Font File (.fnt)

The font file contains the X and Y coordinates used in drawing text labels and values.

FORMAT

The format of the file is:

num
char0 x0 y0 x1 y1 ... 255
char1 x0 y0 x1 y1 ... 255
...
charx x0 y0 x1 y1 ... 254
c0 c1 c2 c3 ...
... c254 c255

Where:

• num -- The total number of X,Y points in the font. This total includes X, Y (each X Y pair is considered 2) and terminator values.
• char0 -- The first character in the font.  This will be an ASCII character. This is ignored by WXP but is handy for debugging.
• x0 y0 -- This is a X,Y coordinate pair. The possible values for a draw coordinate are 0 to 127 in X and 0 to 160 in Y. The values for a move coordinate are 128 to 253 in X and 0 to 160 in Y. The character is drawn by connecting X,Y points. There are two operations:
  
  MOVE: This moves, but does not draw to a new X,Y location. A move coordinate is specified by adding 128 to the X coordinate.
  
  DRAW: This draws a line from the previous point to the current one. The X and Y coordinates are taken literally.
  
  The Y coordinate is defined as follows:
  
  TOP 160
  CAP 140
  HALF 85
  BASE 35
  BOTTOM 0
  
  Most letters are defined as extending from base to cap. Descendents fall to the bottom value. Some characters such as parentheses () extend above and below the cap and base. The total vertical height is 105 and this value is the divisor for character height.
  
• 255 -- Specifies that this is the end of this particular character. The terminator on the last character in the font is 254.
• c0 c1 c2 ... c255 -- The character lookup table. This gives the offset into the character table for the beginning of each character. This table has 256 values in, one for each possible character in the font. If the character is not defined in the X, Y table, the offset value is -1.

EXAMPLES

A sample of the modern.fnt file looks like:

2221
 ! 133 140   5  70 133  45   0  40   5  35  10  40   5  45 255
 " 128 140   0 105 168 140  40 105 255
 # 168 160   5   0 198 160  35   0 133  95  75  95 128  65  70  65 255
 $ 153 160  25  15 173 160  45  15 198 125  60 135  45 140  25 140  10 135
     0 125   0 115   5 105  10 100  20  95  50  85  60  80  65  75  70  65
    70  50  60  40  45  35  25  35  10  40   0  50 255
 % 218 140   0  35 153 140  35 130  35 120  30 110  20 105  10 105   0 115
     0 125   5 135  15 140  25 140  35 135  50 130  65 130  80 135  90 140
   198  70  60  65  55  55  55  45  65  35  75  35  85  40  90  50  90  60
    80  70  70  70 255
 & 228  95 100 100  95 105  90 105  85 100  80  90  70  65  60  50  50  40
    40  35  20  35  10  40   5  45   0  55   0  65   5  75  10  80  45 100
    50 105  55 115  55 125  50 135  40 140  30 135  25 125  25 115  30 100
    40  85  65  50  75  40  85  35  95  35 100  40 100  45 255
 ' 128 140   0 105 255
...
 ~ 128  75   0  85   5 100  15 105  25 105  35 100  55  85  65  80  75  80
    85  85  90  95 128  85   5  95  15 100  25 100  35  95  55  80  65  75
    75  75  85  80  90  95  90 105 255
 _ 128  10  50  10 254
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1    0   15   24   41   90  149  218  223  244  265  278  287
 304  309  320  325  360  369  398  429  440  475  522  531  590  637  658
 685  692  701  708  747  802  815  858  895  924  941  954  997 1010 1015
1036 1049 1058 1075 1088 1131 1156 1203 1232 1273 1282 1303 1312 1329 1338
1349 1362 1379 1384 1401 2217 1410 1421 1454 1487 1516 1549 1584 1599 1642
1661 1676 1697 1710 1715 1748 1767 1802 1835 1868 1883 1918 1933 1952 1961
1978 1987 2004 2017 2092 2097 2172   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1   -1
  -1

The sample file has 2221 values in the character table. The first character is '!'. Here is a summary of its points:

1. move to 5,140
2. draw to 5,70
3. move to 5,45
4. draw to 0,40
5. draw to 5,35
6. draw to 10,40
7. draw to 5,45
8. terminator

The lookup table specifies that characters 0 through 32 are not defined (-1). The space character (32) is automatically defined and need not be in the font file. The first defined character is 33, ! and it starts at value 0. The second defined character 34, " starts at value number 15. The first character has 7 X,Y points and a terminator for a total of 15 values.

SEE ALSO

For further information about WXP, email technical-support@weather.unisys.com
Last updated by Dan Vietor on August 10, 1998