Glyph Object

This documentation for fontkit is created and provided by the Typogram team. It’s a third-party documentation intended to delve deeper into the fontkit API. For the most accurate information, refer to fontkit’s official documentation.

The Glyph object in Fontkit represents an individual glyph in the font, which corresponds to a specific visual representation of one or more characters.

Properties:

glyph.id:

• Description: A unique identifier for the glyph within its font.

• Type: Number

glyph.path:

• Description: The path object for the glyph, representing the glyph's outlines and can be rendered or used for various operations.

• Type: Path object

glyph.name:

• Description: The name of the glyph, which can be a standard glyph name or a custom one defined by the font creator.

• Type: String

glyph.type:

• Description: The type of glyph, such as 'simple' or 'composite'.

• Type: String

glyph.codePoints:

• Description: An array of Unicode code points that the glyph represents. This can be more than one for ligatures and other combined forms.

• Type: Array of Numbers

glyph.advanceWidth:

• Description: The advance width of the glyph, representing the space the glyph occupies horizontally.

• Type: Number

glyph.advanceHeight:

• Description: The advance height of the glyph, representing the vertical space the glyph occupies. Relevant for vertical text layouts.

• Type: Number

glyph.bbox:

• Description: The bounding box of the glyph, encompassing the entire glyph and providing minX, minY, maxX, and maxY properties.

• Type: Object

glyph.cbox:

• Description: The control bounding box of the glyph, which encompasses all control points of the glyph's path. Useful for some precise layout operations.

• Type: Object

glyph.isMark:

• Description: Indicates if the glyph is a mark glyph, which is used for combining characters in many scripts.

• Type: Boolean

glyph.isLigature:

• Description: Indicates if the glyph is a ligature, representing multiple characters combined into a single glyph.

• Type: Boolean

glyph.ligatureCaretPositions:

• Description: An array indicating positions within the glyph where carets should be drawn when the glyph is selected. Relevant for ligatures where multiple characters combine into a single glyph.

• Type: Array of Numbers

glyph._font:

• Description: (Internal) Reference to the font object the glyph belongs to.

• Type: Font object

glyph._metrics:

• Description: (Internal) Metrics data for the glyph. Typically used internally by Fontkit.

• Type: Object

Methods:

glyph._getPath():

• Description: (Internal) Retrieves the path data for the glyph, which can be used for rendering or other operations.

• Returns: A Path object representing the glyph's outlines.

glyph._getMetrics():

• Description: (Internal) Retrieves the metrics for the glyph, which define its layout characteristics.

• Returns: Metrics data.

glyph._getContours():

• Description: (Internal) Retrieves the contours of the glyph, which define the glyph's shape.

• Returns: An array of contours.

glyph._getCBox():

• Description: (Internal) Retrieves the control bounding box of the glyph. This box encompasses all control points of the glyph's path.

• Returns: Object

glyph._getPhantomPoints(glyph):

• Description: (Internal) Retrieves the phantom points for the glyph, which are often used for hinting and layout purposes.

• Returns: An array of phantom points.

glyph._parseGlyphCoord(stream, prev, short, same):

• Description: (Internal) Parses specific coordinates from the glyph data, often used in the decoding process.

• Parameters: Typically involves parameters related to font data or encoding specifics.

• Returns: Parsed coordinates (usually Numbers or Objects).

glyph._decode():

• Description: (Internal) Decodes the glyph data, which can be either simple or composite, depending on the glyph type.

• Parameters: Typically data or stream references from the font file.

• Returns: Decoded glyph data.

glyph._decodeSimple(glyph, stream):

• Description: (Internal) Decodes the data for a simple glyph type.

• Parameters: Typically data or stream references from the font file.

• Returns: Decoded simple glyph data.

glyph._decodeComposite(glyph, stream, offset = 0):

• Description: (Internal) Decodes the data for a composite glyph type.

• Parameters: Typically data or stream references from the font file.

• Returns: Decoded composite glyph data.

Render a Glyph's Path to SVG:

// Get a glyph for a specific code point (e.g., Unicode for "A")
const glyph = font.glyphForCodePoint(65);

// Convert the glyph's path to SVG
const svgPathData = glyph.path.toSVG();

console.log(`SVG Path Data for "A": ${svgPathData}`);