LEDMatrix/docs/FONT_MANAGER.md

FontManager Usage Guide

Picking a size automatically: if you want the largest font that fits a given area rather than a fixed size, use the adaptive layout system's font ladders (self.layout.fit_text(...)) which resolve through this FontManager — see ADAPTIVE_LAYOUT.md.

Overview

The enhanced FontManager provides comprehensive font management for the LEDMatrix application with support for:

• Manager font registration and detection
• Plugin font management
• Manual font overrides via web interface
• Performance monitoring and caching
• Dynamic font discovery

Architecture

Manager-Centric Design

Managers define their own fonts, but the FontManager:

1. Loads and caches fonts for performance
2. Detects font usage for visibility
3. Allows manual overrides when needed
4. Supports plugin fonts with namespacing

Font Resolution Flow

Manager requests font → Check manual overrides → Apply manager choice → Cache & return

For Manager Developers

Basic Font Usage

from src.font_manager import FontManager

class MyManager:
    def __init__(self, config, display_manager, cache_manager):
        self.font_manager = display_manager.font_manager  # Access shared FontManager
        self.manager_id = "my_manager"
        
    def display(self):
        # Define your font choices
        element_key = "my_manager.title"
        font_family = "press_start"
        font_size_px = 10
        color = (255, 255, 255)  # RGB white
        
        # Register your font choice (for detection and future overrides)
        self.font_manager.register_manager_font(
            manager_id=self.manager_id,
            element_key=element_key,
            family=font_family,
            size_px=font_size_px,
            color=color
        )
        
        # Get the font (checks for manual overrides automatically)
        font = self.font_manager.resolve_font(
            element_key=element_key,
            family=font_family,
            size_px=font_size_px
        )
        
        # Use the font for rendering
        self.display_manager.draw_text(
            "Hello World",
            x=10, y=10,
            color=color,
            font=font
        )

Advanced Font Usage

class AdvancedManager:
    def __init__(self, config, display_manager, cache_manager):
        self.font_manager = display_manager.font_manager
        self.manager_id = "advanced_manager"
        
        # Define your font specifications
        self.font_specs = {
            "title": {"family": "press_start", "size_px": 12, "color": (255, 255, 0)},
            "body": {"family": "four_by_six", "size_px": 8, "color": (255, 255, 255)},
            "footer": {"family": "five_by_seven", "size_px": 7, "color": (128, 128, 128)}
        }
        
        # Register all font specs
        for element_type, spec in self.font_specs.items():
            element_key = f"{self.manager_id}.{element_type}"
            self.font_manager.register_manager_font(
                manager_id=self.manager_id,
                element_key=element_key,
                family=spec["family"],
                size_px=spec["size_px"],
                color=spec["color"]
            )
    
    def get_font(self, element_type: str):
        """Helper method to get fonts with override support."""
        spec = self.font_specs[element_type]
        element_key = f"{self.manager_id}.{element_type}"
        
        return self.font_manager.resolve_font(
            element_key=element_key,
            family=spec["family"],
            size_px=spec["size_px"]
        )
    
    def display(self):
        # Get fonts (automatically checks for overrides)
        title_font = self.get_font("title")
        body_font = self.get_font("body")
        footer_font = self.get_font("footer")
        
        # Render with fonts
        self.display_manager.draw_text("Title", font=title_font, color=self.font_specs["title"]["color"])
        self.display_manager.draw_text("Body Text", font=body_font, color=self.font_specs["body"]["color"])
        self.display_manager.draw_text("Footer", font=footer_font, color=self.font_specs["footer"]["color"])

Using Size Tokens

# Get available size tokens
tokens = self.font_manager.get_size_tokens()
# Returns: {'xs': 6, 'sm': 8, 'md': 10, 'lg': 12, 'xl': 14, 'xxl': 16}

# Use token to get size
size_px = tokens.get('md', 10)  # 10px

# Then use in font resolution
font = self.font_manager.resolve_font(
    element_key="my_manager.text",
    family="press_start",
    size_px=size_px
)

For Plugin Developers

Note

: plugins that ship their own fonts via a "fonts" block in manifest.json are registered automatically during plugin load (src/plugin_system/plugin_manager.py calls FontManager.register_plugin_fonts()). The plugin://… source URIs documented below are resolved relative to the plugin's install directory.

The Fonts tab in the web UI that lists detected manager-registered fonts is still a placeholder implementation — fonts that managers register through register_manager_font() do not yet appear there. The programmatic per-element override workflow described in Manual Font Overrides below (set_override() / remove_override() / the config/font_overrides.json store) does work today and is the supported way to override a font for an element until the Fonts tab is wired up. If you can't wait and need a workaround right now, you can also just load the font directly with PIL (or freetype-py for BDF) inside your plugin's manager.py and skip the override system entirely.

