XLoadFont can generate BadAlloc and BadName errors.
The XQueryFont function returns a pointer to the XFontStruct structure, which contains information associated with the font. You can query a font or the font stored in a GC. The font ID stored in the XFontStruct structure will be the GContext ID, and you need to be careful when using this ID in other functions (see XGContextFromGC). If the font does not exist, XQueryFont returns NULL. To free this data, use XFreeFontInfo.
XLoadQueryFont can generate a BadAlloc error.
The XLoadQueryFont function provides the most common way for accessing a font. XLoadQueryFont both opens (loads) the specified font and returns a pointer to the appropriate XFontStruct structure. If the font name is not in the Host Portable Character Encoding, the result is implementation-dependent. If the font does not exist, XLoadQueryFont returns NULL.
The XFreeFont function deletes the association between the font resource ID and the specified font and frees the XFontStruct structure. The font itself will be freed when no other resource references it. The data and the font should not be referenced again.
XFreeFont can generate a BadFont error.
Given the atom for that property, the XGetFontProperty function returns the value of the specified font property. XGetFontProperty also returns False if the property was not defined or True if it was defined. A set of predefined atoms exists for font properties, which can be found in This set contains the standard properties associated with a font. Although it is not guaranteed, it is likely that the predefined font properties will be present.
The XUnloadFont function deletes the association between the font resource ID and the specified font. The font itself will be freed when no other resource references it. The font should not be referenced again.
XUnloadFont can generate a BadFont error.
typedef struct {
short lbearing; /* origin to left edge of raster */
short rbearing; /* origin to right edge of raster */
short width; /* advance to next char's origin */
short ascent; /* baseline to top edge of raster */
short descent; /* baseline to bottom edge of raster */
unsigned short attributes; /* per char flags (not predefined) */
} XCharStruct;
typedef struct {
Atom name;
unsigned long card32;
} XFontProp;
typedef struct { /* normal 16 bit characters are two bytes */
unsigned char byte1;
unsigned char byte2;
} XChar2b;
typedef struct {
XExtData *ext_data; /* hook for extension to hang data */
Font fid; /* Font id for this font */
unsigned direction; /* hint about the direction font is painted */
unsigned min_char_or_byte2; /* first character */
unsigned max_char_or_byte2; /* last character */
unsigned min_byte1; /* first row that exists */
unsigned max_byte1; /* last row that exists */
Bool all_chars_exist; /* flag if all characters have nonzero size */
unsigned default_char; /* char to print for undefined character */
int n_properties; /* how many properties there are */
XFontProp *properties; /* pointer to array of additional properties */
XCharStruct min_bounds; /* minimum bounds over all existing char */
XCharStruct max_bounds; /* maximum bounds over all existing char */
XCharStruct *per_char; /* first_char to last_char information */
int ascent; /* logical extent above baseline for spacing */
int descent; /* logical decent below baseline for spacing */
} XFontStruct;
X supports single byte/character, two bytes/character matrix, and 16-bit character text operations. Note that any of these forms can be used with a font, but a single byte/character text request can only specify a single byte (that is, the first row of a 2-byte font). You should view 2-byte fonts as a two-dimensional matrix of defined characters: byte1 specifies the range of defined rows and byte2 defines the range of defined columns of the font. Single byte/character fonts have one row defined, and the byte2 range specified in the structure defines a range of characters.
The bounding box of a character is defined by the XCharStruct of that character. When characters are absent from a font, the default_char is used. When fonts have all characters of the same size, only the information in the XFontStruct min and max bounds are used.
The members of the XFontStruct have the following semantics:
byte1 = N/D + min_byte1
byte2 = N\D + min_char_or_byte2
where:
D = max_char_or_byte2 - min_char_or_byte2 + 1
/ = integer division
\\ = integer modulus
[x + min_bounds.lbearing, y - max_bounds.ascent]
max_bounds.rbearing - min_bounds.lbearing
max_bounds.ascent + max_bounds.descent
For a character origin at [x,y], the bounding box of a character (that is, the smallest rectangle that encloses the character's shape) described in terms of XCharStruct components is a rectangle with its upper-left corner at:
[x + lbearing, y - ascent]
Its width is:
rbearing - lbearing
Its height is:
ascent + descent
The origin for the next character is defined to be:
[x + width, y]
The lbearing member defines the extent of the left edge of the character ink from the origin. The rbearing member defines the extent of the right edge of the character ink from the origin. The ascent member defines the extent of the top edge of the character ink from the origin. The descent member defines the extent of the bottom edge of the character ink from the origin. The width member defines the logical width of the character.