Font knowledge

Using the techniques shown here, a user can assign a character set (encoding) to a font, create a new encoding, and define the PostScript font name to be used in EPS file generation.

MathFlow contains knowledge of the fonts and characters it works with, which results in improved formatting and translation into EPS. Most of this knowledge is in the form of tables built into the code. However, this information can be extended via the FontInfo.ini file external to the program, allowing it to be expanded and corrected without having to change the application itself.

Defining the encoding for a font falls into two cases:

Once you have decided to assign an encoding to a font, the next step is to determine if its character set matches that of a font for which our software already has an encoding. This is easy if you designed your own font as a perfect substitute for another font that our software already knows about. For example, if you created your own version of the Symbol font, its encoding would be the same as the Symbol font's — "Symbol". If you aren't in this lucky situation, you'll have to work a bit harder. There are a couple of ways to do this:

If you found an encoding that matches your new font, you have to tell MathFlow about it by adding to the Fonts section of FontInfo.ini. See The FontInfo.ini file and Font sections for details. If you assign an encoding to a font, you should consider letting our tech support department know so we can add it to the built-in font knowledge of the next version of our software. Just send an email to support@wiris.com and mention the font name and the encoding name (please be precise). If you can, send us a copy of the font and any other information associated with it. If it is a commercially available font, let us know who makes it.

As stated earlier, our software produces Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files. These must refer to fonts using the PostScript names of fonts, not their operating system name (the font names listed in MathType and other applications' dialogs and menus. So, for example, "Times New Roman" must be referred to as "Times-Roman" in an EPS file. Unfortunately, this is another piece of information that the operating system doesn't give up easily.

On Windows, our software can generally communicate with the operating system to get the PostScript name for any PostScript font. Names obtained this way are the correct ones for use in an EPS file. For TrueType fonts used both for the screen and printing, our software can often, but not always, obtain the PostScript name from the TrueType font. In order to handle exception cases, however, you can set the PostScript name for a font by adding to the Fonts section of FontInfo.ini. See The FontInfo.ini file and Font sections for details.

Creating a new font encoding is easy, but a bit tedious. Font encodings are defined using a text file that is placed in the same directory as the MathFlow DLL. For an example of what this file should look like, see Font encoding example.

The filename should follow these rules:

FontEncoding, 1.0, Byte, Symbol

Your encoding file's first line must start with exactly "FontEncoding, 1.0", which identifies this file as a font encoding file whose version number is 1.0. The rest of the line consists of either Byte or Word. This means that the MTCode value will be either two or four hexadecimal characters. For example, if you use Byte, then an MTCode value is expressed as (for example) AE. If you use Word, then that same number must be expressed as 00AE. The last part of this line is the name of your encoding. So for example, instead of "Symbol", you should use the name of your encoding (which is also what the name of the file should be, followed by .enc). The name of an encoding should be alphanumeric characters without any spaces or punctuation and starting with a letter (e.g. DatapageMath3).

Any blank lines are ignored. Any line that starts with # is a comment. For example:

# Purpose: Symbol font encoding

The rest of the file must contain lines that define the characters in the encoding. For example,

28,226E,Not less-than

The three fields are (from left to right):

