How to change fontFamily of TextView in Android

Question

So I'd like to change the android:fontFamily in Android but I don't see any pre-defined fonts in Android. How do I select one of the pre-defined ones? I don't really need to define my own TypeFace but all I need is something different from what it shows right now.

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/HeaderText"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:layout_marginTop="52dp"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:text="CallerBlocker"
    android:textSize="40dp"
    android:fontFamily="Arial"
 />

It seems what I did up there won't really work! BTW android:fontFamily="Arial" was a stupid attempt!

Answer 1

I had to parse /system/etc/fonts.xml in a recent project. Here are the current font families as of Lollipop:

╔════╦════════════════════════════╦═════════════════════════════╗
║    ║ FONT FAMILY                ║ TTF FILE                    ║
╠════╬════════════════════════════╬═════════════════════════════╣
║  1 ║ casual                     ║ ComingSoon.ttf              ║
║  2 ║ cursive                    ║ DancingScript-Regular.ttf   ║
║  3 ║ monospace                  ║ DroidSansMono.ttf           ║
║  4 ║ sans-serif                 ║ Roboto-Regular.ttf          ║
║  5 ║ sans-serif-black           ║ Roboto-Black.ttf            ║
║  6 ║ sans-serif-condensed       ║ RobotoCondensed-Regular.ttf ║
║  7 ║ sans-serif-condensed-light ║ RobotoCondensed-Light.ttf   ║
║  8 ║ sans-serif-light           ║ Roboto-Light.ttf            ║
║  9 ║ sans-serif-medium          ║ Roboto-Medium.ttf           ║
║ 10 ║ sans-serif-smallcaps       ║ CarroisGothicSC-Regular.ttf ║
║ 11 ║ sans-serif-thin            ║ Roboto-Thin.ttf             ║
║ 12 ║ serif                      ║ NotoSerif-Regular.ttf       ║
║ 13 ║ serif-monospace            ║ CutiveMono.ttf              ║
╚════╩════════════════════════════╩═════════════════════════════╝

---

Here is the parser (based off FontListParser):

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;

import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser;
import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException;

import android.util.Xml;

/**
 * Helper class to get the current font families on an Android device.</p>
 * 
 * Usage:</p> {@code List<SystemFont> fonts = FontListParser.safelyGetSystemFonts();}</p>
 */
public final class FontListParser {

    private static final File FONTS_XML = new File("/system/etc/fonts.xml");

    private static final File SYSTEM_FONTS_XML = new File("/system/etc/system_fonts.xml");

    public static List<SystemFont> getSystemFonts() throws Exception {
        String fontsXml;
        if (FONTS_XML.exists()) {
            fontsXml = FONTS_XML.getAbsolutePath();
        } else if (SYSTEM_FONTS_XML.exists()) {
            fontsXml = SYSTEM_FONTS_XML.getAbsolutePath();
        } else {
            throw new RuntimeException("fonts.xml does not exist on this system");
        }
        Config parser = parse(new FileInputStream(fontsXml));
        List<SystemFont> fonts = new ArrayList<>();

        for (Family family : parser.families) {
            if (family.name != null) {
                Font font = null;
                for (Font f : family.fonts) {
                    font = f;
                    if (f.weight == 400) {
                        break;
                    }
                }
                SystemFont systemFont = new SystemFont(family.name, font.fontName);
                if (fonts.contains(systemFont)) {
                    continue;
                }
                fonts.add(new SystemFont(family.name, font.fontName));
            }
        }

        for (Alias alias : parser.aliases) {
            if (alias.name == null || alias.toName == null || alias.weight == 0) {
                continue;
            }
            for (Family family : parser.families) {
                if (family.name == null || !family.name.equals(alias.toName)) {
                    continue;
                }
                for (Font font : family.fonts) {
                    if (font.weight == alias.weight) {
                        fonts.add(new SystemFont(alias.name, font.fontName));
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        if (fonts.isEmpty()) {
            throw new Exception("No system fonts found.");
        }

        Collections.sort(fonts, new Comparator<SystemFont>() {

            @Override
            public int compare(SystemFont font1, SystemFont font2) {
                return font1.name.compareToIgnoreCase(font2.name);
            }

