Font.wlx 0.09 - Font Lister/Content plugin for Total Commander

1. Description

This is a lister/content plugin for Total Commander that allows you to display the glyphs and some additional properties of a font in the Lister or the QuickView window of Total Commander. It also makes a number of the font properties available as custom fields.

It has been tested with Total Commander 5.51 and later on Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Any older version of Windows is not supported.

2. Features

Support for Raster, Vector, TrueType, TrueType Collections, OpenType and PostScript Type 1 fonts.
Display the first 256 glyphs.
Support for Character Sets.
Support for Unicode blocks.
The font info can be selected and copied to the clipboard.
The font is displayed as a grid of glyph and as a sample text.
Zoom function of an individual glyph.

3. Download

Click here to download the latest version.

4. Installation

Copy the msvcr71.dll in your System32 folder if you don't have it yet. It is the standard Microsoft C++ runtime library.
Copy the file Font.wlx to your Total Commander's plugin folder.
If you want to run the plugin in another language:
- Copy the corresponding translation file Font.<language>.lng to your Total Commander's plugin folder where <language> is the language of your choice.
- Select the language on the Options page
Note: The file Font.English.lng is included as an example for translators and is not required if you run the plugin in English.
Select Options / Configure ... from the Lister menu to open the Configure Lister dialog.
Enable the Load bitmaps as graphics at startup option.
Click on the LS-Plugins button to open the Lister Plugins dialog and add the plugin.

5. Usage

The plugin will be used when you view a raster, vector, TrueType, OpenType, TrueType Collection, or PostScript Type 1 with the lister of Total Commander. It registers support for the following file extensions with Total Commander: TTF, TTC, OTF, FON and PFM.

The font information is spread over 3 tab pages with an additional tab page for the options of the plugin.

The Glyphs page

This page displays the glyphs of the selected font. By default it displays the first 256 Windows ANSI characters in the default code page of the system. The first 128 characters are identical to the ASCII character set, the next 128 are different for each ANSI character set.

Each glyph is displayed in a cell. At the top of the cell is the glyph number displayed in hexadecimal format. You can used this code in HTML documents: Ω will display a capital omega Ω. When you click on a cell with the left mousebutton, a zoomed version of the glyph will be displayed as long as the mousebutton is pressed and the mouse remains over the zoomed area. The zoomed area also contains the glyph number in hexadecimal and decimal and the selected glyph rendered in the current user-interface font.

With the combo-box in the top-left corner of the page you can select another Unicode block to display. The entries can be sorted ascending or descending by block range or by block description.
Note: the ANSI block is a pseudo-block added for convenience and is not defined by the Unicode standard. It will always be the first entry in the combo-box.

The top-right combo-box allows you to select a different Windows code page. The OEM code set f.e. contains the DOS linedraw characters.

At the bottom of the page is an edit box and a slider which can be used to set the size of the font used to draw the glyphs.

The Info page

This page will display information that is embedded in the font file and information about the font reported by Windows. You can select all or part of the information by clicking and dragging the mouse and use Ctrl-C to copy the selected text to the clipboard.

The Sample page

This page will display a sample text in the currently selected font. You can edit the text as you like. The changed text will be stored and used when viewing other fonts.

At the bottom of the page is an edit box and a slider which can be used to set the size of the font used to draw the sample.

The Options page

The Zoom Box Font Size is the size of the font used to display the Zoom Box expressed in points.

The Zoom Box Width and Height is the width and height of the Zoom Box expressed in pixels.

The Sort Unicode Blocks by combo-box allows you to select in which order the Unicode Blocks are displayed.

The User Interface Language determines the language used to display the user interface. The contents depends on the language files that are available. English is always available.
Note: A new language selection is only used after the plugin is closed and re-opened.

The Save Current options determine which settings will be saved and re-used when the plugin closes and re-opens.

When Tab Page is checked the plugin re-opens with the last displayed Tab page.
When Unicode Block is checked the plugin re-opens with the last selected Unicode block.
When Character Set is checked the plugin re-opens with the last selected character set.
When Sample Text is checked the plugin re-opens with the last used sample text.

Custom Fields

The plugin makes the following fields available for custom views or content searching:

Name
Family
Style
Identifier
PostScript Name
PostScript CID
Type
Version
Copyright
Manufacturer
Designer
Width Class

Keyboard short-cuts

Next tab page	Ctrl-PgDn or Ctrl-Tab
Previous tab page	Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-Shift-Tab
Next control	Ctrl-Right
Previous control	Ctrl-Left
Close window	Esc

6. Translations

The plugin looks for language files that have the format Font.<Language>.lng in the same folder as where the plugin exists. The languages are displayed on the Options page.

You can create new translations by using the Font.English.lng file as a template. The language files are text files that can be opened with any text editor.

The Font.English.lng file is not required if you use the plugin in English.

7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The plugin does not work.

Check if the plugin is correctly installed using the installation procedure and that you have not installed any other Lister plugin that works with font files.
The plugin does not display any raster or vector fonts.

Check if you have installed another Lister plugin that displays information about executables such as the excellent FileInfo plugin by François Gannier. Raster and vector fonts have the format of a 16-bit DLL and this plugin will open it.
Move the Font.wlx plugin before the FileInfo.wlx in the installed plugin list.