FontEncoding, 1.0, Byte, MathPi4
#
# This is an example of a font encoding file.
#
20,0020,Space
21,22D0,Double subset
22,22C2,N-ary intersection
23,2286,Subset of or equal to
24,2287,Superset of or equal to
25,E915,Approximate subset of
26,E917,Subset of with dot; is included in as sub-relation
27,2283,Superset of
28,E971,Subset over subset
29,E970,Superset over superset
2A,E916,Superset of with dot; includes as sub-relation
2B,E972,Superset over subset
2C,2282,Subset of
2D,2034,Triple prime
2E,2283,Superset of
2F,2044,Fraction slash
30,2033,Double prime
31,002B,Plus sign
32,002D,Hyphen-minus
33,00D7,Multiplication sign
34,00F7,Division sign
35,003D,Equals sign
36,00B1,Plus-minus sign
37,2213,Minus-plus sign
38,00B0,Degree sign
39,2032,Prime
3A,22C3,N-ary union
3B,2282,Subset of
3C,22C3,N-ary union
3D,2207,Gradient (nabla)
3E,22C2,N-ary intersection
3F,00B7,Middle dot
40,22D1,Double superset
41,0391,Greek capital letter Alpha
42,0392,Greek capital letter Beta
43,03A8,Greek capital letter Psi
44,0394,Greek capital letter Delta
45,0395,Greek capital letter Epsilon
46,03A6,Greek capital letter Phi
47,0393,Greek capital letter Gamma
48,0397,Greek capital letter Eta
49,0399,Greek capital letter Iota
4A,039E,Greek capital letter Xi
4B,039A,Greek capital letter Kappa
4C,039B,Greek capital letter Lamda
4D,039C,Greek capital letter Mu
4E,039D,Greek capital letter Nu
4F,039F,Greek capital letter Omicron
50,03A0,Greek capital letter Pi
51,0398,Greek capital letter Theta
52,03A1,Greek capital letter Rho
53,03A3,Greek capital letter Sigma
54,03A4,Greek capital letter Tau
55,0398,Greek capital letter Theta
56,03A9,Greek capital letter Omega
57,03D0,Greek beta symbol
58,03A7,Greek capital letter Chi
59,03D2,Greek upsilon with hook symbol
5A,0396,Greek capital letter Zeta
5B,2208,Element of
5C,2205,Empty set
5D,220B,Contains as member
5E,E914,Approximate superset of
5F,E973,Subset over superset
60,221E,Infinity
61,03B1,Greek small letter alpha
62,03B2,Greek small letter beta
63,03C8,Greek small letter psi
64,03B4,Greek small letter delta
65,03B5,Greek small letter epsilon
66,03C6,Greek small letter phi
67,03B3,Greek small letter gamma
68,03B7,Greek small letter eta
69,03B9,Greek small letter iota
6A,03BE,Greek small letter xi
6B,03BA,Greek small letter kappa
6C,03BB,Greek small letter lamda
6D,03BC,Greek small letter mu
6E,03BD,Greek small letter nu
6F,03BF,Greek small letter omicron
70,03C0,Greek small letter pi
71,03D1,Greek theta symbol
72,03C1,Greek small letter rho
73,03C3,Greek small letter sigma
74,03C4,Greek small letter tau
75,03B8,Greek small letter theta
76,03C9,Greek small letter omega
77,03D5,Greek phi symbol
78,03C7,Greek small letter chi
79,03C5,Greek small letter upsilon
7A,03B6,Greek small letter zeta
7B,2208,Element of
7C,2223,Divides
7D,220B,Contains as member
7E,221D,Proportional to
A2,2289,Neither a superset of nor equal to
A3,2288,Neither a subset of nor equal to
A7,03C2,Greek small letter final sigma
AB,03B5,Greek small letter epsilon
AD,2202,Partial differential
AE,2285,Not a superset of
B0,2260,Not equal to
B5,2284,Not a subset of
BE,2285,Not a superset of
C0,2285,Not a superset of
C3,03D6,Greek pi symbol
C6,03F0,Greek kappa symbol
C9,2284,Not a subset of
D2,2209,Not an element of
D3,2209,Not an element of
D4,220C,Does not contain as member
D5,220C,Does not contain as member
D6,2285,Not a superset of
DC,2288,Neither a subset of nor equal to
DD,2289,Neither a superset of nor equal to
DE,2260,Not equal to
F2,2284,Not a subset of
F7,2284,Not a subset of
F8,22C3,N-ary union
F9,22C2,N-ary intersection
FA,2284,Not a subset of
FB,019B,Latin small letter lambda with stroke

Although we have attempted to put every character into the MTCode encoding that is in common use by mathematicians and scientists, this is a goal that we can approach but never reach. If in the process of creating a new encoding, you come across characters that are not in MTCode (i.e. not in the Unicode Specification or in the MTCode Encoding Tables), you have two choices:

35,F700,Unknown character

We will assign a new MTCode value to the character and tell you how to proceed from there.

This file will be in Windows initialization file format and consist of:

As mentioned above, after you create this file, save it into the same directory as the MathFlow DLL.

For each font for which additional information (i.e. PostScript name and/or encoding) is to be specified, the FontInfo.ini file must include a [Font<num>] section (<num> is simply an integer to make the section names unique; e.g. Font1, Font2). Each such section may contain one or more key/value pairs, of which, only the OSName key is required to identify the font whose attributes are being overridden. Any omitted keys will cause the corresponding value to be determined in the default manner described in the earlier sections of this document.

Name = <operating system font name>

Identifies the font being described by the other keys in the section. The <operating system font name> value is the name of the font as it appears in MathFlow style dialog. This key is required.

Encoding = <encoding name>

Identifies the encoding of the font. The <encoding name> value must be the name of a built-in encoding or one defined in the [Encoding] section (see below for details).

PSName<num> = <style> , <PostScript name>

Where <num> is simply an integer, to make the key names unique (e.g. PSName1, PSName2). The <style> value must be P for plain, B for bold, I for italic, or BI for bold-italic. The <PostScript name> is the name to be used in the EPS file.