Question

I am attempting to use a custom font for a TextView on Android, following the guide here. Using the same font, same code, same everything, I get this in adb logcat:

W/dalvikvm(  317): threadid=1: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x4001d800)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
E/AndroidRuntime(  317): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity  ComponentInfo{org.evilx.quacklock/org.evilx.quacklock.MainActivity}:             java.lang.RuntimeException: native typeface cannot be made
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2663)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2679)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.app.ActivityThread.access$2300(ActivityThread.java:125)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:2033)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317): Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: native typeface cannot be made
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.graphics.Typeface.<init>(Typeface.java:147)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.graphics.Typeface.createFromAsset(Typeface.java:121)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at org.evilx.quacklock.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:24)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2627)
E/AndroidRuntime(  317):        ... 11 more
W/ActivityManager(   59):   Force finishing activity org.evilx.quacklock/.MainActivity
W/ActivityManager(   59): Activity pause timeout for HistoryRecord{43e80368 org.evilx.quacklock/.MainActivity}
D/dalvikvm(  247): GC_EXPLICIT freed 711 objects / 53160 bytes in 20922ms

I’m using the font Molot.otf, which was successfully used in one of the blogs. I’m also using predator.ttf, another custom font but in TrueType format.

Relevant code:

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    // Called when the activity is first created.
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {
        super.onCreate(icicle);
        Typeface tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(), "fonts/Molot.otf");
        TextView tv = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.CustomFontText);
        tv.setTypeface(tf);
    }
}

and

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/CustomFontText"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textSize="30sp"
        android:text="Here is some text.">
    </TextView>
</LinearLayout>

What would be causing this? It worked for the people in the blogs, so why not me? Did something significant change in the API that’s preventing me from doing this?

Answer 1

Android does not support OpenType (OTF), only TrueType (TTF), so your Molot.otf font probably will not work. I wrote both of those blog posts you link to in your opening sentence (the one is a pirated copy of the other), and they do not use Molot.otf.

(BTW, I somewhat repaired the formatting of that post — AndroidGuys keeps changing WordPress hosts, and so my older posts are terribly broken in terms of formatting).

EDIT: As stated in the comments, Android DOES now support OTF.