How to: Enumerate Installed Fonts

The InstalledFontCollection class inherits from the FontCollection abstract base class. You can use an InstalledFontCollection object to enumerate the fonts installed on the computer. The Families property of an InstalledFontCollection object is an array of FontFamily objects.

Example

The following example lists the names of all the font families installed on the computer. The code retrieves the Name property of each FontFamily object in the array returned by the Families property. As the family names are retrieved, they are concatenated to form a comma-separated list. Then the DrawString method of the Graphics class draws the comma-separated list in a rectangle.

If you run the example code, the output will be similar to that shown in the following illustration.

Dim fontFamily As New FontFamily("Arial")
Dim font As New Font( _
   fontFamily, _
   8, _
   FontStyle.Regular, _
   GraphicsUnit.Point)
Dim rectF As New RectangleF(10, 10, 500, 500)
Dim solidBrush As New SolidBrush(Color.Black)

Dim familyName As String
Dim familyList As String = ""
Dim fontFamilies() As FontFamily

Dim installedFontCollection As New InstalledFontCollection()

' Get the array of FontFamily objects.
fontFamilies = installedFontCollection.Families

' The loop below creates a large string that is a comma-separated
' list of all font family names.
Dim count As Integer = fontFamilies.Length
Dim j As Integer

While j < count
    familyName = fontFamilies(j).Name
    familyList = familyList & familyName
    familyList = familyList & ",  "
    j += 1
End While

' Draw the large string (list of all families) in a rectangle.
e.Graphics.DrawString(familyList, font, solidBrush, rectF)

FontFamily fontFamily = new FontFamily("Arial");
Font font = new Font(
   fontFamily,
   8,
   FontStyle.Regular,
   GraphicsUnit.Point);
RectangleF rectF = new RectangleF(10, 10, 500, 500);
SolidBrush solidBrush = new SolidBrush(Color.Black);

string familyName;
string familyList = "";
FontFamily[] fontFamilies;

InstalledFontCollection installedFontCollection = new InstalledFontCollection();

// Get the array of FontFamily objects.
fontFamilies = installedFontCollection.Families;

// The loop below creates a large string that is a comma-separated
// list of all font family names.

int count = fontFamilies.Length;
for (int j = 0; j < count; ++j)
{
    familyName = fontFamilies[j].Name;
    familyList = familyList + familyName;
    familyList = familyList + ",  ";
}

// Draw the large string (list of all families) in a rectangle.
e.Graphics.DrawString(familyList, font, solidBrush, rectF);

Compiling the Code

The preceding example is designed for use with Windows Forms, and it requires PaintEventArgs e, which is a parameter of PaintEventHandler.

See Also

Other Resources

Using Fonts and Text