How to configure extra fonts for SLC ODS and Graphics
Altair EmployeeWhen you use ODS PDF output or Graphing then TrueType fonts are used by SLC.
Fonts may be supplied by software vendors for use with application software subject to licence terms and conditions. Fonts can also be purchased and downloaded from various font vendors.
On Windows the available fonts can be viewed in Control Panel\Appearance and Personalisation\Fonts.
On Linux the fonts in /usr/share/fonts are discovered by SLC and made available to the user.
In addition, the fonts in <WPS_INSTALL_DIR>/fonts are made available - normally this contains the single TrueType font family (“Vera”) that is supplied with SLC.
SLC makes use of a font cache which by default is located in <WPS_INSTALL_DIR>/fontconfig. On Linux the font cache /usr/share/fontconfig and the user’s own ~/.cache/fontconfig are also used. The cache can be re-initialized any time, for example, when new fonts are added to one of the various font locations. The XML file <WPS_INSTALL_DIR>/etc/fonts/fonts.conf defines the various font locations from which fonts are to be loaded into the cache. Note that you should not edit fonts.conf but use the input file fonts.conf.in found alongside it in the same directory. If you do change the file, be sure to follow the implicit conventions and XML tags as seen in the original file. When the SLC font cache is re-initialized, the fonts.conf file is used to assemble the cache from all those listed directories (explored recursively).
PROC FONT; RUN; can be used to list the fonts that are available within SLC.
If SLC cannot find a requested font then it will attempt to substitute an alternative font, using the font characteristics (metadata) to try to match the closest available replacement.
Note: If fonts are not set up correctly then you may see the log message “failed to choose a font, expect ugly output”. The “ugly output” displays unknown characters as small rectangles.
If your SLC does not appear to be finding all the fonts then you may need to rebuild the font cache:
To re-initialise and prepare a common font cache for all SLC users, the administrator can use the command ‘wps -configfont’.
On Mainframe z/OS SLC the FONTCFG job initialises the font cache, which is located in the USS partition. More information in the SLC z/OS installation guide.