Java not finding Monospace font

jojomodding · 2021-05-08 00:19:36

Hello there,

For some time now, Java applications have issues properly using a monospaced font.

In java, `new Font("Monospaced",Font.PLAIN,12)` should give you a monospace font. It does not however, for me, it just uses the default font (i.e. whatever you see when you use `null` as a font).

This only happens with JDK 15. The next lower one I have installed, JDK 11, properly finds my default monospace font.

I'm out of ideas here. I did not do any weird things with my font configuration as far as I can remember. I tried tricking java by using a custom fontconfig.properties, which did not work out as intended. Do any of you have any ideas what might cause this?

Thanks!

twelveeighty · 2021-05-08 15:04:48

Can you share a code snippet to reproduce the issue? On my system:

jshell> java.awt.Font font = new java.awt.Font("Monospaced", java.awt.Font.PLAIN, 12);
font ==> java.awt.Font[family=Monospaced,name=Monospaced,style=plain,size=12]

jshell> java.awt.Font font = new java.awt.Font(null, java.awt.Font.PLAIN, 12);
font ==> java.awt.Font[family=Dialog,name=Default,style=plain,size=12]

jshell> System.getProperties().getProperty("java.vm.version");
$2 ==> "15.0.2+7"

On your system, does the GraphicsEnvironment.getAvailableFontFamilyNames() contain "Monospaced"? If it doesn't, then Java will return whatever is mapped to "Dialog".

jojomodding · 2021-05-09 01:28:19

twelveeighty wrote:

Can you share a code snippet to reproduce the issue? On my system:
On your system, does the GraphicsEnvironment.getAvailableFontFamilyNames() contain "Monospaced"?

I get the same output. The array contains "Monospaced".

        Font f = new Font("Monospaced",Font.PLAIN,12);
        System.out.println(f.getStringBounds("iii", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth());
        System.out.println(f.getStringBounds("mmm", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth());

Does output 21 in both cases on for JDK11 (which is not affected), but it outputs different numbers for JDK15.

twelveeighty · 2021-05-09 19:45:59

On my system, they return the same output for "iii" vs "mmm", but JDK 11 prints 21.0 whereas JDK 15 prints 18.0:

|  Welcome to JShell -- Version 15.0.2

jshell> import java.awt.Font;
jshell> import java.awt.font.FontRenderContext;
jshell> import java.awt.geom.AffineTransform;

jshell> Font f = new Font("Monospaced",Font.PLAIN,12);
f ==> java.awt.Font[family=Monospaced,name=Monospaced,style=plain,size=12]

jshell> f.getStringBounds("iii", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth()
$5 ==> 18.0

jshell> f.getStringBounds("mmm", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth()
$6 ==> 18.0

jojomodding · 2021-05-10 07:41:32

twelveeighty wrote:

On my system, they return the same output for "iii" vs "mmm", but JDK 11 prints 21.0 whereas JDK 15 prints 18.0:

|  Welcome to JShell -- Version 15.0.2

jshell> import java.awt.Font;
jshell> import java.awt.font.FontRenderContext;
jshell> import java.awt.geom.AffineTransform;

jshell> Font f = new Font("Monospaced",Font.PLAIN,12);
f ==> java.awt.Font[family=Monospaced,name=Monospaced,style=plain,size=12]

jshell> f.getStringBounds("iii", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth()
$5 ==> 18.0

jshell> f.getStringBounds("mmm", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth()
$6 ==> 18.0

Well, the actual number don't really matter, they should just be the same. They are not.

Do you have any ideas about how/why Java does not select the proper font?

V1del · 2021-05-10 07:58:56

FWIW I'd usually associate "monospace" rather than "monospaced" with the family name (though Java is supposed to logically map that monospaced correctly...). What does a plain fc-match give you for the two strings.

Last edited by V1del (2021-05-10 08:06:24)

jojomodding · 2021-05-10 13:34:46

V1del wrote:

What does a plain fc-match give you for the two strings.

$ fc-match monospace
DejaVuSansMono.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Book"
$ fc-match monospaced
DejaVuSansMono.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Book"

monospaced did not work originally, I added a config file to force it to be DejaVu Sans Mono, but that did not help either.

twelveeighty · 2021-05-10 13:52:27

jojomodding wrote:

[...] they should just be the same. They are not.

