Font issue in icon editor

[Deep_Blue]

Referring to comments in here, I'm looking for a solution to the font issue in the Icon Editor.

Selecting different fonts does not seem to change the font in the Icon Editor, specifically in the Icon Text tab input.

I've had no luck playing with the Tools=>Options=>Environment=>Linux=>Use pixel-based font sizes, it seems like whatever I select, the font won't change at all.

This leads me to believe the issue is with the icon editor and the way it loads the fonts in Linux. I know that it works in Windows, but in Linux it seems as if the Icon Editor always defaults to a same font.

It does change, but for the worse if I select any of the builtin(?) fonts, LabVIEW Application / LabVIEW Dialog / LabVIEW System - in the Icon Editor Properties.

I've tried most of everything I found from internet plus then some. I've rebuilt the font cache, copied the small fonts .ttf file from windows etc. so I'm thinking the easy fixes are already exhausted.

Environment: LabVIEW 2016 on OpenSUSE Leap 42.3.

 

So, looking for help in LAVA forums for this.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Deep_Blue

[Deep_Blue]

So I managed to find the underlying issue and at least one solution to it - sharing the information here.

The Icon editor enumerates the font list in linux with command 'fc-list'. With OpenSUSE 43.2 / LV 2016 combo the fontlist looks like this:

The listed fonts are essentially a list of the font files with full paths, and that does not work well with the font tool LV uses. If this list looks similar to yours and the fonts are not looking pretty, I have a solution for you - read on.

To fix this a command 'fc-list : family' should be used instead, to come up with a list like this:

 

There are two solutions (and I'm sure there are more) - you can decide which one to pursue depending on your expertise. As the Icon Editor in LV2016 (starting with LV2011 I think) is in packed library for execution optimizing purposes, the Icon Editor code can't directly be altered to fix this.

1. One can come up with a solution where the command 'fc-list' is overridden in linux so it will always use the (proper for LabVIEW) format 'fc-list : family'. This may have some unwanted side effects if other programs use the command in similar fashion, so this may not be the best solution. It would be pretty easy to use for assessing whether this could be your problem also. There are multiple trivial ways of implementing this, so I won't be giving an exact solution - here is a list of them: https://lmgtfy.app/?q=override+command+in+linux
2. Darren Nattinger has provided the source code for Enhanced Icon editor in https://forums.ni.com/t5/Enhanced-Icon-Editor/Icon-Editor-Source-Files-for-LabVIEW-2016/m-p/3538808 - You can replace the packed library LabVIEW uses as editor with this source. There are easy 3 step instructions on the site - even I managed to do that. Please give kudos to Darren should you go this way. When you have the shipped Icon Editor replaced with the source, you can directly edit the file in /usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-2016/resource/plugins/NIIconEditor/Miscellaneous/Font/Linux.vi so it uses the correct form, like this:

[Bryan]

Thank you for posting this.  It's very helpful and informative.

I was noticing icon font issues in LabVIEW 2020 Community Edition for Linux, so it doesn't look like NI has fixed (or knew about) the issue in LV 2020 for Linux either.

[Jim Kring]

Thanks for sharing this. It inspired me to dive deeper -- I made a write-up here: https://create.vi/fixing-the-labview-icon-editor-on-linux-42e920743dc7

I've made some fixes to the LabVIEW 2023 Q1 Icon Editor and will share them once I coordinate with NI.