How to make sure a font exists before using it with .NET

Question

I have a VB.NET Windows Forms project that at one point paints text directly to onto the form at runtime. Before I paint with the font though, I want to make sure that the font and font-size exists on the user's machine. If they don't, I'll try a few other similar fonts, eventually defaulting with Arial or something.

What's the best way to test and validate a font on a user's computer?

Answer 1

From an MSDN article titled "How To: Enumerate Installed Fonts", I found this code:

InstalledFontCollection installedFontCollection = new InstalledFontCollection();

// Get the array of FontFamily objects.
FontFamily[] fontFamilies = installedFontCollection.Families;

Answer 2

Here is one solution, in c#:

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        SetFontFinal();
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// This method attempts to set the font in the form to Cambria, which
    /// will only work in some scenarios. If Cambria is not available, it will
    /// fall back to Times New Roman, so the font is good on almost all systems.
    /// </summary>
    private void SetFontFinal()
    {
        string fontName = "Cambria";
        Font testFont = new Font(fontName, 16.0f, FontStyle.Regular,
            GraphicsUnit.Pixel);

        if (testFont.Name == fontName)
        {
            // The font exists, so use it.
            this.Font = testFont;
        }
        else
        {
            // The font we tested doesn't exist, so fallback to Times.
            this.Font = new Font("Times New Roman", 16.0f,
                FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
        }
    }
}

And here is one method in VB:

Public Function FontExists(FontName As String) As Boolean

    Dim oFont As New StdFont
    Dim bAns As Boolean

    oFont.Name = FontName
    bAns = StrComp(FontName, oFont.Name, vbTextCompare) = 0
    FontExists = bAns

End Function

Answer 3

See also this same question that results in this code:

    private bool IsFontInstalled(string fontName) {
        using (var testFont = new Font(fontName, 8)) {
            return 0 == string.Compare(
              fontName,
              testFont.Name,
              StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
        }
    }

Answer 4

Well this methods don't work.

I used "Arial Bold Italic" font and checked it came back FALSE although the font is present.

Answer 5

Arial Bold Italic is unlikely to be a font. It's a subclass of the Arial family.

Try keeping it simple and test for 'Arial'.