Ann: fontinst v1.9 prerelease

Lars Hellström Lars.Hellstrom@math.umu.se
Tue, 18 May 1999 08:07:44 -0400


Hilmar Schlegel wrote:
>Lars Hellström wrote:
[snip]
>The problem is that CC instructions intended for the Type 1 SEAC
>operator have the limitation that a CC character inherits its width from
>the base character. For the type of accented characters where the accent
>extents beyond the width of the base character the CC construction is
>not usable due to the realization of that character via SEAC. A VF
>however has no problem here (as long as it is sure that it uses a "-not"
>character).
>For fontinst one can assign those characters needed for Tex just like
>other composite characters individually for the fonts, which provides a
>way for better positioning without the need to use fakes.
>
>The argument of Alan contra was that the positioning via VF would then
>be different from what would happen in a Type 1 font. If one uses the
>alternative positioning scheme exclusively for "-not"s there is no
>interference. (Few fonts have dquoteright and a CC line in the AFM would
>do no harm.)

Let me see if I've got this right ...  What you really want to do is to use
the AFM file CC command as a way of specifying a composite character which
isn't in the font, rather than writing the equivalent \setglyph ...
\endsetglyph commands.

If I interpret the fontinst AFM to MTX converter right, there must be a C
(or CH) command for each CC command and the C command gives the metrics for
a composite character while the CC command specifies which the components
are and how they are positioned. It seems like it used to be the case that
the \setglyph generated from the CC command got the metrics for the glyph
it sets from a table over glyph dimensions that the AFM to MTX converter
constructed (this accounts for a comment about g-GLYPH macros in the AFM to
MTX converter), but this is no longer the case (so the comment should be
deleted). Instead the \setglyph from a CC ends with a \samesize command,
which copies the metrics from those set in a \setnotglyph command that was
in turn generated from the corresponding C command.

In your case, there wouldn't be a C command, and hence no dquoteright-not
glyph for \samesize to copy the metrics from either, so the case you want
to create is indeed recognizable. What you want is instead the width to be
set to the largest advance width so far.

Well, yes, I suppose I could make it so. In any case, \samesize should do
something more sensible if the glyph whose metrics it is supposed to copy
does not exist than just cause a lot of havok (as it seems it currently
would).

Lars Hellström