Hi

I downloaded the Processing library template for Eclipse, really nice work.

I have a question though: is there some way to distribute assets (.vlw fonts, images, etc) with the library so that they are found by the Processing sketch? (Or rather, from the library).

If not, wouldn't it be a good idea to have some fonts distributed with Processing (For example, the GNU FreeFonts (gnu.org/software/freefont/) so that there always is at least some fonts you know you can use? I know you can use createFont, but you never really know what fonts people might have on some weird Linux distro.

/ Fredrik

Yes, you can include resources in your JAR file.  

To access a resource inside a JAR file (lets say your library has a class named MyClass):

Code:

ClassLoader cl = MyClass.class.getClassLoader();
URL res = cl.getResource("somefilename");
 

Once you have the URL object, you can read it, do what you need to it, etc..

If you're using the library tempate and building with ANT, you can modify the ANT XML file to include files in the JAR for you.. Poke around below the "no changes required" line..

You'll probably want to add something like this:

Code:

<!-- move some files to the bin/ directory, so they are included in the JAR file -->
<mkdir dir="${bin}/myfiles" />
<copy todir="${bin}/myfiles">
    <fileset dir="resources/myfiles"/>
</copy> 

Hope this helps.
d.

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood the question a bit.

As far as I know, its not possible to bundle resources and then let the user of your library open them "normally" using loadFont(), loadImage(), etc, since PApplet only knows to look for files in a few places (see createInputRaw() in the source code).

The solution depends on what you are trying to do with your library. Do you need the font so you can use it from inside the library or do you simply want to make it available?

In both cases, you can create a PFont object "by hand" if you have access to the vlw file. (basically provide the functionality of loadFont) You can do that from the URL object that the classloader gives you (exception handling not included!):

Code:

ClassLoader cl = MyClass.class.getClassLoader();
URL res = cl.getResource("myfont.vlw");
InputStream stream = res.openStream();
PFont font = new PFont(stream);
 

From there you can use the font, or if you need to make it available to users, just add a factory method to your class containing the code above:

Code:

class MyLib {
public PFont createMyLibFont(); 
}
 

If you have more than one font, either make many methods or pass the font name as an argument.

Bottom line is: you can package assets with your lib, but if you want to pass them onto the user, you'll have to provide your own methods to open the files and create the appropriate Processing objects.

d.