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1993-03-16
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FNTPRN.EXE (VERSION 1.0) Copyright (c) 1993 John Deurbrouck
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First Published in PC Magazine April 13, 1993 (Utilities)
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FNTPRN:
FNTPRN lets you easily view multiple fonts and then
generate your own font catalog for handy reference.
Finding the font you want can be frustrating. Remembering the
difference between Times New Roman and Arial may be easy, but what does
Bembo look like? Does Gatineau have an attractive, true italic? And
which font is the one that looks like the type that appears on an Old
West Wanted poster?
Font selection dialog boxes--for example, the one that pops up
when you select CharacterFonts in Windows Write--show you fonts, but only
one at a time. That gives you some nice confirmation of what you already
know, but it's too slow and cumbersome if you need to search for or browse
among more than a few fonts. FNTPRN gives you a way to view multiple fonts.
To compile the source code, you'll need Borland's C++ 3.1 or
Microsoft's C/C++ 7.0. FNTPRN requires Version 3.1 of Windows because it
employs programming features found only in this release. The utility works
with all of Windows' native fonts as well as any Microsoft TrueType and
Adobe ATM fonts.
ABOUT FACES
A typeface (in Windows--typographers employ a stricter definition)
is the name given to the design of a set of characters. Individual
variations of a typeface--known as fonts--are described by three parameters:
point size, weight, and degree of slant. The first, point size, measured
in a unit called the point (1/72 of an inch), gives the vertical distance
of an imaginary rectangle that surrounds each character of a font. Be
careful to distinguish between this and height, as it is used to describe
the distance from the bottom of a font's descenders (the tail in a lowercase
y, for instance) to the top of its ascenders (the uppermost point on a
lowercase f, for example). Height can--at a maximum--match the point
size but rarely does, since a character seldom occupies the entire
vertical dimension of its invisible box.
The other two factors that separate fonts from one another are
weight (bold, for instance) and degree of slant (italic, none, or
oblique). (The combination of weight and slant is known as the font's
style--bold-italic is one example, bold by itself is another.) Thus
Arial (the TrueType Helvetica clone) is a single typeface and the
following describes four of its fonts: 8-point Arial, 10-point Arial,
8-point Arial italic, and 8-point Arial bold.
Windows assigns typefaces--based on their general appearance--to one
of five groups called families. Typefaces suggestive of cursive writing
fall into the Script family, while those with ornate designs are
classified as Decorative. Of the remainder, most with constant-thickness
strokes (the lines composing each character) are considered Modern
(Courier, for one), while those with variable strokes land in the Roman
family if they contain serifs (short, decorative strokes such as those
hanging off the top of this T) or the Swiss category if they are sans
serif (such as Arial or Helvetica). Fixed-pitch or monospaced fonts use
the same amount of space for every character, while variable-pitch or
proportional fonts use more space for larger characters. Monospaced fonts
line up nicely into columns, while proportional fonts are more compact
and easier to read. Finally, Windows actually contains a sixth font
family known as Dontcare (labeled as Other in FNTPRN's Option window),
which lets a program select a font without regard to the family.
There are several technologies used to create fonts in Windows, but
all fall into one of two general categories: bitmapped and vector.
A bitmapped font is essentially a dot-by-dot description of every
character. They're fast, but they don't scale (change size) well--printing
an 8-point bitmapped font at 24 points yields a chunky, unattractive
result. Vector fonts include stroke fonts, ATM, and TrueType. Instead of
being a collection of dots, vector fonts are descriptions of each
character: a line here, a curve there. Thus vector fonts scale well and
look good at any size. Stroke fonts are an older technology, included
mainly for printing on plotters. ATM (Adobe Type Manager) fonts are
designed to work at any point size on both the screen and any Windows
printer. ATM fonts can be particularly fast with PostScript printers.
TrueType fonts were introduced to Windows in Version 3.1 and offer
scalability like ATM fonts.
INSTALLING AND DELETING FNTPRN
The utility demands no special effort to install. To place its icon
in the currently selected program group, use the Program Manager
command File|New, choose Program Item from the dialog box, and after
clicking OK, fill in the blanks in the Program Item Properties dialog
that comes up, then choose OK once more.
Removing FNTPRN takes as little effort. Dispose of its icon by
selecting it and choosing File|Delete from the Program Manager menu.
Repeat the procedure for all occurrences of the icon, then erase
FNTPRN.EXE. The program makes no modifications to WIN.INI, and the
only files it creates are .WRI files containing font examples.
USING FNTPRN
If you're in a hurry, you can use FNTPRN without installing it
simply by selecting File|Run from the Program Manager menu and entering
the utility's full pathname in the resulting dialog box, which brings up
the FNTPRN window. Set the options you want, make sure that the Launch
Write check box in the lower-left corner is checked (if it isn't, click
on it), then click the OK button. You'll be presented with a standard
Save As dialog box (but with a title bar that reads ``Choose Output
Filename''). After you pick an output filename, select OK again.
FNTPRN will generate and save a sample file based on the options you
selected, then display it in Windows Write. (If you don't make any
changes and then click on OK, a file named FNTPRN.WRI will be saved to
the directory that contains FNTPRN.) FNTPRN is still running, so you
can switch to it while Write is still running or after you're done,
where you can design another report or quit the utility. That's the
quick start. Now for a few details.
Running FNTPRN takes you right to the heart of the program--its
option window. Most items on this screen fall into one of three option
groups--Fonts, Sample Text, and Description Formatting.
The Fonts section allows you to configure the report file FNTPRN
produces. Sort Order (covered in greater detail shortly) is a drop-down
list used to determine the sequence of samples in the output, while the
Pitch radio buttons let you include proportional fonts, monospace, or
both, and the Device selection determines whether the file will contain
printer or screen fonts. The output will incorporate whatever selections
you make under the Font Families and Styles categories, but you must
select at least one of each. If you check the check box labeled Allow
Bold/Italic Synthesis, and if a particular typeface lacks any or all of
the styles (italic, bold, or bold-italic), FNTPRN will request that
Windows artificially create those you've included. (Some limits, which
I'll describe a little later, exist.) Check the TrueType Only checkbox
to restrict the report's contents to just those fonts. You may want to
do this to exclude clunky, nonscalable fonts (such as LinePrinter) from
your report. Don't check the box, though, if you use ATM fonts. Let your
font collection be your guide!
If you make no changes in the Font section's options, they default
to alphabetical sort order, both spacing types, printer fonts, all styles
and families, bold/italic synthesis, and any make of font (rather than
TrueType alone).
As implied above, Sort Order presents you with several choices. The
first--Alphabetical-