Re: Font Helvetica always used?

On 6/18/2015 5:08 AM, Robin Becker wrote:
> On 17/06/2015 20:55, Glenn Linderman wrote:
>> On 6/17/2015 5:09 AM, Robin Becker wrote:
>>> If you don't want to mess with the settings overrides then this code 
>>> at the
>>> start of your initial script should do the trick
> .........
>>
>> So what is the real restriction?  This has to be done before what? 
>> Before first
>> canvas instantiation, or before other imports, or before what, 
>> specifically?
> .......
> The Canvas class needs a default fontname at instantiation. It can be 
> passed in,

But do I understand correctly that simply providing the fontname='arial' 
parameter when instantiating the Canvas class could bypass all the 
settings weirdness, and/or the initial script hacks?

Except, in looking at Canvas, it doesn't seem to have a fontname 
parameter, nor a catchall keyword parameter.  So I don't understand your 
comment "It can be passed in"... is that just a possibility in a 
parallel universe?

> I did some experiments with the technique blessed by GvR here
>
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2447353/getattr-on-a-module

The technique you referenced is mind-blowing!

> def canvas_basefontname():
>     from reportlab.pdfbase.ttfonts import TTFont
>     from reportlab.pdfbase.pdfmetrics import registerFont, 
> registerFontFamily
>     registerFont(TTFont('arial','arial.ttf'),)
>     registerFont(TTFont('arial-bold','arialbd.ttf'),)
>     registerFont(TTFont('arial-italic','ariali.ttf'),)
>     registerFont(TTFont('arial-bolditalic','arialbi.ttf'),)
>     registerFontFamily('arial',
>             normal='arial',
>             bold='arial-bold',
>             italic='arial-italic',
>             boldItalic='arial-bolditalic',
>             )
>     return 'arial' 

but canvas.basefontname is a property or variable, not a function. 
Wouldn't this result in self._fontname being a reference to a function, 
instead of the string 'arial'? Or is that one of the side-effects of the 
__getattr__ stuff, that the function is called when the property is 
referenced? (maybe my mind didn't get blown far enough apart)

> This avoids circular importing which happens otherwise. 

I don't understand this comment.