Font size in pixels

Question

On an iPhone how do I calculate the size of a character in pixels for a given point size?

Answer 1

Our graphic artist was very specific on certain devices to use pixel sizes instead of point size. The function below will return a font based on pixel size. It uses a brute force method to find the closet font, but then caches the results so next time the return will be very fast. I always appreciate comments on how this code could be made better. I use this function as a static class member in class called utils. You can easily paste into any class you are using. Hope it is of some help.

/** return a font as close to a pixel size as possible
example:
    UIFont *font = [Utils fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Medium" sizeInPixels:33];
 @param fontName name of font same as UIFont fontWithName
 @param sizeInPixels size in pixels for font
 */
+(UIFont *) fontWithName:(NSString *) fontName sizeInPixels:(CGFloat) pixels {
    static NSMutableDictionary *fontDict; // to hold the font dictionary
    if ( fontName == nil ) {
        // we default to @"HelveticaNeue-Medium" for our default font
        fontName = @"HelveticaNeue-Medium";
    }
    if ( fontDict == nil ) {
        fontDict = [ @{} mutableCopy ];
    }
    // create a key string to see if font has already been created
    //
    NSString *strFontHash = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@-%f", fontName , pixels];
    UIFont *fnt = fontDict[strFontHash];
    if ( fnt != nil ) {
        return fnt; // we have already created this font
    }
    // lets play around and create a font that falls near the point size needed
    CGFloat pointStart = pixels/4;
    CGFloat lastHeight = -1;
    UIFont * lastFont = [UIFont fontWithName:fontName size:.5];\

    NSMutableDictionary * dictAttrs = [ @{ } mutableCopy ];
    NSString *fontCompareString = @"Mgj^";
    for ( CGFloat pnt = pointStart ; pnt < 1000 ; pnt += .5 ) {
        UIFont *font = [UIFont fontWithName:fontName size:pnt];
        if ( font == nil ) {
            NSLog(@"Unable to create font %@" , fontName );
            NSAssert(font == nil, @"font name not found in fontWithName:sizeInPixels" ); // correct the font being past in
        }
        dictAttrs[NSFontAttributeName] = font;
        CGSize cs = [fontCompareString sizeWithAttributes:dictAttrs];
        CGFloat fheight =  cs.height;
        if ( fheight == pixels  ) {
            // that will be rare but we found it
            fontDict[strFontHash] = font;
            return font;
        }
        if ( fheight > pixels ) {
            if ( lastFont == nil ) {
                fontDict[strFontHash] = font;
                return font;
            }
            // check which one is closer last height or this one
            // and return the user
            CGFloat fc1 = fabs( fheight - pixels );
            CGFloat fc2 = fabs( lastHeight  - pixels );
            // return the smallest differential
            if ( fc1 < fc2 ) {
                fontDict[strFontHash] = font;
                return font;
            } else {
                fontDict[strFontHash] = lastFont;
                return lastFont;
            }
        }
        lastFont = font;
        lastHeight = fheight;
    }
    NSAssert( false, @"Hopefully should never get here");
    return nil;
}