        });

        return fonts;
    }

    public static List<SystemFont> safelyGetSystemFonts() {
        try {
            return getSystemFonts();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            String[][] defaultSystemFonts = {
                    {
                            "cursive", "DancingScript-Regular.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "monospace", "DroidSansMono.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "sans-serif", "Roboto-Regular.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "sans-serif-light", "Roboto-Light.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "sans-serif-medium", "Roboto-Medium.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "sans-serif-black", "Roboto-Black.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "sans-serif-condensed", "RobotoCondensed-Regular.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "sans-serif-thin", "Roboto-Thin.ttf"
                    }, {
                            "serif", "NotoSerif-Regular.ttf"
                    }
            };
            List<SystemFont> fonts = new ArrayList<>();
            for (String[] names : defaultSystemFonts) {
                File file = new File("/system/fonts", names[1]);
                if (file.exists()) {
                    fonts.add(new SystemFont(names[0], file.getAbsolutePath()));
                }
            }
            return fonts;
        }
    }

    /* Parse fallback list (no names) */
    public static Config parse(InputStream in) throws XmlPullParserException, IOException {
        try {
            XmlPullParser parser = Xml.newPullParser();
            parser.setInput(in, null);
            parser.nextTag();
            return readFamilies(parser);
        } finally {
            in.close();
        }
    }

    private static Alias readAlias(XmlPullParser parser) throws XmlPullParserException, IOException {
        Alias alias = new Alias();
        alias.name = parser.getAttributeValue(null, "name");
        alias.toName = parser.getAttributeValue(null, "to");
        String weightStr = parser.getAttributeValue(null, "weight");
        if (weightStr == null) {
            alias.weight = 0;
        } else {
            alias.weight = Integer.parseInt(weightStr);
        }
        skip(parser); // alias tag is empty, ignore any contents and consume end tag
        return alias;
    }

    private static Config readFamilies(XmlPullParser parser) throws XmlPullParserException,
            IOException {
        Config config = new Config();
        parser.require(XmlPullParser.START_TAG, null, "familyset");
        while (parser.next() != XmlPullParser.END_TAG) {
            if (parser.getEventType() != XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {
                continue;
            }
            if (parser.getName().equals("family")) {
                config.families.add(readFamily(parser));
            } else if (parser.getName().equals("alias")) {
                config.aliases.add(readAlias(parser));
            } else {
                skip(parser);
            }
        }
        return config;
    }

    private static Family readFamily(XmlPullParser parser) throws XmlPullParserException,
            IOException {
        String name = parser.getAttributeValue(null, "name");
        String lang = parser.getAttributeValue(null, "lang");
        String variant = parser.getAttributeValue(null, "variant");
        List<Font> fonts = new ArrayList<Font>();
        while (parser.next() != XmlPullParser.END_TAG) {
            if (parser.getEventType() != XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {
                continue;
            }
            String tag = parser.getName();
            if (tag.equals("font")) {
                String weightStr = parser.getAttributeValue(null, "weight");
                int weight = weightStr == null ? 400 : Integer.parseInt(weightStr);
                boolean isItalic = "italic".equals(parser.getAttributeValue(null, "style"));
                String filename = parser.nextText();
                String fullFilename = "/system/fonts/" + filename;
                fonts.add(new Font(fullFilename, weight, isItalic));
            } else {
                skip(parser);
            }
        }
        return new Family(name, fonts, lang, variant);
    }

    private static void skip(XmlPullParser parser) throws XmlPullParserException, IOException {
        int depth = 1;
        while (depth > 0) {
            switch (parser.next()) {
            case XmlPullParser.START_TAG:
                depth++;
                break;
            case XmlPullParser.END_TAG:
                depth--;
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    private FontListParser() {

    }

    public static class Alias {

        public String name;

        public String toName;

        public int weight;
    }

    public static class Config {

        public List<Alias> aliases;

        public List<Family> families;

        Config() {
            families = new ArrayList<Family>();
            aliases = new ArrayList<Alias>();
        }

    }

    public static class Family {

        public List<Font> fonts;

        public String lang;

        public String name;

        public String variant;

        public Family(String name, List<Font> fonts, String lang, String variant) {
            this.name = name;
            this.fonts = fonts;
            this.lang = lang;
            this.variant = variant;
        }

    }

    public static class Font {

        public String fontName;

        public boolean isItalic;

        public int weight;

        Font(String fontName, int weight, boolean isItalic) {
            this.fontName = fontName;
            this.weight = weight;
            this.isItalic = isItalic;
        }

    }

    public static class SystemFont {

        public String name;

        public String path;

        public SystemFont(String name, String path) {
            this.name = name;
            this.path = path;
        }

    }
}

---

Feel free to use the above class in your project. For example, you could give your users a selection of font families and set the typeface based on their preference.

