Unicode symbols in iTextSharp

Question

I'm trying to use a Unicode symbol in my PDF file with iTextSharp.

Dim base As BaseFont = BaseFont.CreateFont("C:\\WINDOWS\\Fonts\\WINGDING.TTF", BaseFont.IDENTITY_H, BaseFont.EMBEDDED)

Dim wd As Font = New Font(base, 12, Font.NORMAL, BaseColor.BLACK)
phrase = New Phrase("q", wd)

It's the Q.Key in Wingding. But in the PDF file it's not working. It just prints nothing where the Char should be.

Where is the error?

I suggest you inspect `base`... `getFontFamilyName()` and `getPostscriptFontName()` in particular. `getEncoding()` wouldn't hurt either. Make sure you're getting the font you're asking for. — Mark Storer, Feb 18 '11 at 16:52
Also, what version of iTextSharp are you using. Chris's basically identical code worked fine... makes me suspect a config issue. Version, font path, something like that. — Mark Storer, Feb 18 '11 at 16:53

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 18 '11 at 16:41

I just did the following and it worked exactly as it should. The Wingdings font appears in between the two words as a square box with a bottom-right drop shadow. The only thing is that I can't actually get the Wingdings font to actually embed itself and I believe that its an iTextSharp implicit rule because its assumed to be everywhere. I tried with WINGDNG2.TTF and that embedded correctly.

Are you maybe not adding the Phrase correctly? Or are you opening this on a machine without Wingdings maybe?

    ''//Create a new document
    Dim Doc As New iTextSharp.text.Document(PageSize.LETTER, 20, 20, 20, 20)
    ''//Store the document on the desktop
    Dim writer = PdfWriter.GetInstance(Doc, New FileStream(Path.Combine(My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.Desktop, "Output.pdf"), FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.Read))

    ''//Open the PDF for writing
    Doc.Open()

    ''//Insert a page
    Doc.NewPage()

    ''//Add a regular text block using the default font
    Dim Phrase = New Phrase("Hello")
    Doc.Add(Phrase)


    ''//Create our base font
    Dim base As BaseFont = BaseFont.CreateFont("C:\Windows\Fonts\wingding.ttf", BaseFont.CP1252, BaseFont.EMBEDDED)
    ''//Create our usable font
    Dim wd As Font = New Font(base, 12, iTextSharp.text.Font.NORMAL, BaseColor.BLACK)

    ''//Add a text block using Wingdings
    Phrase = New Phrase("q", wd)
    Doc.Add(Phrase)

    ''//Add a trailing text block using the default font again
    Phrase = New Phrase("Bye")
    Doc.Add(Phrase)

    ''//Close the PDF
    Doc.Close()

"ZapfDingbats" and "Symbol" are the two symbolic fonts in PDF's "Base 14 Fonts". Wingdings should be fine. — Mark Storer, Feb 18 '11 at 16:46
@Mark Storer, this isn't really related to the OP anymore but can you get Wingdings to actually embed? Or maybe I'm having an Acrobat issue instead. When I run the above code and I try to select the box I get a warning saying it can't find the original font. When I change it to WINGDNG2.TTF it doesn't warn me. — Chris Haas, Feb 18 '11 at 17:11
It#s getting embarrasing for me... I´n the testing phase I must have removed the code to add the phrase... Everything works perfectly... I#m sorry that I annoyed you with this stupid "bug"... My fault! Thanks everybody for the solution attempts... I'm in the cellar... Whining.. — Doc Snuggles, Feb 18 '11 at 18:32
@Doc Snuggles, we've all been there before. I spent half and hour on a very simple math equation that wasn't working only to find out I wasn't actually saving the file before testing. — Chris Haas, Feb 18 '11 at 18:47

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 04 '11 at 07:43

The code appears to be a Visual Basic port of a C# project, since the string that holds the path to the font file has escaped backslashes in it -meaning "C:\WINDOWS\FONTS\WINGDING.TTF".

This is an error in VB, which is probably trying to find a file located at "C:\\WINDOWS\\FONTS\\WINGDING.TTF".

Chris' code, which apparently works, also points in that direction; since the escaped backslashes are one of its few differences.

Unicode symbols in iTextSharp

2 Answers2

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