Resizing Text and Graphics in Reflection X Advantage

  • 7021820
  • 08-May-2009
  • 24-Mar-2018

Environment

Reflection X Advantage

Situation

Text and graphics may sometimes appear too large or too small in Reflection X Advantage. This technical note explains how to adjust your screen resolution and choose the correct font sets to improve display in Reflection X Advantage.

Note: For information about resizing text and graphics in Reflection X 14.x, see KB 7021669.

Resolution

Improving Display of Text and Graphics

Bitmap fonts and graphics are measured in points that correspond to pixels on your computer screen: for example, a 12-point "A" is 12 pixels high on the monitor. Screen pixel size varies according to monitor size and screen resolution, so the size of bitmap text and graphics may appear larger or smaller than intended.

Adjusting Screen Resolution

The easiest way to adjust the size and appearance of text and graphics in Reflection X Advantage is to adjust your screen resolution in Windows.

  1. Open the Windows Control Panel.

In Windows 7: Under Display, click Adjust screen resolution.

In Windows XP: Double-click the Display icon, and then click the Settings tab.

  1. Move the resolution slider bar to increase or decrease the screen resolution.

If text is too large, increase the screen resolution by moving the slider bar to the right. If text is too small, decrease the screen resolution by moving the slider bar to the left.

  1. Click Apply to preview the changes, and then OK to accept the new resolution.
  2. Restart Reflection X Advantage.

Changing Font Collections

Reflection X Advantage comes with two different versions of the same standard bitmap fonts: one set at 75 dots per inch (dpi) resolution and one at 100 dpi. In general, 75 dpi fonts look best on screen resolutions less than or equal to 800 x 600 pixels, and 100 dpi fonts look best on resolutions greater than 1024 x 768 pixels. Installing both the 75 dpi and 100 dpi font sets minimizes the need for font scaling and results in a better-looking display.

Note: 75 dpi, 100 dpi, and Misc font sets are installed by default (along with other font collections specific to different hosts). If you experience problems, verify that the 75 dpi, 100 dpi, Misc, and the appropriate host specific font sets are installed.

Follow these steps to see which font sets are currently installed:

  1. To view the available fonts in Reflection X Manager or Reflection X Manager for Domains:
    • Version 5.x: Select a Session definition and click the Fonts tab.
    • Version 4.x: Select an X Server definition. In the right pane, expand Fonts.
  1. The font sets listed under Server Font Path are those currently available to Reflection X. If your PC resolution is 1024x768 or higher, make sure that 100 dpi is listed above 75 dpi in the Server Font Path list. Use the up and down arrows to change the list order. The list is processed from the top down.
  1. If your X session requires additional font sets, select the set from the Font Collections list and click the "<<" button to add the font set to the Server Font Path list. Use the up and down arrows to adjust the order in which the font sets are accessed.

Installing Additional Font Collections

Reflection X Advantage provides default font collections that include fonts commonly required by X client applications. Some font sets are not included in a default installation. To install these, select "Asian Fonts" or "European Fonts" or both under Reflection X Advantage in the installer feature tree. (The image above shows these additional fonts listed under Font Collections.)

All of the X11R7 fonts for The Open Group are available at 75 and 100 dpi (dots per inch). Default font collections also include fonts for Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment Corporation, Sun, and IBM hosts, along with fonts for Japanese hosts and for Unicode (where supported). If clients require other fonts, you will need to add font collections that include those fonts. You can add a font collection by loading a directory of font files or by referencing an X font server.

To add new font collections, in the Reflection X Manager, click Tools > Font Collections. For further details about adding new font collections, search for Add Font Collection in the product help.

Configure the X Client Font Selections

The X client application queries the X Server (Reflection X Advantage) to determine what fonts are available, and what the current screen resolution is, then requests specific fonts based on these settings. Many X clients, such as xterm, DECterm, KDE, and CDE can be manually configured to use a specific font. The screen shot below shows options available through a terminal window launched through CDE.

View Full Size
Figure 1 - CDE Font Size Options Figure 1 - CDE Font Size Options

Refer to the help available for your X client to determine if you can specify a font through the user interface or from the command line.

For example, if you are using an xterm, the default xterm command line provided in Reflection X Advantage is configured to use the 6x13 font. You can change the font to any other font available to Reflection X Advantage by editing the font folder specified in the font path (see above, Installing Additional Font Collections) and changing the command line accordingly:

Font specified
Command line
6x13
The default font specified by Reflection X

xterm –fn 6x13
12x24 and charr24
Both of these fonts are larger than the default font

xterm –fn 12x24 or xterm –fn charr24
5x7 and timr08
Both of these fonts are smaller than the default font

xterm –fn 5x7 or xterm –fn timr08

Contacting Attachmate Technical Support

If the suggestions listed above did not fix the problem, please contact Attachmate Technical Support. You can expedite your call by collecting the following information in advance:

  • The name of the X application and the type of host on which it is running.
  • Your current screen resolution in Windows.
  • The font sets listed in the Server Font Path list.
  • Your xmanager.log file created with font activity enabled. To create this log, run your client application after enabling font logging as follows:
    • Version 5.x: Select a session definition, click the Logging tab, and select "Log font activity."
    • Version 4.x: Select a session definition. In the right pane, expand Logging, and select "Log font activity."

For information about contacting Attachmate Technical Support, see https://support.microfocus.com/contact/.

Additional Information

Legacy KB ID

This document was originally published as Attachmate Technical Note 2440.