Another Font Chooser Dialog

Keith Vetter 2006-06-22 : Here's yet another Font Chooser Dialog.

I didn't like any of the existing ones: A little font chooser, A small font chooser, Font selector program (Raney) and one by DKF at http://people.man.ac.uk/~zzcgudf/tcl/mwidx.html#fontdlg . What I really wanted is the native Windows ChooseFont dialog, but that's still on the wish list.

So, here's my version of the font chooser dialog which tries to emulate the native Windows dialog closely. It will use the tile package if present (and looks much better).

http://www.geocities.ws/thezipguy/misc/fontcd_01.png

schlenk For a C implementation of the native windows font chooser for Tk see: http://www.self-tcl.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1280&highlight=choosefont also at: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1477426&group_id=12997&atid=312997

MG As someone who's only ever really used Windoze, I think this is probably (one of) the best looking font selection widgets I've seen. Two things that would be nice additions, though:

  • the ability to type in a font (either by entering its (partial?) name in the entry widget, or by clicking in the listbox and typing some of the name in. Same goes for font size, particularly for entering sizes which aren't in the list like 15 point.
  • The ability to scroll the list of fonts (and the list of point sizes) with the mouse wheel

(One other thing I noticed is that the borders on the labelframes for Effects/Sample go very close to the labels themselves - there's usually a small amount of padding around the text, I think? - though I suspect that's something that stems from Tile, as opposed to this code specifically.)

Even without those features, this is very nice. Thanks for sharing it, Keith :) Now I just need to find time to update the font selectors in all my apps...

KPV Two good points. For the first, I deliberately disabled typing in data for this version because I needed something fast. Getting all the details right is tricky. (Done, see below.)

For the mousewheel, take a look at tip 171 [L1 ]. That code will make the mousewheel work like you expect it to--actually it will work better than Microsoft's dialog. (NB. to get tip 171 to work with tile's scrollbar, you have to modify the code to recognize "TScrollbar".)

KPV 20060627 : added ability to type in values for font, style and size.

 ##+##########################################################################
 #
 # ::ChooseFont -- yet another font chooser dialog
 # by Keith Vetter, June 2006
 #
 # usage: set font [::ChooseFont::ChooseFont]
 # usage: set font [::ChooseFont::ChooseFont "Helvetica 8 italic"]
 #
 
 package require Tk
 catch {package require tile}                    ;# Not needed, but looks better
 
 namespace eval ::ChooseFont {
    variable S
 
    set S(W) .cfont
    set S(fonts) [lsort -dictionary [font families]]
    set S(styles) {Regular Italic Bold "Bold Italic"}
 
    set S(sizes) {8 9 10 11 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 36 48 72}
    set S(strike) 0
    set S(under) 0
    set S(first) 1
 
    set S(fonts,lcase) {}
    foreach font $S(fonts) { lappend S(fonts,lcase) [string tolower $font]}
    set S(styles,lcase) {regular italic bold "bold italic"}
    set S(sizes,lcase) $S(sizes)
 
 }
 proc ::ChooseFont::ChooseFont {{defaultFont ""}} {
    variable S
 
    destroy $S(W)
    toplevel $S(W) -padx 10 -pady 10
    wm title $S(W) "Font"
 
    set tile [expr {[catch {package present tile}] ? "" : "::ttk"}]
 
    ${tile}::label $S(W).font -text "Font:"
    ${tile}::label $S(W).style -text "Font style:"
    ${tile}::label $S(W).size -text "Size:"
    entry $S(W).efont -textvariable ::ChooseFont::S(font) ;# -state disabled
    entry $S(W).estyle -textvariable ::ChooseFont::S(style) ;# -state disabled
    entry $S(W).esize -textvariable ::ChooseFont::S(size) -width 0 \
        -validate key -vcmd {string is double %P}
 
