Font::BDF::Reader - Module for reading in BDF files
use Font::BDF::Reader; my $BDF = Font::BDF::Reader->new( $bdf_filename ); my @starchars = $BDF->get_all_STARTCHAR; sub font_to_png { ... } foreach my $starchar (@starchars) { my $png_data = font_to_png( $BDF->get_font_info_by_STARTCHAR( $starchar ) ); my $png_file = "$bdf_base.$starchar.png"; my $FH = IO::File->new( ">$png_file" ) || die "Error opening file for write: '$png_file'"; binmode $FH; print $FH $png_data; }
This module supports importing data from BDF files. A BDF file is an ASCII file that defines a font. The fonts are bitmap fonts, and are easily converted to other formats.
This module imports data from a BDF file. Have a look at the BDF file spec at http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/PDFS/TN/5005.BDF_Spec.pdf.
Creates a Font::BDF object. If BDF_FILE is specified, it attempts to read in the entire file. (which can eat up a lot of memory, depending on the size of the file)
Opens a BDF file without doing anything. Will die() if it can't find or open BDF_FILE.
Assumes open_bdf_file() has been called. It reads in the BDF metadata, using read_bdf_metadata(), and then reads in ALL of the characters in the BDF file using read_bdf_chars(). Will die() if the BDF file has not been opened yet.
Attempts to read in the metadata block of the BDF file, which occurs before any character data. Assumes open_bdf_file() has been called.
Returns a HASHREF containing the metadata for the BDF file. Each attribute consists of a key-value pair. The value is always one scalar. Here's an example of the metadata from a font file:
'SIZE' => '48 100 100', 'STARTFONT' => '2.1', 'FONT_ASCENT' => '46', 'FONT' => '-watanabe-fixed-medium-r-normal--48-450-75-75-c-480-jisx0208.1983-0', 'COMMENT' => undef, 'ENDPROPERTIES' => undef, 'STARTPROPERTIES' => '4', 'DEFAULT_CHAR' => '41377', 'COPYRIGHT' => '"Public Domain"', 'CHARS' => '8890', 'FONTBOUNDINGBOX' => '48 48 0 -2', 'FONT_DESCENT' => '2'
Reads in ALL of the characters. For a file containing 8000 characters, each 48 by 48 pixels, approximately 16MB of memory is used. Non-asian character sets will have significantly smaller memory requirements.
This procedure also keeps track of the number of characters read, issuing a warning if the number of characters does not equal the expected number of characters as specified in the metadata section.
Reads in the next character. Returns 0 if there are no more characters.
Returns all of the STARTCHAR keys in a list ordered alphabetically. Each font has a unique STARTCHAR and ENCODING that it is indexed on.
Returns all of the ENCODING keys in a list ordered alphabetically.
Returns the font info for a particular STARTCHAR. Returns undef if no information exists for STARTCHAR.
The following is an example of font information returned by this routine: { 'BITMAP' => [ '000000000000', <SNIP, SNIP> '000000000000' ], 'ENCODING' => [ '8481' ], 'DWIDTH' => [ '48', '0' ], 'BBX' => [ '48', '48', '0', '-2' ], 'SWIDTH' => [ '150', '0' ], 'STARTCHAR' => '2121' }
This is basically the most direct conversion from the BDF file to a Perl hash.
Returns the font info for a particular ENCODING. Returns undef if no information exists for ENCODING
Clears the entire font cache.
Clears the information for a font by STARTCHAR.
Clears the information for a font by ENCODING.
Nothing.
See the script bdf2png for example usage of this module.
The specifications for the BDF format can be found here: http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/PDFS/TN/5005.BDF_Spec.pdf.
Desmond Lee, <dclee@shaw.ca<gt>
Copyright 2003 by Desmond Lee
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
To install Font::BDF::Reader, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Font::BDF::Reader
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Font::BDF::Reader
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.