Window or Installation Dialog is displayed.

Location

The UNIX filesystem directory on the current host in which the font file resides. If the name selected is an alias, then this field is left blank.

Foundry

The foundry, or font manufacturer or vendor.

Character Set

The character collection or set supported by this font, generally an industrystandard collection.

Spacing

Indicates whether the font is fixed- or proportionally-spaced. In a fixed-spaced font, all characters are exactly the same width. For example, such fonts are appropriate for tables and for indicating computer text in technical manuals. The majority of fonts have characters whose widths vary depending on the character shapes and are thus labeled Proportional.

Alias

In case the name selected from the Main Window is an alias, the name of the alias appears here. Otherwise this field and the two following are left blank.

Alias XLFD

Displays the X Logical Font Description name of the alias. If an alias does not have an XLFD name, the name of the alias as it appears in the Main Window is displayed.

Alias Location

The UNIX filesystem directory on the current host in which the alias definition resides.

Close

Takes down the Attributes Window.

Help

Provides more information about the items in the Attributes Window.

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

Note that the Modify Font Path Dialog window is restricted for system administrator use only.

INFORMATION

The Modify Font Path Dialog

This window permits a font administrator to configure the font path of the current host. Because this is a potentially destructive operation, this feature is restricted to the system administrator (the superuser or members of the system administrator group only). This window does not appear unless the invoker has system administrator privileges.

A few words about font path configuration. The font path is akin to the UNIX PATH environment variable. It contains a list of directories which are searched, in order, whenever a font is requested. Unless the font is already cached by the window system, the request is filled from the first directory which has the font name in question, with one exception. The windows server searches all directories for a pre-scaled bitmap font which exactly matches the request before using a scalable font of the same name to satisfy the request. Because it is better to scale from a scalable form of a font than from a bitmap, it is important that directories of scalable fonts, such as F3, Type1 and Speedo, appear earlier in the font path than directories of bitmap fonts having the same font names, such as 75dpi.

When an ordinary user installs fonts to a directory not part of the persistent font path, this directory is implicitly added to the user's personal font path setting. When fonts are installed to a new directory by the system administrator, no corresponding action is taken. If it is desired that the new directory be added to the system font path, this must be done explicitly.

The window system font path should not be taken lightly. The default font path as it is shipped has been ordered with great care and each element placed in its location for a particular reason. Tampering with this ordering can lead to problems such as strange

looking text or even the server failing to restart. Be sure you know what you are doing, make only one change at a time and record the previous state of the font path as the Modify Font Path Dialog has no Undo capability. The window system font path is stored in file OWconfig in directory server/etc within the OpenWindows installation directory hierarchy. The modifications made to the window system font path will be lost if the new release of OpenWindows is installed.

With the above in mind, this dialog can be used to add directories of newly-installed fonts to the existing font path, to delete directories which are no longer being used or insert new font directories earlier in the font path.

Modify Font Path for

Used to choose between potential multiple copies of OpenWindows on the current host. The default choice is the OpenWindows installation in /usr/openwin. If however other installations exist, as might be the case on an NFS server serving heterogeneous architectures for example, it may be specified by selecting the directory at the top of the installation via the file system browser available from the "Directory..." button.

Current Font Path Listing for

Indicates which copy of OpenWindows is currently being examined. The attached scrolling list shows, in order, the directories which comprise the font path.

Move Up

Pressing SELECT on this button exchanges the currently selected font path element with the one immediately preceding it, unless the selected element is first, in which case, it does nothing.

Move Down

Exchanges the currently selected font path element with the one immediately following it, unless the selected element is last in which case it does nothing.

Delete Deletes the selected font path element.

Add New

Adds the font path element which is currently listed under New Font Path Element into the current font path. The new element is always added to the end of the list.

New Font Path Element

This field contains the directory which was the most recent destination for installed fonts in the current fontadmin session. If no installation has occurred in the current session, it is left blank. This file system browser may be invoked with the "Directory..." button to choose another directory to add to the font path and it may be added via the "Add New" button.

OK

Used to apply the changes made and close the dialog. Check the status line of the main window for messages.

Apply Applies the changes made without closing the dialog. Check the status line of

this dialog for messages.

Reset

Backtracks to the state of the dialog just after the last Apply, or if Apply has not been used, to the state present at the invocation of the dialog.

Cancel Ignores all changes made since the last Apply and closes the dialog.

Help

Provides more information about the features of the Modify Font Path dialog.

The Set Sample Text Dialog

This dialog causes fontadmin to remember the text used in the Sample Text fields of the Main Window and Installation Dialog between sessions.

Sample Text to Display

The field immediately below this label is used to type in the new sample text.

OK

Applies the changes and closes the dialog.

Apply Applies the changes without closing the dialog.

Reset

Returns the dialog to the state just after the last Apply in the current session of the dialog or, if Apply has not been used in the current session, to the state of the dialog at the start of the current invocation.

Cancel Backtracks all changes to the last Apply in the current session, or if Apply has not

been used, to the state at the start of the current session and closes the dialog.

Help

Provides more information about the features of Set Sample Text.

SUPPORTED FORMATS

fontadmin supports the following font formats:

Adobe Type 1 - ASCII (.pfa)

Adobe Type 1 - Binary (.pfb)

Adobe Type 0

Adobe Type 3

PCF bitmap (.pcf)

Fonts of other formats can still be used by the system, but are not visible to fontadmin.

FILES

/usr/openwin/etc/owfontpath - OpenWindows font path setting

$HOME/.OWfontpath - personal font path setting

$HOME/.fontadmrc - personal tool property settings

SEE ALSO

font_utils(6), fp_utils(6), xlsfonts(1), mkfontdir(1), makepsres(1), makebdf(1)