Both "iii" and "mmm" return the same value on JDK 15, which means it selected a 'monospaced' font. It just appears to be a *different* font compared to JDK 11. Your post #3 suggested that on JDK 15 "iii" and "mmm" return different sizes, is that in fact the case?
If not, it means that JDK 15 matches the logical font "monospaced" to a different, fixed-width, font compared to JDK 11, which would not surprise me, since the mapping can be changed for Look and Feel adjustments. The mapping is also configurable by the end-user. If you want a specific font, you should not be using logical font names, but physical font names.

seth · 2021-05-10 14:15:12

…
font.getFamily();
font.getFontName();
font.getName();
font.getAttributes();
…

jojomodding · 2021-05-10 16:34:20

twelveeighty wrote:

jojomodding wrote:
[...] they should just be the same. They are not.
Your post #3 suggested that on JDK 15 "iii" and "mmm" return different sizes, is that in fact the case?

Yes, that is the case. Sorry if I was unclear. Java 11 uses a monospace font. Java 15 does have the "default" font, the same one you get when you pass in `null`. It is definitely not monospaced, it looks like the normal font, but is italic.

Here's a screenshot of what I expected, taken with JDK 8: https://imgur.com/IZl0UQi.png
Here's a screenshot of the same program on Java 15: https://imgur.com/xQuSWBR.png

seth wrote:

..

Java 8:

Monospaced
Monospaced.plain
Monospaced
map of {family="Monospaced", weight=1.0*, width=1.0*, posture=0.0*, size=12.0*, transform=null*, superscript=0*, tracking=0.0*[btx=null, ctx=null]}

Java 15: (no difference)

Monospaced
Monospaced.plain
Monospaced
map of {family="Monospaced", weight=1.0*, width=1.0*, posture=0.0*, size=12.0*, transform=null*, superscript=0*, tracking=0.0*[btx=null, ctx=null]}

The code I used to get this:

        Font f = new Font("Monospaced",Font.PLAIN,12);
        System.out.println(f.getStringBounds("iii", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth());
        System.out.println(f.getStringBounds("mmm", new FontRenderContext(new AffineTransform(), false, false)).getWidth());
        JFrame jf= new JFrame("TextField Example");
        JTextField t1,t2;
        t1=new JTextField("Monospaced");
        t1.setBounds(50,100, 200,30);
        t1.setFont(f);
        t2=new JTextField("null");
        t2.setBounds(50,150, 200,30);
        t2.setFont(null);
        jf.add(t1); jf.add(t2);
        jf.setSize(400,400);
        jf.setLayout(null);
        jf.setVisible(true);
        System.out.println(f.getFamily());
        System.out.println(f.getFontName());
        System.out.println(f.getName());
        System.out.println(f.getAttributes());

seth · 2021-05-10 20:28:39

So it doesn't decode them from the generics. Great.
What font is actually resolved (you could strace/grep some java client)?
Also, wild guess:

locale

?

twelveeighty · 2021-05-10 22:54:38

jojomodding wrote:

Java 11 uses a monospace font. Java 15 does have the "default" font, the same one you get when you pass in `null`. It is definitely not monospaced, it looks like the normal font, but is italic.

OK - thanks for clarifying - just be clear on my comparison: on my system with JDK 15 it DOES return a monospaced font, so your system and mine behave differently with the same JDK 15.

To eliminate any class initialization / automatic font configuration when you bring in Swing classes, if you execute the exact same statements in jshell as I had in post #4, without passing any .jars to jshell, etc., do you get a different result compared to me?

jojomodding · 2021-05-19 22:02:51

seth wrote:

So it doesn't decode them from the generics. Great.
What font is actually resolved (you could strace/grep some java client)?
Also, wild guess:
locale
?

LANG=en_US.UTF8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF8"
LC_ALL=

Hm, the problem just disappeared. I ran java with

LC_ALL=C

, and the problem was gone. I reran it without this, and monospace fonts still worked correctly. I don't remember messing with my system in any way since my last post, I checked the pacman log and I did not even update java. I'm pretty perplexed by this, but the problem is gone, so I guess I can consider this closed.

Thanks for your help, and thanks to the others who participated!

Last edited by jojomodding (2021-05-19 22:03:22)

Arch Linux

#1 2021-05-08 00:19:36

Java not finding Monospace font

#2 2021-05-08 15:04:48

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#3 2021-05-09 01:28:19

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#4 2021-05-09 19:45:59

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#5 2021-05-10 07:41:32

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#6 2021-05-10 07:58:56

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#7 2021-05-10 13:34:46

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#8 2021-05-10 13:52:27

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#9 2021-05-10 14:15:12

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#10 2021-05-10 16:34:20

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#11 2021-05-10 20:28:39

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#12 2021-05-10 22:54:38

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

#13 2021-05-19 22:02:51

Re: Java not finding Monospace font

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