Alias file

The Alias file contains two sections: one section for font familyname aliases [FONT] and one section for character identifier aliases [CHARID].

The first section, identified by the section header [FONT], lists the font familyname aliases. Font familyname aliases allow you to change all of the requested instances of a font familyname (as defined in the Character Set Definition file) to another font familyname. For example, this file is used to change all requests for the SonoranSerif font (which might not exist on the workstation) to requests for the TimesNewRoman font (which is one of the core fonts shipped with the Viewer).

Adobe provides Type 1 support, however, TrueType fonts can be used with the Viewer. As a backup, a second font (TrueType) can be specified after the Type 1 font name. If the Type 1 font is not found, the TrueType font will be used to display your document.
Note: Be aware that font familyname remapping, especially to TrueType fonts, can cause some misalignment of text characters since the display font is not the same as the font used to create the AFP document. Remapping of one font familyname to a different font familyname with very different characteristics (such as STYLE) might mean a matching font cannot be found. You will receive an error message if either font substitute cannot be found.

The [FONT] section. This example of the [FONT] section is from the Alias file (ALIAS.FNT).

[FONT]
; ***** Requested font = Type 1 font, TrueType font *****
Book=TimesNewRoman,Times New Roman
CourierOverstrike=Courier,Courier New
SonoranSerif=TimesNewRoman,Times New Roman
SonoranSansSerif=Helvetica,Arial
Text=Courier,Courier New
The second section, identified by the section header [CHARID], lists the character identifier aliases. Character identifier aliases (also known as glyph identifiers) allow you to change all of the requested instances of a character to another character. For example, since the Windows ANSI character set does not contain the ligature (LF510000), it is not mapped to a character in the code page map files. Instead, it is mapped to NOMATCH 00. If you want to map all occurrences of LF510000 — NOMATCH pair to a lower case f, you could do this in the [CHARID] section of the ALIAS.FNT file with the following entry:
LF510000=LF010000

If you want to change one specific character for one specific code page, then you can remap the character on that code page to another character.

The Alias file is checked only when a NOMATCH 00 is found in a character mapping.
Note: Using the Alias file for more than a few character substitutions is not recommended as program performance is affected. If many character substitutions are needed, it is better to make changes directly to the mappings in the Code Page Map files that you are using.

The [CHARID] section. This example of the [CHARID] section is from the Alias file (ALIAS.FNT).

[CHARID]
LF510000=LF010000
SA000000=SP320000,SP100000

Alias file rules

  • For family name aliases, all requests for the first family name in the Character Set Definition file have the second family name substituted for them. If the second family name is not found, the TrueType font (the third family name) is requested.
  • Only two family name substitutes per line are allowed (to the right of the equal sign), and they must be separated by a comma.
  • If multiple mappings are listed in the file for the same family name, only the first match is used.
  • The Alias file is processed sequentially and is not chained (for example, if "Century Schoolbook" is set equal to "Times", and "Times" is set equal to "TimesNewRoman", "Century Schoolbook" will not be set to "TimesNewRoman").
  • Blanks in family names are treated as characters (for example, "Times New Roman" is not the same font as "TimesNewRoman").
  • The [CHARID] section of the Alias file is only used if the second character identifier is NOMATCH 00.
  • The character identifier that you want modified in the [CHARID] section must be followed by an equal sign and the character identifier to which it is to be changed. A character remap occurs when the modified character identifier (the character to the left of the equal sign in the [CHARID] section) matches the first character identifier of a non-matching pair in the Code Page Map file.
  • Several character identifiers (substitute char id) might be listed to the right of the equal sign separated by commas. The first substitute character identifier is substituted for the modified character identifier unless it does not exist in the Windows® font. If it does not exist, then the next substitute character identifier is used. If none of the substitute character identifiers exist, the undefined code point is used. If you want to see the contents of the Windows character sets, see the .WCP files the FONT directory.
  • A maximum of four substitute character identifiers are allowed.