Custom fonts and XML layouts (Android)

Question

You can extend TextView to set custom fonts as I learned here.

TextViewPlus.java:

package com.example;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.TypedArray;
import android.graphics.Typeface;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class TextViewPlus extends TextView {
    private static final String TAG = "TextView";

    public TextViewPlus(Context context) {
        super(context);
    }

    public TextViewPlus(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
        setCustomFont(context, attrs);
    }

    public TextViewPlus(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
        setCustomFont(context, attrs);
    }

    private void setCustomFont(Context ctx, AttributeSet attrs) {
        TypedArray a = ctx.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs, R.styleable.TextViewPlus);
        String customFont = a.getString(R.styleable.TextViewPlus_customFont);
        setCustomFont(ctx, customFont);
        a.recycle();
    }

    public boolean setCustomFont(Context ctx, String asset) {
        Typeface tf = null;
        try {
        tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(ctx.getAssets(), asset);  
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e(TAG, "Could not get typeface: "+e.getMessage());
            return false;
        }

        setTypeface(tf);  
        return true;
    }

}

attrs.xml: (in res/values)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <declare-styleable name="TextViewPlus">
        <attr name="customFont" format="string"/>
    </declare-styleable>
</resources>

main.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:foo="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.example"
    android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <com.example.TextViewPlus
        android:id="@+id/textViewPlus1"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:text="@string/showingOffTheNewTypeface"
        foo:customFont="saxmono.ttf">
    </com.example.TextViewPlus>
</LinearLayout>

You would put "saxmono.ttf" in the assets folder.

UPDATE 8/1/13

There are serious memory concerns with this method. See chedabob's comment below.

I'm 3 years late for the party :( However this could be useful for someone who might stumble upon this post.

I've written a library that caches Typefaces and also allow you to specify custom typefaces right from XML. You can find the library here.

Here is how your XML layout would look like, when you use it.

<com.mobsandgeeks.ui.TypefaceTextView
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="@string/hello_world"
    geekui:customTypeface="fonts/custom_font.ttf" />

This might be a little late, but you need to create a singleton class that returns the custom typeface to avoid memory leaks.

TypeFace class:

public class OpenSans {

private static OpenSans instance;
private static Typeface typeface;

public static OpenSans getInstance(Context context) {
    synchronized (OpenSans.class) {
        if (instance == null) {
            instance = new OpenSans();
            typeface = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getResources().getAssets(), "open_sans.ttf");
        }
        return instance;
    }
}

public Typeface getTypeFace() {
    return typeface;
}
}

Custom TextView:

public class NativelyCustomTextView extends TextView {

    public NativelyCustomTextView(Context context) {
        super(context);
        setTypeface(OpenSans.getInstance(context).getTypeFace());
    }

    public NativelyCustomTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
        setTypeface(OpenSans.getInstance(context).getTypeFace());
    }

    public NativelyCustomTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs,
            int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
        setTypeface(OpenSans.getInstance(context).getTypeFace());
    }

}

By xml:

<com.yourpackage.views.NativelyCustomTextView
            android:id="@+id/natively_text_view"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:layout_margin="20dp"
            android:text="@string/natively"
            android:textSize="30sp" /> 

Programmatically:

TextView programmaticallyTextView = (TextView) 
       findViewById(R.id.programmatically_text_view);

programmaticallyTextView.setTypeface(OpenSans.getInstance(this)
                .getTypeFace());

Old question, but I sure wish I read this answer here before I started my own search for a good solution. Calligraphy extends the android:fontFamily attribute to add support for custom fonts in your asset folder, like so:

<TextView 
  android:text="@string/hello_world"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:fontFamily="fonts/Roboto-Bold.ttf"/>

The only thing you have to do to activate it is attaching it to the Context of the Activity you're using:

@Override
protected void attachBaseContext(Context newBase) {
    super.attachBaseContext(new CalligraphyContextWrapper(newBase));
}

You can also specify your own custom attribute to replace android:fontFamily

It also works in themes, including the AppTheme.

Using DataBinding :

@BindingAdapter({"bind:font"})
public static void setFont(TextView textView, String fontName){
 textView.setTypeface(Typeface.createFromAsset(textView.getContext().getAssets(), "fonts/" + fontName));
}

In XML:

<TextView
app:font="@{`Source-Sans-Pro-Regular.ttf`}"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

font file must be in assets/fonts/

If you only have one typeface you would like to add, and want less code to write, you can create a dedicated TextView for your specific font. See code below.

package com.yourpackage;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Typeface;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class FontTextView extends TextView {
    public static Typeface FONT_NAME;


    public FontTextView(Context context) {
        super(context);
        if(FONT_NAME == null) FONT_NAME = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), "fonts/FontName.otf");
        this.setTypeface(FONT_NAME);
    }
    public FontTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
        if(FONT_NAME == null) FONT_NAME = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), "fonts/FontName.otf");
        this.setTypeface(FONT_NAME);
    }
    public FontTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
        if(FONT_NAME == null) FONT_NAME = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), "fonts/FontName.otf");
        this.setTypeface(FONT_NAME);
    }
}

In main.xml, you can now add your textView like this:

<com.yourpackage.FontTextView
    android:id="@+id/tvTimer"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="" />