Using a custom font (Roboto) in my application?

RED_ · October 19th, 2012, 11:40 AM

I recently decided to remake my UI, I had text built into my ImageViews which I was advised against, so I have now gone with TextViews, however I would like to carry on using the Roboto font. Is it possible to do so?

I have already added "Roboto-Light" to the assets/fonts folder but I'm looking for an easy way to implement it since I want some TextViews to have the font and some to be standard.

Is there a way I can do it in the XML? So I can select individual TextViews rather than the entire application?

Thanks for any advice. Appreciate it.

fiveHellions · October 19th, 2012, 11:57 AM

You can set it in code the following way. Not sure if there is an easy way to set it in xml.

TextView text = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textview03);
Typeface tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(), "fonts/Molot.otf");
text.setTypeface(tf);

RED_ · October 19th, 2012, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiveHellions

You can set it in code the following way. Not sure if there is an easy way to set it in xml.

TextView text = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textview03);
Typeface tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(), "fonts/Molot.otf");
text.setTypeface(tf);

Is there a global way I can set it? So I don't have to keep adding code for every TextView? As in, I don't make the entire application one font, but I could it in a way that I can refer to it when I need to use it. The code you provided pulls the font from the folder, maybe I can attach it to a style? Then name the style in my XML.

When I think about it I guess it wouldn't be that bad.. just have quite a lot of TextViews. In fact some of my pages will have tonnes.

fiveHellions · October 19th, 2012, 12:28 PM

As far as I've seen you can only set the built in fonts as part of a style.

You can create a custom class the extends textview. Here is an example I found:

Quote:

There is a fairly easy way to do this via XML. You just need to create your own widget that extends TextView.

First, create a file in res/values/attrs.xml with the following content:

Code:

<resources>
    <declare-styleable name="TypefacedTextView">
        <attr name="typeface" format="string" />
    </declare-styleable>
</resources>

After that, create your custom widget:

Code:

package your.package.widget;

public class TypefacedTextView extends TextView {

    public TypefacedTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);

        //Typeface.createFromAsset doesn't work in the layout editor. Skipping...
        if (isInEditMode()) {
            return;
        }

        TypedArray styledAttrs = context.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs, R.styleable.TypefacedTextView);
        String fontName = styledAttrs.getString(R.styleable.TypefacedTextView_typeface);
        styledAttrs.recycle();

        if (fontName != null) {
            Typeface typeface = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), fontName);
            setTypeface(typeface);
        }
    }

}

As you can see, the code above will read a font inside the assets/ folder. For this example, I am assuming that there is a file called "custom.ttf" in the assets folder. At last, use the widget in the XMLs:

Code:

<your.package.widget.TypefacedTextView
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:your_namespace="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/your.package"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="Custom fonts in XML are easy"
    android:textColor="#FFF"
    android:textSize="14dip"
    your_namespace:typeface="custom.ttf" />

Note: you won't be able to see your custom font in Eclipse's layout editor. This is why I put the isInEditMode() check. But if you run your app, the custom font will work like a charm.

RED_ · October 19th, 2012, 01:00 PM

Thanks. I think I'll take the long route, do it by each ID like you posted the first time around. I looked into the other way and apparently it creates a memory leak. For now I think it's creates a bit more work. You have to use a hashmap or something to fix it.

Thanks again.