How can I test if my font is rendered correctly in pdf?

Question

When using different fonts in jasper report, you need to use font-extensions.

However if the font is not rendered correctly is there a way that I can test if the font is supported by pdf so that I can understand if the problem is related to my font-extensions or to my .ttf font?

The incorrect rendering of font when exporting to pdf from jasper reports is a common problem example Jasper Reports PDF doesn't export cyrillic values, as seen in checklist point 1 using font-extensions are not always enough, the font need's also to be supported by pdf generating library and able to render the actual character. This is why I have decided to pass this Q-A style questions, so that future user when hitting checklist 1 can have a reference on how to quickly test the font.

Answer 1

Since jasper report use the itext library the easiest way to test if your font will be rendered correctly in pdf is to test it directly with itext.

Example program^*, adapted from iText: Chapter 11: Choosing the right font

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

import com.lowagie.text.Document;
import com.lowagie.text.DocumentException;
import com.lowagie.text.Font;
import com.lowagie.text.Paragraph;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.BaseFont;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.ColumnText;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

public class FontTest {

    /** The resulting PDF file. */
    public static final String RESULT = "fontTest.pdf";
    /** the text to render. */
    public static final String TEST = "Test to render this text with the turkish lira character \u20BA";

    public void createPdf(String filename) throws IOException, DocumentException {
        Document document = new Document();
        PdfWriter writer = PdfWriter.getInstance(document, new FileOutputStream(filename));
        document.open();
        BaseFont bf = BaseFont.createFont(
            "pathToMyFont/myFont.ttf", BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, BaseFont.EMBEDDED);
        Font font = new Font(bf, 20);
        ColumnText column = new ColumnText(writer.getDirectContent());
        column.setSimpleColumn(36, 730, 569, 36);
        column.addElement(new Paragraph(TEST, font));
        column.go();
        document.close();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, DocumentException {
        new FontTest().createPdf(RESULT);
    }
}

Some notes (seen in example):

• To render special characters use it's encoded value example \u20BA to avoid problems of encoding type on your file.
• Consider to always use Unicode encoding, this is recommended approach in the newer PDF standard (PDF/A, PDF/UA) and gives you the possibility to mix different encoding types, with the only dis-advantage of slightly larger file size.

Conclusion:

If your font is rendered correctly in the "fontTest.pdf", you have a problem with your font-extensions in jasper report.

If you font is not rendered correctly in the "fontTest.pdf", there is nothing you can do in jasper reports, you need to find another font.

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^{*Latest jasper-reports distribution use a special version itext-2.1.7, the imports in this version is com.lowagie.text, if you are using later version the imports are com.itextpdf.text as in adapted example.}