Roman Thilenius

is there a way how i can make sure that font IDs

where do i find information about font IDs?

until now i was only using 2 fonts because

is there a way how i can make sure that font IDs
work on all (three) platforms?

where do i find information about font IDs?
until now i was only using 2 fonts because
i did not know what font has what ID.

lcd-font-id

On 22-Apr-2006, at 1:15, Roman Thilenius wrote:

> is there a way how i can make sure that font IDs

> where do i find information about font IDs?

> until now i was only using 2 fonts because

On Classic Mac OS, font IDs were assigned dynamically by the OS when 

the font was installed. So, aside from standard fonts, the same font 

would almost always have a different ID on a different machine. The 

IDs used for standard fonts are documented in Inside Macintosh. 

IM recommended, since about 1985, not to store fonts by ID but rather 

by name. Max' insistence on storing fonts by ID has essentially made 

it impossible to use anything other than standard fonts in patches.

I haven't read all the documentation for Carbon, but when using 

QuickDraw the above will presumably apply equally. I really haven't 

studied Quartz much yet at all (even if that's what we're all 

supposed to be using now); it wouldn't surprise me if Quartz doesn't 

support font IDs at all. The whole font ID concept dates from a time 

when Apple believed "no one will ever need more than 256 fonts."

As for Windows... others here can give more detail than I can.

I think there as an object around that will convert a font name to 

its font number (as defined on the machine). Maybe by Peter Swinnen? 

Even with names, the number of fonts you can safely use across all 

three supported platforms is pretty limited.

Peter Castine +---> Litter Power & Litter Bundle for Jitter

Interface Building for |home | chez nous|

Max/MSP Extremely cool |bei uns | i nostri|

On 22-Apr-2006, at 1:15, Roman Thilenius wrote:
> is there a way how i can make sure that font IDs
> work on all (three) platforms?

> where do i find information about font IDs?
> until now i was only using 2 fonts because
> i did not know what font has what ID.

On Classic Mac OS, font IDs were assigned dynamically by the OS when  
the font was installed. So, aside from standard fonts, the same font  
would almost always have a different ID on a different machine. The  
IDs used for standard fonts are documented in Inside Macintosh.  
Available online at http://developer.apple.com.

IM recommended, since about 1985, not to store fonts by ID but rather  
by name. Max' insistence on storing fonts by ID has essentially made  
it impossible to use anything other than standard fonts in patches.

I haven't read all the documentation for Carbon, but when using  
QuickDraw the above will presumably apply equally. I really haven't  
studied Quartz much yet at all (even if that's what we're all  
supposed to be using now); it wouldn't surprise me if Quartz doesn't  
support font IDs at all. The whole font ID concept dates from a time  
when Apple believed "no one will ever need more than 256 fonts."

I think there as an object around that will convert a font name to  
its font number (as defined on the machine). Maybe by Peter Swinnen?  
It ought to turn up on maxobjects.com.

Even with names, the number of fonts you can safely use across all  
three supported platforms is pretty limited.

--------------    http://www.bek.no/~pcastine/Litter/    -------------
Peter Castine            +---> Litter Power & Litter Bundle for Jitter
                                Heavy-Duty Mathematics for Everyday Use
iCE:  Sequencing,  Recording &
       Interface  Building  for                   |home    | chez nous|
       Max/MSP   Extremely cool                   |bei uns |  i nostri|
       http://www.dspaudio.com/                   http://www.castine.de

> i wouldnt mind messaging "... chicago 12 ..." to the 

> lcd object (but it seems it does not work this way. 

Works for me. This should presumably work crossplatform, assuming the fonts are available. But beware that the same-named font may not be identical across platforms, nor the font spacing.

> i wouldnt mind messaging "... chicago 12 ..." to the 
> lcd object (but it seems it does not work this way. 
> how do you do it?).

Works for me. This should presumably work crossplatform, assuming the fonts are available. But beware that the same-named font may not be identical across platforms, nor the font spacing.


when i tried it last time, but now it does.

weird, i could swear it did not work 
when i tried it last time, but now it does.


The fontlist object does this (standard object).

On 24-Apr-2006, at 14:04, Jeremy Bernstein wrote:

> The fontlist object does this (standard object).

There's something in fontlist.help about the mode message (and Font 

family IDs) being Mac-only. Is there anything to elaborate on that?

On 24-Apr-2006, at 4:42, Roman Thilenius wrote:

> when i tried it last time, but now it does.

lcd.help indicates that 'font ' is a younger addition 

As Yogi Berra said, it's amazin' what you can observe just by 

lookin' (an admonishment to myself as much as to anyone else).

On 24-Apr-2006, at 14:04, Jeremy Bernstein wrote:
> The fontlist object does this (standard object).

There's something in fontlist.help about the mode message (and Font  
family IDs) being Mac-only. Is there anything to elaborate on that?

On 24-Apr-2006, at 4:42, Roman Thilenius wrote:
> weird, i could swear it did not work
> when i tried it last time, but now it does.

lcd.help indicates that 'font  ' is a younger addition  
to the syntax understood by lcd.

As Yogi Berra said, it's amazin' what you can observe just by  
lookin' (an admonishment to myself as much as to anyone else).

[lcd] font ID