Custom Sidebar Entries in Font View

Glyphs
1

Hi,

I tried to create a custom entry in the sidebar following the instructions in the tutorial. It did not work for me. Have anyone tried this? I copied/pasted the text given in the tutorial, that is:

{
    categories = (
        {
            name = "My Category";
            icon = myTemplate;
            subGroup = (
                {
                    name = "My Group";
                    coverage = (
                        Hallo,
                    );
                }
            );
        },
    );
    languages = (
        {
            name = Esperanto;
            icon = EsperantoTemplate;
            script = esperanto;
            subGroup = (
                {
                    name = Consonants;
                    coverage = (
                        A,
                        B,
                        C,
                    );
                }
            );
        },
    );
}

and saved it as “Groups.plist” into the “~/Library/Application Support/Glyphs/Info/” folder. Would this be enough to get al least a new item called “esperanto” under the “Languages” heading in the sidebar, or is there something missing?

2

Did you try restarting Glyphs?

Usually, those kinds of configuration files are read upon startup.

3

Yes, I did. I also thought it could be the cause, but it did not solve the problem.

4

Before posting, I’d done the same experiment—copying the text from the tutorial—and it worked. This only works in Glyphs 2.0.1. I tested with version 2.0.1 (752).

5

My current version is 2.0.1 (727), and Glyphsapp tells me it is the latest (?) No idea whether that may affect…

6

2.0.1 (752) is a beta version (Cutting Edge option in preferences). I’ll let @GeorgSeifert or @mekkablue answer if it’s supported in the 2.0.1 (727) version.

7

Thanks composerjk :blush: I’ll try installing the beta version

8

Just remember to do extra backups of your projects when working with a beta release. And I just checked the Change Log release notes. User-defined Categories/Languages was added in 2.0.1 (749).

9

You got it :smile:

I actually checked the Change Log and found that note!

Thanks again!

10

Hi again (not sure I should open a new topic to extend this question)
Well, the thing is that now I am able to add custom entries to the sidebar (thank you composerjk), but I am not able to create subgroups, at least not more than one. What I would like is to create a new entry for a script and then create some subgroups inside it, the same way other scripts do. See the case of Greek for instance. It has four subgroups: Basic, Archaic letters, Polytonic and Coptic. How should I modify the source shown in the tutorial in order to get a similar result?

11

Add another “{ ... }” after the first one in the subGroup = ( ... ); section. Something like (just including the Languages section):

languages = (
    {
        name = Esperanto;
        icon = EsperantoTemplate;
        script = esperanto;
        subGroup = (
            {
                name = Consonants;
                coverage = (
                    A,
                    B,
                    C,
                );
            },
	{
		name = Vowels;
		coverage = (
			a,
			e,
			i,
		);
	}
        );
     },
);
12

I tried that before, and it did not work. But now I realised a small detail: that comma after the brace! That was the trick! Thank you again!

13

It seems that I am finding problems in every step of the process. Now I tried to add a customized icon and it is not working. I exported a PDF (16x16 pixel) from inDesign with the character I wanted to use as icon traced. Saved it with the name “MyiconTemplate.pdf” in a folder named “Icons” next to the “Groups.plist” file. I called it from this line in the code:

icon = MyiconTemplate;

No icon in the sidebar. Has anyone tried this?

There is also another minor issue concerning subgroups. Normally they show two numbers separated by a slash. The second shows the amount of characters that subgroup comprises, the first shows how many of them are already in the font. The initial state is normally something like 0/26. If you add 10 characters from that subgroup to your font the numbers would be 10/26. If you add all it would be 26/26. Either this is not working in customized subgroups or I am again missing something.

14

can you send me your groups file and the icon?

15

Hi Georg,

here you go the files

files.zip (12.7 KB)

16

I’m having the same issue with the icon but my major problem is that the category appears but doesn’t filter, the main area is white. see the screenshot.

Captura de pantalla 2015-08-15 a la(s) 15.00.14.PNG1366Ă—539 97 KB

17

can you send the the file?

18

Do you have something in the search field?

19

@GeorgSeifert The same happens with the tutorial file. Groups.plist.zip (450 Bytes)
@mekkablue No, I don’t have anything on the search field.

Best regards.

20

There used to be a mistake in the tutorial that is also in your file. It has been corrected for a while though. See further above.

The following works. Pay attention to how the subgroups are organised:

{
	categories = (
		{
			name = "Compatibility";
			icon = compatibilityTemplate;
			subGroup = (
				{
					name = "Windows";
					coverage = (
						nbspace,
						softhyphen
					);
				},
				{
					name = "Web";
					coverage = (
						.notdef,
						hyphen
					);
				}
			);
		}
	);
	languages = (
		{
			name = Esperanto;
			icon = EsperantoTemplate;
			script = esperanto;
			subGroup = (
				{
					name = Letters;
					coverage = (
						Ccircumflex,
						ccircumflex,
						Gcircumflex,
						gcircumflex,
						Hcircumflex,
						hcircumflex,
						Jcircumflex,
						jcircumflex,
						Scircumflex,
						scircumflex,
						Ubreve,
						ubreve
    				);
				},
				{
					name = Marks;
					coverage = (
						circumflexcomb,
						brevecomb
    				);
				}
			);
		},
	);
}