Font nil after loading?

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1

Windows SDK 1.12.3

I've got a global font, which loads and draws fine. But when I try to call getTextWidth on it I'm getting a nil. So I put some nil checks in the loading code and I'm just flummoxed here.

Here's my loading code:

    print("loading font.")
    font_mpl = font.new("mpl-14.fnt")
    if font_mpl == nil then print("font is nil") end
    gfx.setFont(font_mpl)
    if font_mpl == nil then print("font is nil") end

this prints out "loading font." and then "font is nil" twice, but the font still runs and draws properly.
What is happening here?

2

Try removing the file extension?

3

But if it were failing to load the font (it does actually print "Loading: OK") then the call to setFont would fail no? Anyway, I get the same result if I remove the extension. This feels like me using lua wrongly.

4

Should be playdate.graphics.font.new(path) unless you're creating an alias of it elsewhere in your code.

You could also try playdate.file.exists(path) to confirm your path is correct.

1 Like
5

Oh oops sorry, in the same file I have

local font <const> = playdate.graphics.font

that's the problem maybe... font this font that

6

Yeah that's fixed it - I renamed the local to "fnt" and it works now. Phew. Thanks for listening!

1 Like