Need help with AddFontResource
 

Hey, it's me again. This time with a thing that has been bugging me for months and i still haven't gotten around to solving it.

I need to install a font without rebooting the computer. Sounds simple but i have to do it in code or with a batch file, popping windows in front of the user isn't an option. I've done a lot of trials on batch files and that fontinst.exe crap, nothing worked. Somehow i stumbled upon the MSDN documentation of AddFontResource() which sounds like the thing for me. I understand i also have to use SendMessage(HWND_BROADCAST, WM_FONTCHANGE, 0, 0) at the end so the fonts are refreshed in all windows.

I chose to do it in C++ because i also learn it at school (i'm in 11th grade). What we learn is the old Borland stuff but still it is of some use. Anyway, i really need to wrap up all those batches and javascripts i wrote in one single program with as little dependencies as possible, and C++ seems to be the best choice.

I'm currently using Dev-C++ 5 beta.

#include <cstdlib>

#include <iostream>

#include <windows.h>



using namespace std;



int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

    string myfont;

    cout<<"Gimme my font: ";cin>>myfont;

int AddFontResource(

LPCTSTR myfont   // font file name

);

SendMessage(HWND_BROADCAST, WM_FONTCHANGE, 0, 0);

    system("PAUSE");

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;

}

I wrote that just to test the function. The problem with the above code is that... It does nothing. :-O It compiles and runs, but the font is still not registered to the system until i reboot. Prior to running this program the font is copied to the Windows\Fonts folder and the necessary registry entries are created, via a batch file.

I need some explanation on the LPCTSTR thing. What the heck is it exactly? It seems it's not a string as it doesn't take the name stored in "myfont". The MSDN entry is very very vague.

Uhh... what??? I really don't understand the part in bold. Could someone shed some light on this please?

Re: Need help with AddFontResource
 

I'm a newbie, so i make newbie mistakes. I didn't understand Microsoft's notations and thought LPCTSTR was a parameter, while it was actually the LPCTSTR datatype. I got it solved like this:

#include <cstdlib>

#include <iostream>

#include <windows.h>



using namespace std;



int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

char filename[255];

cout<<"Gimme my font: ";cin>>filename;

LPCTSTR myFont = filename;



AddFontResource(myFont);

SendMessage(HWND_BROADCAST, WM_FONTCHANGE, 0, 0);



    system("PAUSE");

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;

}

And adding -lgdi32 to the Dev-Cpp linker's parameters. Damn, it was that simple.

Off to make it read the font name from an INI file and wrap up the rest of the batches. ;)

Re: Need help with AddFontResource
 

But if char array is all you have, and you're not compiling with UNICODE, then this (it would seem) would work just as well

AddFontResource(filename);

Re: Need help with AddFontResource
 

I might need Unicode sometime, i'll just leave it as it is for now. I set it to read from an INI file, now i'm off to finish the rest of the code.

Thanks, and you can be sure i'll be back if i run into trouble again. :)