During shaping, HarfBuzz frequently needs to query font objects to get at the contents and parameters of the glyphs in a font file. It includes a built-in set of functions that is tailored to working with OpenType fonts. However, as was the case with Unicode functions in the buffers chapter, HarfBuzz also wants to make it easy for you to assign a substitute set of font functions if you are developing a program to work with a library or platform that provides its own font functions.
Therefore, the HarfBuzz API defines a set of virtual
methods for accessing font-object properties, and you can
replace the defaults with your own selections without
interfering with the shaping process. Each font object in
HarfBuzz includes a structure called
font_funcs
that serves as a vtable for the
font object. The virtual methods in
font_funcs
are:
hb_font_get_font_h_extents_func_t
: returns
the extents of the font for horizontal text.
hb_font_get_font_v_extents_func_t
: returns
the extents of the font for vertical text.
hb_font_get_nominal_glyph_func_t
: returns
the font's nominal glyph for a given code point.
hb_font_get_variation_glyph_func_t
: returns
the font's glyph for a given code point when it is followed by a
given Variation Selector.
hb_font_get_nominal_glyphs_func_t
: returns
the font's nominal glyphs for a series of code points.
hb_font_get_glyph_advance_func_t
: returns
the advance for a glyph.
hb_font_get_glyph_h_advance_func_t
: returns
the advance for a glyph for horizontal text.
hb_font_get_glyph_v_advance_func_t
:returns
the advance for a glyph for vertical text.
hb_font_get_glyph_advances_func_t
: returns
the advances for a series of glyphs.
hb_font_get_glyph_h_advances_func_t
: returns
the advances for a series of glyphs for horizontal text .
hb_font_get_glyph_v_advances_func_t
: returns
the advances for a series of glyphs for vertical text.
hb_font_get_glyph_origin_func_t
: returns
the origin coordinates of a glyph.
hb_font_get_glyph_h_origin_func_t
: returns
the origin coordinates of a glyph for horizontal text.
hb_font_get_glyph_v_origin_func_t
: returns
the origin coordinates of a glyph for vertical text.
hb_font_get_glyph_extents_func_t
: returns
the extents for a glyph.
hb_font_get_glyph_contour_point_func_t
:
returns the coordinates of a specific contour point from a glyph.
hb_font_get_glyph_name_func_t
: returns the
name of a glyph (from its glyph index).
hb_font_get_glyph_from_name_func_t
: returns
the glyph index that corresponds to a given glyph name.
You can create new font-functions by calling
hb_font_funcs_create()
:
hb_font_funcs_t *ffunctions = hb_font_funcs_create (); hb_font_set_funcs (font, ffunctions, font_data, destroy);
The individual methods can each be set with their own setter
function, such as
hb_font_funcs_set_nominal_glyph_func(ffunctions,
func, user_data, destroy)
.
Font-functions structures can be reused for multiple font
objects, and can be reference counted with
hb_font_funcs_reference()
and
hb_font_funcs_destroy()
. Just like other
objects in HarfBuzz, you can set user-data for each
font-functions structure and assign a destroy callback for
it.
You can also mark a font-functions structure as immutable,
with hb_font_funcs_make_immutable()
. This
is especially useful if your code is a library or framework that
will have its own client programs. By marking your
font-functions structures as immutable, you prevent your client
programs from changing the configuration and introducing
inconsistencies and errors downstream.
To override only some functions while using the default implementation
for the others, you will need to create a sub-font. By default, the
sub-font uses the font functions of its parent except for the functions
that were explicitly set. The following code will override only the
hb_font_get_nominal_glyph_func_t
for the sub-font:
hb_font_t *subfont = hb_font_create_sub_font (font) hb_font_funcs_t *ffunctions = hb_font_funcs_create (); hb_font_funcs_set_nominal_glyph_func (ffunctions, func, user_data, destroy); hb_font_set_funcs (subfont, ffunctions, font_data, destroy); hb_font_funcs_destroy (ffunctions);