[.ttf variation] How to get all the font fullname?

[moi15moi]

Here is the font I have: https://fonts.google.com/share?selection.family=Akshar:wght@300;400;500;600;700

I know that this font contain these fullname: "Akshar Light", "Akshar", "Akshar Medium", "Akshar SemiBold", "Akshar".

But, if I do something like this, it will only print "Akshar Light":

font = ttLib.TTFont("Akshar-VariableFont_wght.ttf")
for name in font["name"].names:
    if name.nameID == 4:
        print(name.toUnicode())

How can I get all the font fullname?

I think I simply don't understand how we can manipulate variation font with fonttools.

PS: This is not a solution, because I don't want postscriptName !

font = ttLib.TTFont("Akshar-VariableFont_wght.ttf")
for instance in font["fvar"].instances:
    print(font["name"].getDebugName(instance.postscriptNameID))

Edit 2022-06-06: My goal was to get the same thing that windows can provide, but finally, I think that it does some kind of operation and these name are not directly in the font.

[m4rc1e]

So you want to get the names for each fvar instance?

font = ttLib.TTFont("Akshar-VariableFont_wght.ttf")
for instance in font["fvar"].instances:
    print(font["name"].getName(instance.postscriptNameID, 3, 1, 0x409).toUnicode())

[moi15moi]

I wrote that it is not the solution i want since that is postname.

[jenskutilek]

I’d use each instance.subfamilyNameID and suffix it to the family name (ID16 if it exists, else ID 1) to construct "human readable" names for all instances.

from fontTools import ttLib

font = ttLib.TTFont("Akshar-VariableFont_wght.ttf")
family = font["name"].getName(16, 3, 1, 0x409)
if family is None:
    family = font["name"].getName(1, 3, 1, 0x409)
for instance in font["fvar"].instances:
    style = font["name"].getName(instance.subfamilyNameID, 3, 1, 0x409)
    print(f"{family} {style}")

This gives you the instance names from the fvar table. There could be more/different names that can be constructed by parsing the STAT table (but not in this font).

[moi15moi]

It is really a "legal" operation to do that?
I don't find any documentation about fullname on .ttf font variation that confirm what you have done.

[khaledhosny]

There is no fullname in fvar instances, so if you want a fullname that is your only option. The spec is silent about this AFAICT.

[moi15moi]

Hey, again me.

I just saw that it was write in the stat page in the opentype documentation.

Windows (DirectWrite) seems to follow the R/B/I/BI model + an validation for the family (if nameID 16 does not exist, take nameID 1) so here is the code for it.

import sys
from typing import Dict, List
from fontTools import ttLib
from fontTools.ttLib import ttFont
from fontTools.ttLib.tables._f_v_a_r import NamedInstance
from fontTools.ttLib.tables._n_a_m_e import NameRecord


def sortNamingTable(names: List[NameRecord]) -> List[NameRecord]:
    """
    Parameters:
        names (List[NameRecord]): Naming table
    Returns:
        The sorted naming table.
        Based on FontConfig:
        - https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/-/blob/d863f6778915f7dd224c98c814247ec292904e30/src/fcfreetype.c#L1127-1140
    """

    def isEnglish(name: NameRecord) -> bool:
        # From: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/-/blob/d863f6778915f7dd224c98c814247ec292904e30/src/fcfreetype.c#L1111-1125
        return (name.platformID, name.langID) in ((1, 0), (3, 0x409))

    # From: https://github.com/freetype/freetype/blob/b98dd169a1823485e35b3007ce707a6712dcd525/include/freetype/ttnameid.h#L86-L91
    PLATFORM_ID_APPLE_UNICODE = 0
    PLATFORM_ID_MACINTOSH = 1
    PLATFORM_ID_ISO = 2
    PLATFORM_ID_MICROSOFT = 3
    # From:	https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/-/blob/d863f6778915f7dd224c98c814247ec292904e30/src/fcfreetype.c#L1078
    PLATFORM_ID_ORDER = [
        PLATFORM_ID_MICROSOFT,
        PLATFORM_ID_APPLE_UNICODE,
        PLATFORM_ID_MACINTOSH,
        PLATFORM_ID_ISO,
    ]

    return sorted(names, key=lambda name: (PLATFORM_ID_ORDER.index(name.platformID), name.nameID, name.platEncID, -isEnglish(name), name.langID))


def getFirstDecodedName(nameID: int, names: List[NameRecord]) -> str:
    """
    Parameters:
        names (List[NameRecord]): Naming table
    Returns:
        The first decoded name.
    """

    names = sortNamingTable(names)

    for name in names:
        if name.nameID != nameID:
            continue
        try:
            unistr = name.toUnicode()
        except UnicodeDecodeError:
            continue

        return unistr

def createFamilyNamedInstanceDict(font: ttFont) -> Dict[str, NamedInstance]:
    """
    Parameters:
        font (ttFont): A font
    Returns:
        An dictionnary. The key is the font name and the value an NamedInstance
        The dictionnary support the R/B/I/BI family model: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/stat#alternate-font-family-models
    """

    if "fvar" not in font:
        raise Exception("The font is not an Variable Font.")

    # Read the note about the R/B/I/BI model: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/stat#alternate-font-family-models
    INVALID_STYLE = ("regular", "bold", "italic", "oblique")

    family_name = getFirstDecodedName(16, font['name'].names)
    
    # If nameID 16 is None, try nameID 1https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/otvaroverview#terminology
    if family_name is None:
        family_name = getFirstDecodedName(1, font['name'].names)

    instances_by_name: Dict[str, NamedInstance] = {}
    for instance in font["fvar"].instances:

        style = getFirstDecodedName(instance.subfamilyNameID, font['name'].names)
        if style.lower().strip() in INVALID_STYLE:
            font_name = family_name
        else:
            font_name = f"{family_name} {style}" 
        
        instances_by_name[font_name] = instance

    return instances_by_name


def main():

    font_path = r"FONT_PATH"
    font = ttLib.TTFont(font_path)

    instances_by_name = createFamilyNamedInstanceDict(font)

    # Example: instances_by_name["Bahnschrift"]

if __name__ == "__main__":
    sys.exit(main())

[ftCLI]

To retrieve the family name, I think you can save some lines of code using font['name'].getBestFamilyName()

fonttools/Lib/fontTools/ttLib/tables/_n_a_m_e.py

Line 130 in 8e9bf42

def getBestFamilyName(self):

[moi15moi]

It's doesn't do what i need.

It consider the wws nameid and it doesn't care about the platformID.