Glyph User Data Inaccessible when saving as UFO (Bug)

Glyphs
1

Hi,

I noticed that User Data saved to a glyph object becomes inaccessible when the using the UFO file format.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Create a new Glyphs file with one master.
  2. File > Save as UFO.
  3. Run the below Macro to add user data to the font (1) and to the “A” glyph (2).
    Glyphs.font.userData["TestingFont"] = "Hello, Font" # (1)    
Glyphs.font.glyphs["A"].userData["TestingGlyph"] = "Hello, Glyph" # (2)

print("Font User Data:", Glyphs.font.userData)
print("Glyph 'A' User Data:", Glyphs.font.glyphs["A"].userData)
    Returns:
    Font User Data: {
    TestingFont = "Hello, Font";
}
Glyph 'A' User Data: {
    TestingGlyph = "Hello, Glyph";
}
  4. Save & close the UFO. The lib.plist and A_.glif look like the below
    New Font.ufo/lib.plist
...
<key>com.schriftgestaltung.font.userData</key>
<dict>
    <key>TestingFont</key>
    <string>Hello, Font</string>
</dict>
...

    New Font.ufo/glyphs/A_.glif

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<glyph name="A" format="2">
    <advance width="600"/>
    <unicode hex="0041"/>
    <outline>
    </outline>
    <lib>
        <dict>
            <key>TestingGlyph</key>
            <string>Hello, Glyph</string>
            <key>com.schriftgestaltung.Glyphs.lastChange</key>
            <string>2021-08-02 20:01:39 +0000</string>
        </dict>
    </lib>
</glyph>
  5. Re-open the UFO in Glyphs.
  6. Run the below macro to report the User Data
    print("Font User Data:", Glyphs.font.userData)
print("Glyph 'A' User Data:", Glyphs.font.glyphs["A"].userData)
    Returns:
    Font User Data: {
    "UFO.lib" =     {
        TestingFont = "Hello, Font";
    };
    UFOFormat = 3;
}
Glyph 'A' User Data: None

I would expect the User Data object for Glyph A to look similar to the Font’s User Data object, but instead it returns None.

Is there any way to read the User Data out of a UFO glyph? This seems like a bug to me.

Thanks!

2

I’ll have a look.

3

Thanks, Georg!

4

This is more tricky than I thought.

What happens is that all glyph.userData will end up in the layer. I could change it that it is stored in its own key to be able to better round trip.

But you should probably better use the ´layer.userData` directly.

1 Like
5

I believe this was sparked by Kern On not working with a UFO round-trip.

Kern On stores some of its data in the glyphs’ userData. RMX also does that, btw.

I believe data should be stored where it makes most sense, and storing data that belongs to a glyph shouldn’t be stored in the layers. That would be a rather ugly hack. What if the user re-orders the masters or deletes a master? It would be unacceptable if that breaks the system.

If a hack is necessary to store the glyph userData in a UFO then that’s where the hack should take place, not before.

1 Like
6

I fixed its that the glyph specific data would round-trip properly.

2 Likes
7

Great, Thanks!