System Font Bullet don't show when created by SynPDF

[jimmaguire]

Here's a detail of the issue, attached a simple rvf created by ActionDemo that shows the problem, you can export using your SynPDF demo.

1. Bullets are System Font characters inserted via Insert Symbol and are indented with spaces
2. Adobe Acrobat shows them either as a "=" or blank. They show in DevExpress PDF viewer, and Chrome but most users have Acrobat.
3. When exported via old RVF version (13.x) and LLPDFLIB they do show, just not with 17.x and SynPDF

I've tried other fonts like Wingdings, and they show in pdf's created in RVF 17, but not in old version. My user wants to upgrade gradually with some on old and others on new version so I need them to be compatible.

I know the PDF components are not yours, so wonder if this is possible:

Bullet lists DO show in both old and new versions of RVF to PDF, but can't indent them without them turning into circles, not solid bullets. Is there are way to use the same bullet when indented, and also a way to control the distance indented?

[Sergey Tkachenko]

It looks like SynPDF cannot export Unicode symbol text in PDF correctly.
Or maybe, Adobe Acrobat cannot display Unicode symbol text at all.

Probably, this problem could be solved by inserting symbols as non-Unicode text.
But I do not recommend to do it, because I plan to remove this possibility in the next update of TRichView (all text inside TRichView will be Unicode).
The best solution - do not use symbol fonts at all. Use normal fonts, they contain many characters that can be used as bullets.

[jimmaguire]

Thanks, would Wingdings be considered a normal font? Can you suggest other fonts that have bullets and check boxes?

[Sergey Tkachenko]

Wingdings, Symbols and other fonts of SYMBOL_CHARSET are special. They have character glyphs that do not follow any standard.

Other fonts (which I called "normal" fonts) have certain symbols in certain locations. I.e., if you know the character code, you know this character meaning, so you can imagine how it looks like in all normal fonts (if it exist in them)
For example:
bullet: • (chr(8226))
checkbox: ☑ (chr(9745))

If you use our "Insert Symbol" action, the checkbox is in "Miscellaneous Symbols" block, the bullet is in "General punctuation" block.

These characters exist even in Arial font. But you can choose another font where they may look better. Even if the specific font does not have some character, it will be shown from another font.

I can recommend the site http://www.fileformat.info
Try typing "checkbox" in the search box on this site, you will see related Unicode characters with their codes and names of their Unicode blocks.

[jimmaguire]

Ok now, Webdings work in LLPDFLIB, switching back to it because SynPDF also did not handle multiple fonts, probably due to what you said about it not supporting unicode.

[Sergey Tkachenko]

The problem is not in Unicode text, but in Unicode text of SYMBOL_CHARSET.

To avoid problems, do not use Symbol, Wingdings, Webdings and other fonts of SYMBOL_CHARSET.
Use fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Tahoma, etc. They have all necessary symbols.

For example, this is a screenshot of our "Insert Symbol" dialog to insert symbol of Tahoma font:

InsertSymbol-Tahoma.png (52.94 KiB) Viewed 26518 times

[jimmaguire]

Thanks, that screen shot makes it clear.