Using font in XML in API < 26

Question

https://developer.android.com/preview/features/working-with-fonts.html

Android API 26 supports this but do we have a support library that can provide use of fonts as a resource in res? [ font in XML ] If yes, up-to what API is it supported?

I am talking about the Android O SDK feature which allows us to set font in XML as given in the link above. This is not a native feature in MM I m sure.

I'm using this feature in one of my apps, which supports API 9 to API 18. There's no limitation as far as I know. I stopped supporting API 8, but I guess it would have worked with it as well. — Phantômaxx, Jun 12 '17 at 18:13
NONE. It's a native feature. By the way, Eclipse doesn't need all that "Gradle thing" ;) — Phantômaxx, Jun 12 '17 at 18:15
I think I m being misunderstood. I m talking about "font in XML" feature that was introduced in O. Edited question to clarify — sziraqui, Jun 12 '17 at 18:20
You can do the very same in previous versions. With some little trick you can easily find by googling. — Phantômaxx, Jun 12 '17 at 18:27
Setting @font/resource_name doesnt work with support library version 25.3.1 on Android Studio 2.3.2. Font in XML is clearly **NOT A NATIVE FEATURE** — sziraqui, Jul 21 '17 at 09:39
In facts, I said `With some little trick`. I use custom fonts in my `raw/fonts` folder. See this for your reference: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9035924/2649012 — Phantômaxx, Jul 21 '17 at 09:51

score 66 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 12 '18 at 11:04

66

To support font family on API lower than 26, we need to use

<font app:fontStyle="normal" app:fontWeight="400" app:font="@font/myfont-Regular"/>

instead of

<font android:fontStyle="normal" android:fontWeight="400" android:font="@font/myfont-Regular"/>

edited Sep 12 '18 at 11:04

Jemshit

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answered Oct 30 '17 at 10:56

Yuri Misyac

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Thanks. This should be marked as the correct answer. – Sudhir Singh Khanger Apr 11 '19 at 10:47
As stated in the docs: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/look-and-feel/fonts-in-xml#using-support-lib – AlvaroSantisteban Aug 18 '22 at 11:22

score 37 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 20 '17 at 07:27

37

According to Google it is supported on Android 4.0+ (API 14+) as long as these conditions are met:

You are using the support library version 26.0.0-beta1 or later
You are using AppCompat

Sources:

Fonts in XML - Using the support library

Support Library revision history

I was hoping I could use this in app widgets on Android versions earlier than 8 (API 26), however it's not possible, as AppCompatTextView cannot be used in app widgets. None of the third party alternatives to Android O's 'Fonts in XML' such as the Caligraphy library work in app widgets either.

The only alternative for app widgets is using an ImageView instead of a TextView and using RemoteViews methods such as setImageViewUri(...) and setImageViewBitmap(...), both of which are problematic.

answered Jul 20 '17 at 07:27

ra3o.ra3

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Thanks. Why were others saying that its a native feature? I m using SDK Android Studio 2.3.2. I tried using @font/arial.ttf. It didnt work. I was using support library version 25.3.1. Now I know what was wrong. – sziraqui Jul 21 '17 at 09:37
did this work? some people are saying you must upgrade to Android Studio 3 for this to work. – user1506104 Dec 20 '17 at 12:50
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Thanks for the pointer. I changed my to and it works now. – tmm1 Jan 09 '18 at 22:17

score 29 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 29 '20 at 06:30

To complete Yuri's answer, Fonts are supported back to API 16. To create font family (where different weights of fonts are specified), you should create my_font_family.xml under /res/font/ as written in the doc:

<font-family xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
    <font app:fontStyle="normal" app:fontWeight="400" app:font="@font/myfont_regular"/>
    <font app:fontStyle="normal" app:fontWeight="600" app:font="@font/myfont_semi_bold" />
    <font app:fontStyle="italic" app:fontWeight="400" app:font="@font/myfont_italic" />
</font-family>

To use this in TextView xml, you should use app:fontFamily="@font/my_font_family", be careful with app: instead of android:.

To choose specific fontWeight, you can use android:textFontWeight="200" but it only works on API>=28. To choose different font based on weight prior to API 28, you have two options. You can either use android:textStyle="bold" to specify only "normal/italic/bold", but not exact weight. Or you can directly use specific weight of font like this: app:fontFamily="@font/myfont_semi_bold".

Please Note: If you are using custom textview, YourTextView, in your app, it has to extend AppCompatTextView and not merely android.widget.TextView

Did you try `textFontWeight`? Because even on API 28 it doesn't work for me. — Florian Walther, Apr 14 '19 at 18:02
It doesn't work for me, I am running in an emulator . I am using implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.0.2' and MaterialComponents theme — Ganesh Chowdhary Sadanala, Aug 09 '19 at 14:07
@GaneshChowdharySadanala Please check the note added, that might help you. — JaydeepW, Mar 29 '20 at 06:30
textStyle solution doesn't work on Android 5 with support library — AAverin, Apr 12 '21 at 14:34

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 30 '17 at 11:29

Some users will land up to this page searching for instructions to use custom fonts in your app from xml. Here's how I did it:

The font resource directory is not present by default. You can create it manually by following the documentation here [too much work]

Or use font selector from GUI-

Select a TextView in Design tab.
Open drop down of fontFamily xml attribute.
Scroll down to "More Fonts".
Choose a 'Downloadable font" from the pop up that appears.

Android Studio will automatically create font resource directory with necessary declarations mentioned in documentation above. After this step you can copy your custom font file (say myfont.ttf) in font directory and set your desired font from xml for example:

<TextView
     android:fontFamily="@font/myfont"
     android:id="@+id/aboutus_head_textview"
     android:layout_width="match_parent"
     android:layout_height="wrap_content"
     android:text="@string/who_are_we" />

If you want to use the same font throughout your app, you can set fontFamily your AppTheme in styles.xml:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
        <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorAccent</item>
        <!-- custom font for the entire app -->
        <item name="fontFamily">@font/myfont</item>
    </style>

[ prefix fontFamily with android: if above did not work ]

Screenshots:

Note: This answer assumes you are using Android Studio 3+ and support library version 26+

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 02 '17 at 15:28

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Here is an example, min sdk support 18 (in app)

https://github.com/mukundrd/androidFonts

answered Jul 02 '17 at 15:28

Mukund Desai

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Is it posible to include older APIs? – rraallvv Jun 24 '19 at 15:44

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 29 '22 at 01:29

0

This might be an undesired way of doing it, but if you have a global font (typeface) in xml, you could just create a Textview and get the typeface from there

TextView dummy = new TextView(context);
doSomethingWithTheTypeface(dummy.getTypeface());

answered Nov 29 '22 at 01:29

RegularGuy

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Using font in XML in API < 26

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