Custom font in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

Question

Hi,

I'm having issues with my SQL Reporting Services reports. I'm using a custom font for report headers, and when deployed to the server it does not render correctly when I print or export to PDF/TIFF. I have installed the font on the server. Is there anything else I need to do in order to use custom fonts?

When viewing the font in the browser it looks correct - since all client computers have the font installed...

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Thanks Ryan, your post to the FAQ solved the problem. Installing the fonts on the server fixes the print problem, as well as problems with charts (which are also rendered on the server). Like you point out (as well as being mentioned in the FAQ) Reporting Services 2005 does not do font embedding in PDF files. I guess that is okay for now - the most important part was being able to hit print and get the correct fonts.

The reason the fonts didn't show up straight away is answered in the FAQ:

Q: I've installed the font on my client/server but I still see ?'s or black boxes. Why? A: For the client machine, closing all instances of the PDF viewer then reopening them should fix the issue.

For the server, restarting the services should allow the PDF renderer to pick up the new font information.

Unfortunately, I have also seen times where I needed a full machine reboot to get the client/server to recognize the newly installed font.

Answer 1

The PDF files served up from SSRS, like many PDF files, have embedded postscript fonts. So, the local fonts used in the report are converted to a best matching postscript font when the conversion takes place so the PDF is totally portable without relying on locally installed fonts.

You can see the official MS guidelines and font requirements for SSRS PDF exports here: (SQL.90).aspx">SQL Server 2005 Books Online (September 2007) Designing for PDF Output. Also, this post should provide some help as well: Reporting Services: PDF Renderer FAQ

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Aspose apparently also has a component that claims to be able to add custom embedded fonts in SQL Report PDFs.

See Aspose.Pdf for Reporting Services

Aspose.Pdf for Reporting Services makes it possible generating PDF reports in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005 Reporting Services. Some advanced features like XMP metadata, custom embedded font and rendering watermark for pages are now supported. All RDL report features including sections, images, charts, tables, matrices, headers and footers are converted with the highest degree of precision to PDF.

I've not tried this component, so I can only share what it claims to be able to do.

Answer 2

We had to install NeoDynamic barcode software to render the barcode as an image since we can't include the barcode fonts in PDF exports.

Answer 3

I have used barcode fonts successfully with SSRS and PDF. You must have the font installed on both the server (for rendering and viewing from the browser), as well as from the client.

When using barcode fonts, there's not really a best "match" for postscript so the PDF does not have a valid barcode font embedded with the document, which just yieds a bunch of garbage text. To solve that, just install the font on the client computer that will view the PDF.

Answer 4

Note: I have found that when you install the fonts on the Reporting Services server box, you may need to:

= Actually open the font from the Fonts control panel, so you can see the preview

AND

= Reboot the server box.

And yes, I agree you should not need to do this - but I have seen it work.