FreeType support

Interface to FreeType to generate font bitmaps run time.

Install FreeType

  • Download Freetype from here

  • make

  • sudo make install

Add FreeType to your project

  • Add include path: /usr/include/freetype2 (for GCC: -I/usr/include/freetype2 -L/usr/local/lib)

  • Add library: freetype (for GCC: -L/usr/local/lib -lfreetype)

Usage

Enable LV_USE_FREETYPE in lv_conf.h.

To cache the glyphs from the opened fonts, set LV_FREETYPE_CACHE_SIZE >= 0 and then use the following macros for detailed configuration:

  1. LV_FREETYPE_CACHE_SIZE:maximum memory(bytes) used to cache font bitmap, outline, character maps, etc. 0 means use the system default value, less than 0 means disable cache. Note: that this value does not account for managed FT_Face and FT_Size objects.

  2. LV_FREETYPE_CACHE_FT_FACES:maximum number of opened FT_Face objects managed by this cache instance.0 means use the system default value. Only useful when LV_FREETYPE_CACHE_SIZE >= 0.

  3. LV_FREETYPE_CACHE_FT_SIZES:maximum number of opened FT_Size objects managed by this cache instance. 0 means use the system default value. Only useful when LV_FREETYPE_CACHE_SIZE >= 0.

When you are sure that all the used font sizes will not be greater than 256, you can enable LV_FREETYPE_SBIT_CACHE, which is much more memory efficient for small bitmaps.

You can use lv_ft_font_init() to create FreeType fonts. It returns true to indicate success, at the same time, the font member of lv_ft_info_t will be filled with a pointer to an LVGL font, and you can use it like any LVGL font.

Font style supports bold and italic, you can use the following macros to set:

  1. FT_FONT_STYLE_NORMAL:default style.

  2. FT_FONT_STYLE_ITALIC:Italic style

  3. FT_FONT_STYLE_BOLD:bold style

They can be combined.eg:FT_FONT_STYLE_BOLD | FT_FONT_STYLE_ITALIC.

Note that, the FreeType extension doesn't use LVGL's file system. You can simply pass the path to the font as usual on your operating system or platform.

Example

Open a front with FreeType

C code  

 GitHub

MicroPython code  

 GitHub Simulator

Learn more

API

Enums

enum LV_FT_FONT_STYLE

Values:

enumerator FT_FONT_STYLE_NORMAL
enumerator FT_FONT_STYLE_ITALIC
enumerator FT_FONT_STYLE_BOLD

Functions

bool lv_freetype_init(uint16_t max_faces, uint16_t max_sizes, uint32_t max_bytes)

init freetype library

Parameters
  • max_faces -- Maximum number of opened FT_Face objects managed by this cache instance. Use 0 for defaults.

  • max_sizes -- Maximum number of opened FT_Size objects managed by this cache instance. Use 0 for defaults.

  • max_bytes -- Maximum number of bytes to use for cached data nodes. Use 0 for defaults. Note that this value does not account for managed FT_Face and FT_Size objects.

Returns

true on success, otherwise false.

void lv_freetype_destroy(void)

Destroy freetype library

bool lv_ft_font_init(lv_ft_info_t *info)

Creates a font with info parameter specified.

Parameters

info -- See lv_ft_info_t for details. when success, lv_ft_info_t->font point to the font you created.

Returns

true on success, otherwise false.

void lv_ft_font_destroy(lv_font_t *font)

Destroy a font that has been created.

Parameters

font -- pointer to font.

struct lv_ft_info_t

Public Members

const char *name
const void *mem
size_t mem_size
lv_font_t *font
uint16_t weight
uint16_t style