HP Windows/9000 allows you to use different fonts in each terminal window. The wfont(l) command is used to manage fonts in terminal windows.
Concepts
Before proceeding with the discussion on wfont, you should understand the following essential concepts for font management.
What Is a Font?
In computer terminology, a font is a complete set of character representations, all of the same
sty~ and usually of the same cell size. This definition itself produces two new terms: style and cell size.
Font Style
Perhaps the best way to define style is to give some examples. The text you are now reading is all of the same style, this text is of a different style-italic, and this text is of yet a different style-computer style.
Cell Size
Each character displayed in a terminal window is displayed in a rectangle known as a cell. The cell is not normally visible; only the character is displayed.
All the fonts displayed in a given terminal window at a single time must all be of the same cell size. You can intermix different styles of fonts, but all the styles must be the same size.
Cell size is simply the pixel width and height of the cell in which characters of a font are displayed.
Figure 4-13 should help clarify the idea of cell size.
CELL HEIGHT CELL HEIGHT
~
CELL WIDTH CELL WIDTH~
Figure 4-13. Font Cell Size
Base and Altemate Fonts
At anyone time, each terminal window has a base and alternate font. By default, all text in the window's user area is displayed in the base font; text is not normally displayed in the alternate font.
Typically, these fonts will be of different styles. For example, when Windows/9000 is used with a high-resolution display, terminal windows use an 8-by-16-pixel line printer font for the base font-that is, for all text displayed within the user area. By default, an 8-by-16-pixel bold line printer font is used as the alternate font; normally you cannot see this font.
Maximum Number of Fonts
Any window can have up to eight fonts loaded (Le., available for use) simultaneously. The wlont command controls which fonts are loaded and which loaded fonts are designated as the base and alternate fonts. Consequently, this means you could see characters displayed in up to eight fonts at the same time in a window.
Selecting the Altemate Font
As mentioned above, text is not normally displayed in the alternate font. To cause text to be displayed in the alternate font, you must send a special ASCII control character to the window, the SOl character (which stands for Shift Out of the base font).
You can send this character to a window by pressing the I CTRL I and letter N keys at the same time. Try typing the following to the HP-UX prompt in a terminal window (press the I CTRL I and []] keys together at the same time):
echo liThe base font. ~ The alternate font." I Return I
HP-UX will respond by displaying the first phrase in the base font and the second phrase in the alternate font.
Selecting the Base Font
The base font is reselected (returned to) when either of the following conditions is met:
• an ASCII 511 character (which stands for Shift In to the base font) is sent
• you leave the current line by any means (e.g., by an ASCII line-feed {LF2}, escape se-quence, etc.)
In the previous example, the I Return I key forced a new line (LF), thus causing the base font to be reactivated. To activate the base font using the 51 character, press the I CTRL I and letter 0 keys at the same time.
Font Files
Fonts are defined in font files. Font files contain such information as font cell size, font style, and raster definitions for each character. In order for a font to be used as the base or alternate font, it must be loaded from a font file and activated.
Font file names are descriptive and indicate font style and character set size. A typical example of a font file name is /p.b.BU. This means the font is a line printer font (Ip), is bold (b), and is a Roman-8 font (8U).
Font Directories
Font files are stored in font directories; all font directories are located under the directory specified by the WMFONTDIR environment variable, typically /usr/lib/raster. All fonts of the same cell size are stored in a single directory; the name of the font directory indicates the size of fonts contained in that directory. For example, the directory /usr/lib/raster/12x20 contains font files for all 12-by-20-pixel fonts.
Figure 4-14 illustrates the font directory structure.
~usr~ib~raster
• WMBASEFONT - defines the default base font to use in newly created terminal windows.
Normally this variable is left undefined by the wmstart(1) shell script. On most displays when undefined or null, WMBASEFONT defaults to an 8-by-16-pixel, Roman-8, line printer font:
/usr/lib/raster/Bx16/lp.BU However, when Windows/9000 is used with low-resolution Series 300 displays, WMBASEFONT defaults to /usr/lib/raster/6xB/lp.BU.
• WMALTFONT - defines the alternate font to use in newly created terminal windows.
Again, the variable is normally undefined in wmstart. For most displays, when WMALT-FONT is undefined or null, it defaults to an 8-by-16-pixel, bold, Roman-8, line printer font:
/usr/lib/raster/Bx16/lp.b.BU However, Windows/9000 is used with low-resolution Series 300 displays, WMALTFONT defaults to /usr/lib/raster/6xB/lp.b.BI.
You can change the default base and alternate fonts by changing the values of these variables;
however, the defaults are quite adequate for most users and should not be changed unless absolutely necessary. (For details on changing these variables, see the chapter "Customizing Your System (Environment Variables)."}
Font Management Escape Sequences
In addition to using the wfont command to manage fonts, you can use terminal window escape sequences. Escape sequences are special sequences of characters starting with the ASCII ESC!
character. When sent to a terminal window, escape sequences tell the window to perform some task, for example, to activate a font. For details on using escape sequences in terminal windows, see the TermO Reference Manual and the "TermO Windows" chapter of the HP Windows/9000 Programmer's Manual.