A small incomplete example:

final List<FontListParser.SystemFont> fonts = FontListParser.safelyGetSystemFonts();
String[] items = new String[fonts.size()];
for (int i = 0; i < fonts.size(); i++) {
    items[i] = fonts.get(i).name;
}

new AlertDialog.Builder(this).setSingleChoiceItems(items, -1, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
        FontListParser.SystemFont selectedFont = fonts.get(which);
        // TODO: do something with the font
        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), selectedFont.path, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }
}).show();

Answer 2

You can do it easy way by using following library

https://github.com/sunnag7/FontStyler

<com.sunnag.fontstyler.FontStylerView
              android:textStyle="bold"
              android:text="@string/about_us"
              android:layout_width="match_parent"
              android:layout_height="match_parent"
              android:paddingTop="8dp"
              app:fontName="Lato-Bold"
              android:textSize="18sp"
              android:id="@+id/textView64" />

its light weight and easy to implement, just copy your fonts in asset folder and use name in xml.

Answer 3

I use Letter Press lib for my NonTextView stuff like Buttons and kianoni fontloader lib for my TextViews cause of usage of style in this lib is more easy than Letter Press for me and i got ideal feedback with that. this is great for those who want to use custom font except Roboto Font. so it was my experience with font libs. for those who want to use custom class for change font i highly recommended to create this class with this snippet

    public class TypefaceSpan extends MetricAffectingSpan {
    /** An <code>LruCache</code> for previously loaded typefaces. */
    private static LruCache<String, Typeface> sTypefaceCache =
            new LruCache<String, Typeface>(12);

    private Typeface mTypeface;

    /**
     * Load the {@link android.graphics.Typeface} and apply to a {@link android.text.Spannable}.
     */
    public TypefaceSpan(Context context, String typefaceName) {
        mTypeface = sTypefaceCache.get(typefaceName);

        if (mTypeface == null) {
            mTypeface = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getApplicationContext()
                    .getAssets(), String.format("fonts/%s", typefaceName));

            // Cache the loaded Typeface
            sTypefaceCache.put(typefaceName, mTypeface);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void updateMeasureState(TextPaint p) {
        p.setTypeface(mTypeface);

        // Note: This flag is required for proper typeface rendering
        p.setFlags(p.getFlags() | Paint.SUBPIXEL_TEXT_FLAG);
    }

    @Override
    public void updateDrawState(TextPaint tp) {
        tp.setTypeface(mTypeface);

        // Note: This flag is required for proper typeface rendering
        tp.setFlags(tp.getFlags() | Paint.SUBPIXEL_TEXT_FLAG);
    }
}

And use class like this :

AppData = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(this);
TextView bannertv= (TextView) findViewById(R.id.txtBanner);
    SpannableString s = new SpannableString(getResources().getString(R.string.enterkey));
    s.setSpan(new TypefaceSpan(this, AppData.getString("font-Bold",null)), 0, s.length(),
            Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
    bannertv.setText(s);

maybe this help.

Answer 4

It's the same as android:typeface.

built-in fonts are:

• normal
• sans
• serif
• monospace

See android:typeface.

Answer 5

With some trial and error I learned the following.

Within the *.xml you can combine the stock fonts with the following functions, not only with typeface:

 android:fontFamily="serif" 
 android:textStyle="italic"

With this two styles, there was no need to use typeface in any other case. The range of combinations is much more bigger with fontfamily&textStyle.

Answer 6

Here you can see all the avaliable fontFamily values and it's corresponding font file's names(This file is using in android 5.0+). In mobile device, you can find it in:

/system/etc/fonts.xml (for 5.0+)

(For android 4.4 and below using this version, but I think that fonts.xml has a more clear format and easy to understand.)

For example,

    <!-- first font is default -->
20    <family name="sans-serif">
21        <font weight="100" style="normal">Roboto-Thin.ttf</font>
22        <font weight="100" style="italic">Roboto-ThinItalic.ttf</font>
23        <font weight="300" style="normal">Roboto-Light.ttf</font>
24        <font weight="300" style="italic">Roboto-LightItalic.ttf</font>
25        <font weight="400" style="normal">Roboto-Regular.ttf</font>
26        <font weight="400" style="italic">Roboto-Italic.ttf</font>
27        <font weight="500" style="normal">Roboto-Medium.ttf</font>
28        <font weight="500" style="italic">Roboto-MediumItalic.ttf</font>
29        <font weight="900" style="normal">Roboto-Black.ttf</font>
30        <font weight="900" style="italic">Roboto-BlackItalic.ttf</font>
31        <font weight="700" style="normal">Roboto-Bold.ttf</font>
32        <font weight="700" style="italic">Roboto-BoldItalic.ttf</font>
33    </family>

The name attribute name="sans-serif" of family tag defined the value you can use in android:fontFamily.

The font tag define the corresponded font files.

In this case, you can ignore the source under <!-- fallback fonts -->, it's using for fonts' fallback logic.