B4J Question Unicode Characters on Button

[atiaust]

Hi All,

Can I use a unicode character eg 2190 left arrow on a button?

Thanks

 

[Erel]

Yes but you will need to use a font that supports this character.

The code is:

Button1.Text = Chr(2190)

The default font doesn't support it.

 

[atiaust]

Thanks Erel,

I did try that and it didn't work so I wasn't sure if the default font was the problem.

Is it better to use an icon on the button to show arrows?

Thanks

 

[Erel]

It is actually very simple to use FontAwesome and add nice icons:

1. Download FontAwesome: http://fontawesome.io/
2. Add FontAwesome.otf to the Files tab.
3. Load the font and set it to whichever controls you like:

Sub Process_Globals
   Private fx As JFX
   Private MainForm As Form
   Private Button1 As Button
   Private awesome As Font
End Sub

Sub AppStart (Form1 As Form, Args() As String)
   MainForm = Form1
   MainForm.RootPane.LoadLayout("1") 'Load the layout file.
   MainForm.Show
   awesome = fx.LoadFont(File.DirAssets, "FontAwesome.otf", 20)
   Button1.Font = awesome
   Button1.Text = ""
End Sub

The nice thing is that you just need to copy the icon from this page: http://fontawesome.io/cheatsheet/ and use it like any other character. It will not appear properly in the IDE but it will work at runtime.

 

[atiaust]

Thanks Erel,

This is pretty neat. Works well.

 

[rwblinn]

Just an addition in case the font awesome character is given as unicode.
This sub is used (thanks for that).

Example: Set button text to Battery Half = fa-battery-half []

Button1.Text = UnescapeUnicode("\uf242")

 

[Erel]

The code of UnescaleUnicode is available here: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/t...results-i-cant-read-hebrew.27461/#post-159533

 

[woniol]

Is it possible to add 'normal' text after the icon in the example from #4?
This doesn't work:

Button1.Text = "" & "MyText"

 

[Erel]

The problem is that FontAwesome doesn't include regular characters. You can use TextFlow to combine text with different fonts: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/t...-similar-to-b4a-b4i-richstring.61237/#content

 

[woniol]

Thanks,
I'll give it a try.