8. Known problems

Some fonts don't report their supported Unicode blocks correctly or consistently.
Some raster fonts such as vgas1256.fon can't be loaded.
The Sample page does not work with vector fonts.
To view a PostScript Type 1 font, select the .PFM file. The corresponding .PFB file must be in the same folder.
Only the first font of a TrueType Font Collection is displayed.
The Options page does not have a keyboard interface.
The field names are not localized yet.

9. Acknowledgements

Thanks to Pete on the Total Commander Plugin Development & Support forum for testing each version and providing usefull feedback.
Thanks to Krizsik József for the Hungarian translation.
Thanks to Sheridan & Tchanturia Irakly for the Russian translation.
Thanks to lu for the Ukranian translation.
Thanks to Fabio Chelly for the French translation.
Thanks to Aleg Azarouski for the Belarussian translation.
Thanks to Jan Romanczyk for the Polish translation.
Thanks to Christian Ghisler for developing Total Commander.

10. Not implemented yet

Support for TrueType resource files (FOT).
Support for Multiple Master fonts (MMM).
Printing

11. History

2005-02-04 Version 0.09

Added some Unicode 4.0 ranges.
Added Content plug-in API.

2005-01-03 Version 0.08 Silent Update

Added Polish translation.

2004-09-14 Version 0.08 Silent Update

Added Belarussian translation.

2004-04-20 Version 0.08 Silent Update

Added French translation.

2004-01-28 Version 0.08 Silent Update

Added Ukranian translation.

2003-12-23 Version 0.08 Silent Update

Updated Russian translation.

2003-12-13 Version 0.08 Silent Update

Added Hungarian translation.
Added Russian translation.

2003-08-23 Version 0.08

Improved the keyboard interface of the plugin.
Added support for translations.
Added controls to change the size of the Glyphs and the Sample font.
Implemented the Options page.

2003-08-20 Version 0.07

Improved the keyboard interface of the plugin.
Added support for TrueType Font Collections (TTC). Note that this means that the plugin detection string has been expanded again.
Updated the Unicode block ranges and descriptions to be in line with Unicode 4.0.
Small cosmetic changes to the Zoom window.
Added an option to change the size of the Zoom window.
Implemented the sorting of the Unicode blocks.
Expanded the documentation a little.

2003-08-17 Version 0.06

Bug fix: Removed the extra set of quotes again.
Added the filename of the current font to the Info page.
The TrueType/OpenType version is displayed when applicable.
The Width class of a font is displayed when applicable.
The weight, italic and underline design parameters are used when found.
The Copyright string for raster fonts wasn't displayed.
Added support for PostScript Type 1 fonts (PFM).
Added support for OpenType fonts (OTF).

2003-08-15 Version 0.05

Bug fix: The raster and vector font type descriptions were switched.
Bug fix: The keyboard short-cuts of the Lister window didn't work anymore after a glyph had been zoomed.
Bug fix: Removed spaces from the plugin detection string and added an extra set of quotes.
Bug fix: Memory leak in the font info.
Bug fix: Clicking on the up/down controls caused an unnecessary refresh of the complete plugin window resulting in an annoying flickering.
The Characters range has been renamed to ASCII and displays the first 256 characters.
Added support for character sets.
All characters of a character set or a Unicode block are now displayed instead of just those that the font says it supports.
The Glyph Zoom window now pops up when you click the left mousebutton and disappears when you release it or when the mouse leaves the window.
Added some more font information and the Code Pages that the font supports.
Code optimizations. The plugin and the Zoom window should be a very little bit faster.
Code cleanup.

2003-08-13 Version 0.04

Fixed a small offset bug in the Glyphs page.
Fixed a synchronisation bug between the Unicode droplist and the left/right control.
Added support for Windows raster and vector fonts.
Added a label to the Info page describing the font type (raster vector, TrueType)
The scroll bar of the Glyphs page remains visible, even when not necessary, to prevent the grid from resizing. This should be easier on the eyes when scrolling through a list of fonts.
Added a zoom function. Click on a glyph with the left mousebutton to display a zoomed version.
If a font can't be loaded an error message will be displayed on the Glyphs page.
Converted this ReadMe file to HTML.

2003-08-12 Version 0.03

Implemented the user-interface.
The Info page displays the supported Unicode blocks of the font.
Implemented the saving and loading of plug-in options.

2003-08-11 Version 0.02

First attempt at supporting the Unicode blocks.
Added support for some more font identification strings.
Renamed the plugin to Font.wlx.

2003-06-12 Version 0.01

First release.

12. Contact

Any bug reports or suggestions are welcome.

Author: Peter Stuer
Email : mailto://Peter.Stuer@telenet.be
Web : http://users.telenet.be/liontech

Copyright © 2003-2005 by Peter Stuer. All rights reserved.

German translation of the Readme file © 2003 by Peter Firmkaes (alias Pete in Total Commander Forum).

Total Commander is an international trademark of Ghisler & Co.

13. No Warranty

Because the program or document is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty for the program, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the program "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchant ability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.

In no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder, or any other party who may modify and/or redistribute the program or document as permitted above, be liable to you for damages, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program or document (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or a failure of the program to operate with any other programs), even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages.