Import a Font into a Windows Server Process

Question

I have a service that's designed to do image processing. One of the tasks is to overlay a string on an image which is then sent to a program and displayed.

I'm having trouble overlaying the text on a Bitmap image, can anybody help please?

I'm attempting to use:

PrivateFontCollection fonts = new PrivateFontCollection();
public static FontFamily LoadFontFamily(string fileName, out PrivateFontCollection fontCollection)
{
    fontCollection = new PrivateFontCollection();
    fontCollection.AddFontFile(HostingEnvironment.ApplicationPhysicalPath + '/' + fileName);
    return fontCollection.Families[0];
}

FontFamily family = LoadFontFamily("arial.ttf", out fonts);
Font font = new Font(family, 20);

using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
{
    g.DrawString("text", font, new SolidBrush(GetColorFromHexString(foreground)), new PointF(10F, 10F));
}

As per the information on this page.

As the service is unaware of what 'Arial' is - it's obviously failing. I've included the .ttf font as a resource in the service with the build content set to 'copy always'.

Thanks!

Also, check this question: http://stackoverflow.com/q/544972/395718 — Dialecticus, Apr 06 '13 at 17:27
I've included the Arial font in the service. Using that question doesn't seem to work. I've updated my question with what I'm attempting. — user1567095, Apr 06 '13 at 17:42
what line throws the error? it might be as simple as a resource file load failure!!! — Dhawalk, Apr 06 '13 at 17:49
There is no error I'm afraid. Am I attempting to access it correctly? — user1567095, Apr 06 '13 at 18:19
Never use relative paths. Especially not in a service, Environment.CurrentDirectory is not where you hope it is. You also cannot copy arial.ttf, fonts are protected by copyright. Nor does it make sense to do so, every Windows machine already has it. — Hans Passant, Apr 07 '13 at 13:20

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 07 '13 at 05:49

Arial is one the very oldest Windows fonts, and it has long been available as part of the default installation of all Windows operating system versions, including Windows server. So there's no reason that:

    Font font = new Font("Arial", 20);

shouldn't work.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 07 '13 at 04:39

Wcf has nothing to do with fonts, so I'd suggest to remove this tag.

I you have no errors, but your image does not contains your string - your logic is invalid.

I'd suggest following steps:

Ensure this code works on regular winforms project
Try to re-factor this logic into separate dll (class library, not win forms). If you has tools like Resharper - it'll add all required references.
at this point - your code should work in all cases, so
Move it back to be exposed via your wcf service.

Import a Font into a Windows Server Process

2 Answers2