GSET_TEXT_FONT_PREC(3NCARG)

✨ GSET_TEXT_FONT_PREC ✨ (aka the NCAR Graphics glow-up for your letters)

okay so bestie, welcome to gset_text_font_prec from the NCAR Graphics manual (the 3NCARG section, we're in the C-binding girlie zone 💅). Full name on the birth certificate: gset_text_font_prec (Set text font and precision). And what does she do? She sets the text font and precision. That's it. That's the whole job. Iconic, lowkey, no notes. 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <ncarg/gks.h>

void gset_text_font_prec(const Gtext_font_prec *text_font_prec);

yes bestie, one function, one pointer, one struct. slay.

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So you pass in a Gtext_font_prec struct and it has two fields you need to care about, and I'm gonna walk you through both like we're doing a vibe check together. 🫶

text_font_prec.font

(Gint, Input) — this picks the text font that all your later calls to the gtext output primitive are gonna use. Here's the whole menu, no cap:

• 1 — ASCII font (this is the default, the main character 👑)
• -2 — Hershey cartographic Roman
• -3 — Hershey cartographic Greek
• -4 — Hershey simplex Roman
• -5 — Hershey simplex Greek
• -6 — Hershey simplex script
• -7 — Hershey complex Roman
• -8 — Hershey complex Greek
• -9 — Hershey complex script
• -10 — Hershey complex italic
• -11 — Hershey complex Cyrillic
• -12 — Hershey duplex Roman
• -13 — Hershey triplex Roman
• -14 — Hershey triplex italic
• -15 — Hershey Gothic German
• -16 — Hershey Gothic English
• -17 — Hershey Gothic Italian
• -18 — Hershey math symbols
• -19 — Hershey symbol set 1
• -20 — Hershey symbol set 2

okay so important lore drop: the Hershey fonts are not standardized by GKS. They're locally implemented inside NCAR GKS-0A, and GKS literally requires that locally implemented fonts get assigned negative font numbers. That's why all the Hershey ones are negative, bestie, it's not a typo, it's the rules. 📜

wanna actually see the Hershey fonts? go look at the plots produced from the PLOTCHAR example — run "ncargex epltch" to get a metafile — and then examine the plot titled "PLCHHQ - FONTCAP DATABASES ADDED 6/90". The font numbers in that plot are the absolute values of the value for text_font_prec.font described up here. (PLOTCHAR doesn't have to follow the structures GKS imposes on font names for gset_text_font_prec, so it gets to be a little rebel about it. 🙈)

text_font_prec.prec

(Input) — this one gives the precision used in later calls to the gtext output primitive, for the font type in text_font_prec.font. Options are:

• GPREC_STRING — String precision (good). This is the GKS default.
• GPREC_CHAR — Character precision (better).
• GPREC_STROKE — Stroke precision (best). This is the default for NCAR GSK-0A.

so like, good → better → best, we love a glow-up arc. ✨

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🌈 USAGE 🌈

real talk, there's a difference depending on how you get to the Hershey fonts:

• if you access the Hershey fonts via gset_text_font_prec and gtext, then the characters are not stroked until viewing time.
• if you access the Hershey fonts via PLOTCHAR, then the characters are stroked by PLOTCHAR itself.

and this can make a significant difference in metafile sizes, so choose wisely, bestie. it's giving "one tiny choice, big consequences." 💀

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🦋 ACCESS 🦋

to use the GKS C-binding routines, you gotta load the ncarg_gks and ncarg_c libraries. link them, don't ghost them. 🔥

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

Online:

gtext(3NCARG), gset_text_path(3NCARG), gset_text_align(3NCARG), gset_char_ht(3NCARG), gset_char_space(3NCARG), gset_char_up_vec(3NCARG), gset_char_expan(3NCARG), gset_colr_rep(3NCARG), gset_text_colr_ind(3NCARG), ginq_text_path(3NCARG), ginq_text_align(3NCARG), ginq_text_font_prec(3NCARG), ginq_char_ht(3NCARG), ginq_char_space(3NCARG), ginq_char_up_vec(3NCARG), ginq_char_expan(3NCARG), plotchar(3NCARG), gks(3NCARG), ncarg_gks_cbind(3NCARG)

Hardcopy:

User's Guide for NCAR GKS-0A Graphics; NCAR Graphics Fundamentals, UNIX Version

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🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

Copyright (C) 1987-2009 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research The use of this Software is governed by a License Agreement.

bestie please actually read the license agreement, I'm begging 🥺 legal stuff is real stuff.

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okay that's the whole page, you ate it, you understood it, periodt. 💅

this was the GSET_TEXT_FONT_PREC(3NCARG) page from the NCAR GRAPHICS manual — the UNIX flavor, dated March 1993 — so shoutout to the vintage girlies who kept these docs alive. bye bestie, go stroke some characters 🦋✨🌸