How to change the font on the TextView?

Question

How to change the font in a TextView, as default it\'s shown up as Arial? How to change it to Helvetica?

Answer 1

Typeface tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(),
        "fonts/DroidSansFallback.ttf");
TextView tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.CustomFontText);
tv.setTypeface(tf);

Answer 2

You might want to create static class which will contain all the fonts. That way, you won't create the font multiple times which might impact badly on performance. Just make sure that you create a sub-folder called "fonts" under "assets" folder.

Do something like:

public class CustomFontsLoader {

public static final int FONT_NAME_1 =   0;
public static final int FONT_NAME_2 =   1;
public static final int FONT_NAME_3 =   2;

private static final int NUM_OF_CUSTOM_FONTS = 3;

private static boolean fontsLoaded = false;

private static Typeface[] fonts = new Typeface[3];

private static String[] fontPath = {
    "fonts/FONT_NAME_1.ttf",
    "fonts/FONT_NAME_2.ttf",
    "fonts/FONT_NAME_3.ttf"
};


/**
 * Returns a loaded custom font based on it's identifier. 
 * 
 * @param context - the current context
 * @param fontIdentifier = the identifier of the requested font
 * 
 * @return Typeface object of the requested font.
 */
public static Typeface getTypeface(Context context, int fontIdentifier) {
    if (!fontsLoaded) {
        loadFonts(context);
    }
    return fonts[fontIdentifier];
}


private static void loadFonts(Context context) {
    for (int i = 0; i < NUM_OF_CUSTOM_FONTS; i++) {
        fonts[i] = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), fontPath[i]);
    }
    fontsLoaded = true;

}
}

This way, you can get the font from everywhere in your application.

Answer 3

When your font is stored inside res/asset/fonts/Helvetica.ttf use the following:

Typeface tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(),"fonts/Helvetica.ttf"); 
txt.setTypeface(tf);

Or, if your font file is stores inside res/font/helvetica.ttf use the following:

Typeface tf = ResourcesCompat.getFont(this,R.font.helvetica);
txt.setTypeface(tf);

Answer 4

It's a little old, but I improved the class CustomFontLoader a little bit and I wanted to share it so it can be helpfull. Just create a new class with this code.

 import android.content.Context;
 import android.graphics.Typeface;

public enum FontLoader {

ARIAL("arial"),
TIMES("times"),
VERDANA("verdana"),
TREBUCHET("trbuchet"),
GEORGIA("georgia"),
GENEVA("geneva"),
SANS("sans"),
COURIER("courier"),
TAHOMA("tahoma"),
LUCIDA("lucida");   


private final String name;
private Typeface typeFace;


private FontLoader(final String name) {
    this.name = name;

    typeFace=null;  
}

public static Typeface getTypeFace(Context context,String name){
    try {
        FontLoader item=FontLoader.valueOf(name.toUpperCase(Locale.getDefault()));
        if(item.typeFace==null){                
            item.typeFace=Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), "fonts/"+item.name+".ttf");                 
        }           
        return item.typeFace;
    } catch (Exception e) {         
        return null;
    }                   
}
public static Typeface getTypeFace(Context context,int id){
    FontLoader myArray[]= FontLoader.values();
    if(!(id<myArray.length)){           
        return null;
    } 
    try {
        if(myArray[id].typeFace==null){     
            myArray[id].typeFace=Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), "fonts/"+myArray[id].name+".ttf");                       
        }       
        return myArray[id].typeFace;    
    }catch (Exception e) {          
        return null;
    }   

}

public static Typeface getTypeFaceByName(Context context,String name){      
    for(FontLoader item: FontLoader.values()){              
        if(name.equalsIgnoreCase(item.name)){
            if(item.typeFace==null){
                try{
                    item.typeFace=Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), "fonts/"+item.name+".ttf");     
                }catch (Exception e) {          
                    return null;
                }   
            }
            return item.typeFace;
        }               
    }
    return null;
}   

public static void loadAllFonts(Context context){       
    for(FontLoader item: FontLoader.values()){              
        if(item.typeFace==null){
            try{
                item.typeFace=Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), "fonts/"+item.name+".ttf");     
            }catch (Exception e) {
                item.typeFace=null;
            }   
        }                
    }       
}   
}

Then just use this code on you textview:

 Typeface typeFace=FontLoader.getTypeFace(context,"arial");  
 if(typeFace!=null) myTextView.setTypeface(typeFace);

Answer 5

Another way to consolidate font creation...

public class Font {
  public static final Font  PROXIMA_NOVA    = new Font("ProximaNovaRegular.otf");
  public static final Font  FRANKLIN_GOTHIC = new Font("FranklinGothicURWBoo.ttf");
  private final String      assetName;
  private volatile Typeface typeface;

  private Font(String assetName) {
    this.assetName = assetName;
  }

  public void apply(Context context, TextView textView) {
    if (typeface == null) {
      synchronized (this) {
        if (typeface == null) {
          typeface = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getAssets(), assetName);
        }
      }
    }
    textView.setTypeface(typeface);
  }
}

And then to use in your activity...

myTextView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.myTextView);
Font.PROXIMA_NOVA.apply(this, myTextView);

Mind you, this double-checked locking idiom with the volatile field only works correctly with the memory model used in Java 1.5+.

Answer 6

The answers above are correct. Just make sure that you create a sub-folder called "fonts" under "assets" folder if you are using that piece of code.