Plugin Font Registration

In your plugin's manifest.json:

{
  "id": "my-plugin",
  "name": "My Plugin",
  "fonts": {
    "fonts": [
      {
        "family": "custom_font",
        "source": "plugin://fonts/custom.ttf",
        "metadata": {
          "description": "Custom plugin font",
          "license": "MIT"
        }
      },
      {
        "family": "web_font",
        "source": "https://example.com/fonts/font.ttf",
        "metadata": {
          "description": "Downloaded font",
          "checksum": "sha256:abc123..."
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Using Plugin Fonts

class PluginManager:
    def __init__(self, config, display_manager, cache_manager, plugin_id):
        self.font_manager = display_manager.font_manager
        self.plugin_id = plugin_id
        
    def display(self):
        # Use plugin font (automatically namespaced)
        font = self.font_manager.resolve_font(
            element_key=f"{self.plugin_id}.text",
            family="custom_font",  # Will be resolved as "my-plugin::custom_font"
            size_px=10,
            plugin_id=self.plugin_id
        )
        
        self.display_manager.draw_text("Plugin Text", font=font)

Manual Font Overrides

Users can override any font through the web interface:

1. Navigate to Fonts tab
2. View Detected Manager Fonts to see what's currently in use
3. In Element Overrides section:
   • Select the element (e.g., "nfl.live.score")
   • Choose a different font family
   • Choose a different size
   • Click Add Override

Overrides are stored in config/font_overrides.json and persist across restarts.

Programmatic Overrides

# Set override
font_manager.set_override(
    element_key="nfl.live.score",
    family="four_by_six",
    size_px=8
)

# Remove override
font_manager.remove_override("nfl.live.score")

# Get all overrides
overrides = font_manager.get_overrides()

Font Discovery

Available Fonts

The FontManager automatically scans assets/fonts/ for TTF and BDF fonts:

# Get all available fonts
fonts = font_manager.get_available_fonts()
# Returns: {'press_start': 'assets/fonts/PressStart2P-Regular.ttf', ...}

# Check if font exists
if "my_font" in fonts:
    font = font_manager.get_font("my_font", 10)

Adding Custom Fonts

Place font files in assets/fonts/ directory:

• Supported formats: .ttf, .bdf
• Font family name is derived from filename (without extension)
• Will be automatically discovered on next initialization

Performance Monitoring

# Get performance stats
stats = font_manager.get_performance_stats()

print(f"Cache hit rate: {stats['cache_hit_rate']*100:.1f}%")
print(f"Total fonts cached: {stats['total_fonts_cached']}")
print(f"Failed loads: {stats['failed_loads']}")
print(f"Manager fonts: {stats['manager_fonts']}")
print(f"Plugin fonts: {stats['plugin_fonts']}")

Text Measurement

# Measure text dimensions
width, height, baseline = font_manager.measure_text("Hello", font)

# Get font height
font_height = font_manager.get_font_height(font)

Best Practices

For Managers

1. Register all fonts you use for visibility
2. Use consistent element keys (e.g., {manager_id}.{element_type})
3. Cache font references if using same font multiple times
4. Use resolve_font() not get_font() directly to support overrides
5. Define sensible defaults that work well on LED matrix

For Plugins

1. Use plugin-relative paths (plugin://fonts/...)
2. Include font metadata (license, description)
3. Provide fallback fonts if custom fonts fail to load
4. Test with different display sizes

General

1. BDF fonts are often better for small sizes on LED matrices
2. TTF fonts work well for larger sizes
3. Monospace fonts are easier to align
4. Test on actual hardware - what looks good on screen may not work on LED matrix

Migration from Old System

Old Way (Direct Font Loading)

self.font = ImageFont.truetype("assets/fonts/PressStart2P-Regular.ttf", 8)

New Way (FontManager)

element_key = f"{self.manager_id}.text"
self.font_manager.register_manager_font(
    manager_id=self.manager_id,
    element_key=element_key,
    family="pressstart2p-regular",
    size_px=8
)
self.font = self.font_manager.resolve_font(
    element_key=element_key,
    family="pressstart2p-regular",
    size_px=8
)

Troubleshooting

Font Not Found

• Check font file exists in assets/fonts/
• Verify font family name matches filename (without extension, lowercase)
• Check logs for font discovery errors

Override Not Working

• Verify element key matches exactly what manager registered
• Check config/font_overrides.json for correct syntax
• Restart application to ensure overrides are loaded

Performance Issues

• Check cache hit rate in performance stats
• Reduce number of unique font/size combinations
• Clear cache if it grows too large: font_manager.clear_cache()

Plugin Fonts Not Loading

• Verify plugin manifest syntax
• Check plugin directory structure
• Review logs for download/registration errors
• Ensure font URLs are accessible

API Reference

FontManager Methods

• register_manager_font(manager_id, element_key, family, size_px, color=None) - Register font usage
• resolve_font(element_key, family, size_px, plugin_id=None) - Get font with override support
• get_font(family, size_px) - Get font directly (bypasses overrides)
• measure_text(text, font) - Measure text dimensions
• get_font_height(font) - Get font height
• set_override(element_key, family=None, size_px=None) - Set manual override
• remove_override(element_key) - Remove override
• get_overrides() - Get all overrides
• get_detected_fonts() - Get all detected font usage
• get_manager_fonts(manager_id=None) - Get fonts by manager
• get_available_fonts() - Get font catalog
• get_size_tokens() - Get size token definitions
• get_performance_stats() - Get performance metrics
• clear_cache() - Clear font cache
• register_plugin_fonts(plugin_id, font_manifest) - Register plugin fonts
• unregister_plugin_fonts(plugin_id) - Unregister plugin fonts

Example: Complete Manager Implementation

For a working example of the font manager API in use, see src/font_manager.py itself and the bundled scoreboard base classes in src/base_classes/ (e.g., hockey.py, football.py) which register and resolve fonts via the patterns documented above.