    ${tile}::scrollbar $S(W).sbfonts -command [list $S(W).lfonts yview]
    listbox $S(W).lfonts -listvariable ::ChooseFont::S(fonts) -height 7 \
        -yscroll [list $S(W).sbfonts set] -height 7 -exportselection 0
    listbox $S(W).lstyles -listvariable ::ChooseFont::S(styles) -height 7 \
        -exportselection 0
    ${tile}::scrollbar $S(W).sbsizes -command [list $S(W).lsizes yview]
    listbox $S(W).lsizes -listvariable ::ChooseFont::S(sizes) \
        -yscroll [list $S(W).sbsizes set] -width 6 -height 7 -exportselection 0
 
    bind $S(W).lfonts <<ListboxSelect>> [list ::ChooseFont::Click font]
    bind $S(W).lstyles <<ListboxSelect>> [list ::ChooseFont::Click style]
    bind $S(W).lsizes <<ListboxSelect>> [list ::ChooseFont::Click size]
 
    set WE $S(W).effects
    ${tile}::labelframe $WE -text "Effects"
    ${tile}::checkbutton $WE.strike -variable ::ChooseFont::S(strike) \
        -text Strikeout -command [list ::ChooseFont::Click strike]
    ${tile}::checkbutton $WE.under -variable ::ChooseFont::S(under) \
        -text Underline -command [list ::ChooseFont::Click under]
 
    ${tile}::button $S(W).ok -text OK -command [list ::ChooseFont::Done 1]
    ${tile}::button $S(W).cancel -text Cancel -command [list ::ChooseFont::Done 0]
    wm protocol $S(W) WM_DELETE_WINDOW [list ::ChooseFont::Done 0]
 
    grid $S(W).font - x $S(W).style - x $S(W).size - x -sticky w
    grid $S(W).efont - x $S(W).estyle - x $S(W).esize - x $S(W).ok -sticky ew
    grid $S(W).lfonts $S(W).sbfonts x \
        $S(W).lstyles - x \
        $S(W).lsizes $S(W).sbsizes x \
        $S(W).cancel -sticky news
    grid config $S(W).cancel -sticky n -pady 5
    grid columnconfigure $S(W) {2 5 8} -minsize 10
    grid columnconfigure $S(W) {0 3 6} -weight 1
 
    grid $WE.strike -sticky w -padx 10
    grid $WE.under -sticky w -padx 10
    grid columnconfigure $WE 1 -weight 1
    grid $WE - x -sticky news -row 100 -column 0
 
    set WS $S(W).sample
    ${tile}::labelframe $WS -text "Sample"
    label $WS.fsample -bd 2 -relief sunken
    label $WS.fsample.sample -text "AaBbYyZz"
    set S(sample) $WS.fsample.sample
    pack $WS.fsample -fill both -expand 1 -padx 10 -pady 10 -ipady 15
    pack $WS.fsample.sample -fill both -expand 1
    pack propagate $WS.fsample 0
 
    grid rowconfigure $S(W) 2 -weight 1
    grid rowconfigure $S(W) 99 -minsize 30
    grid $WS - - - - -sticky news -row 100 -column 3
    grid rowconfigure $S(W) 101 -minsize 30
 
    trace add variable ::ChooseFont::S(size) write ::ChooseFont::Tracer
    trace add variable ::ChooseFont::S(style) write ::ChooseFont::Tracer
    trace add variable ::ChooseFont::S(font) write ::ChooseFont::Tracer
    ::ChooseFont::Init $defaultFont
    tkwait window $S(W)
    return $S(result)
 }
 
 proc ::ChooseFont::Done {ok} {
    if {! $ok} {set ::ChooseFont::S(result) ""}
    destroy $::ChooseFont::S(W)
 }
 proc ::ChooseFont::Init {{defaultFont ""}} {
    variable S
 
    if {$S(first) || $defaultFont ne ""} {
        if {$defaultFont eq ""} {
            set defaultFont [[entry .___e] cget -font]
            destroy .___e
        }
        array set F [font actual $defaultFont]
        set S(font) $F(-family)
        set S(size) $F(-size)
        set S(strike) $F(-overstrike)
        set S(under) $F(-underline)
        set S(style) "Regular"
        if {$F(-weight) eq "bold" && $F(-slant) eq "italic"} {
            set S(style) "Bold Italic"
        } elseif {$F(-weight) eq "bold"} {
            set S(style) "Bold"
        } elseif {$F(-slant) eq "italic"} {
            set S(style) "Italic"
        }
 
        set S(first) 0
    }
 
    ::ChooseFont::Tracer a b c
    ::ChooseFont::Show
 }
 
 proc ::ChooseFont::Click {who} {
    variable S
 
    if {$who eq "font"} {
        set S(font) [$S(W).lfonts get [$S(W).lfonts curselection]]
    } elseif {$who eq "style"} {
        set S(style) [$S(W).lstyles get [$S(W).lstyles curselection]]
    } elseif {$who eq "size"} {
        set S(size) [$S(W).lsizes get [$S(W).lsizes curselection]]
    }
    ::ChooseFont::Show
 }
 proc ::ChooseFont::Tracer {var1 var2 op} {
    variable S
 
    set bad 0
    set nstate normal
    # Make selection in each listbox
    foreach var {font style size} {
        set value [string tolower $S($var)]
        $S(W).l${var}s selection clear 0 end
        set n [lsearch -exact $S(${var}s,lcase) $value]
        $S(W).l${var}s selection set $n
        if {$n != -1} {
            set S($var) [lindex $S(${var}s) $n]
            $S(W).e$var icursor end
            $S(W).e$var selection clear
        } else {                                ;# No match, try prefix
            # Size is weird: valid numbers are legal but don't display
            # unless in the font size list
            set n [lsearch -glob $S(${var}s,lcase) "$value*"]
            set bad 1
            if {$var ne "size" || ! [string is double -strict $value]} {
                set nstate disabled
            }
        }
        $S(W).l${var}s see $n
    }
    if {! $bad} ::ChooseFont::Show
    $S(W).ok config -state $nstate
 }
 
 proc ::ChooseFont::Show {} {
    variable S
 
    set S(result) [list $S(font) $S(size)]
    if {$S(style) eq "Bold"} { lappend S(result) bold }
    if {$S(style) eq "Italic"} { lappend S(result) italic }
    if {$S(style) eq "Bold Italic"} { lappend S(result) bold italic}
    if {$S(strike)} { lappend S(result) overstrike}
    if {$S(under)} { lappend S(result) underline}
 
    $S(sample) config -font $S(result)
 }
 
 
 # Quick test
 set font [::ChooseFont::ChooseFont "Arial 12 bold"]
 puts "font is '$font'"
 return

SeS 10th Jan 2013:

tG² v1.07.01 makes happily usage of this font chooser, thanks. During repeated call of this font menu, I noticed sluggish popup of the toplevel after, say, the 10th time. It gets worse and worse after each call, the delay by the time the toplevel of the font chooser is visible can take up to many seconds, depending how many times the font chooser is opened and closed.

After debugging, I discovered that it is related with the fact that the 3 tracer variables are not removed when the font chooser is closed. So adding the following after "tkwait window $S(W)" will solve this problem:

    trace remove variable ::ChooseFont::S(size) write ::ChooseFont::Tracer
    trace remove variable ::ChooseFont::S(style) write ::ChooseFont::Tracer
    trace remove variable ::ChooseFont::S(font) write ::ChooseFont::Tracer

Zipguy 2013-09-01 - You can find out my email address by clicking on Zipguy. Thanks Kieth, it looks great! I added the screenshot and added a new page called Font Choosers, which references this, to organize them a liitle bit.

SeS 4th Nov 2015

Usually, a source editor's text widget is set to be using mono spaced fonts, by the user. But, the internal 'font -families' command of tcl/tk does not distinguish between mono spaced or vectored fonts, and returns them all. So, it's trial and error to understand which fonts are mono spaced. This can be made more easy, I figured...

So, created a few lines in a proc called 'findFontClass', which extracts all mono font types. See Find mono spaced fonts

Secondly, added the following to the ::ChooseFont namespace :

proc ::ChooseFont::markMonos {{clr blue}} {
  variable S
  if {![info exists S(fm)]} {set S(fm) [findFontClass]}
  set i 0
  foreach f $S(fonts) {
    if {[lsearch $S(fm) $f]>=0} {$S(W).lfonts itemconfigure $i -fg $clr}
    incr i
  }
}

Just before calling 'tkwait window $S(W)', we can execute ::ChooseFont::markMonos to color all mono spaced fonts in the listbox widget to a color of choice, default=blue.

Category ExampleCategory CharactersCategory GUICategory Widget
Updated 2022-04-11 10:00:30