How to use a custom typeface in a widget?

Question

I have a digital clock widget. How can I use a custom font from assets/fonts as the default font in the textview showing the clock?

This is my code:

    package android.tristan.widget.digiclock;

import java.util.Calendar;

import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.app.Service;
import android.appwidget.AppWidgetManager;
import android.appwidget.AppWidgetProvider;
import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.ComponentName;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.IntentFilter;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.os.Vibrator;
import android.text.format.DateFormat;
import android.widget.RemoteViews;


public class DigiClock extends AppWidgetProvider {

    @Override
    public void onDisabled(Context context) {
        super.onDisabled(context);
        context.stopService(new Intent(context, UpdateService.class));
    }
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
    {
        super.onReceive(context, intent);

        if(intent.getAction().equals("android.tristan.widget.digiclock.CLICK"))
        {
          Vibrator vibrator = (Vibrator) context.getSystemService(Context.VIBRATOR_SERVICE);
          vibrator.vibrate(50);           
            final Intent alarmClockIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, null);
            alarmClockIntent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
            final ComponentName cn = new ComponentName("com.android.deskclock", "com.android.deskclock.AlarmClock");
            alarmClockIntent.setComponent(cn);
            alarmClockIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            context.startActivity(alarmClockIntent);
        }
        if(intent.getAction().equals("android.tristan.widget.digiclock.CLICK_2"))
        {
          Vibrator vibrator = (Vibrator) context.getSystemService(Context.VIBRATOR_SERVICE);
          vibrator.vibrate(50);
           final Intent calendarIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, null);
           calendarIntent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
            final ComponentName cn = new ComponentName("com.android.calendar", "com.android.calendar.LaunchActivity");
            calendarIntent.setComponent(cn);
            calendarIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            context.startActivity(calendarIntent);       
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onEnabled(Context context) {
        super.onEnabled(context);
        context.startService(new Intent(UpdateService.ACTION_UPDATE));
    }

    @Override
    public void onUpdate(Context context, AppWidgetManager appWidgetManager, int[] appWidgetIds) {
        super.onUpdate(context, appWidgetManager, appWidgetIds);
        context.startService(new Intent(UpdateService.ACTION_UPDATE));
        final int Top = appWidgetIds.length;
        final int Bottom = appWidgetIds.length;
        for (int i=0; i<Top; i++)
        {
            int[] appWidgetId = appWidgetIds;
            RemoteViews top=new RemoteViews(context.getPackageName(), R.layout.main);
            Intent clickintent=new Intent("android.tristan.widget.digiclock.CLICK");
            PendingIntent pendingIntentClick=PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, 0, clickintent, 0);
            top.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.TopRow, pendingIntentClick);
            appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget(appWidgetId, top);
        }
        for (int i=0; i<Bottom; i++)
        {
            int[] appWidgetId = appWidgetIds;
            RemoteViews bottom=new RemoteViews(context.getPackageName(), R.layout.main);
            Intent clickintent=new Intent("android.tristan.widget.digiclock.CLICK_2");
            PendingIntent pendingIntentClick=PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, 0, clickintent, 0);
            bottom.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.BottomRow, pendingIntentClick);
            appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget(appWidgetId, bottom);
        }
}

    public static final class UpdateService extends Service {

       static final String ACTION_UPDATE = "android.tristan.widget.digiclock.action.UPDATE";

        private final static IntentFilter sIntentFilter;

        private final static String FORMAT_12_HOURS = "h:mm";
        private final static String FORMAT_24_HOURS = "kk:mm";

        private String mTimeFormat;
        private String mDateFormat;
        private String mDayFormat;
        private Calendar mCalendar;

        static {
            sIntentFilter = new IntentFilter();
            sIntentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_TIME_TICK);
            sIntentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_TIMEZONE_CHANGED);
            sIntentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_TIME_CHANGED);
        }

        @Override
        public void onCreate() {
            super.onCreate();
            reinit();
            registerReceiver(mTimeChangedReceiver, sIntentFilter);
         }

        @Override
        public void onDestroy() {
            super.onDestroy();
            unregisterReceiver(mTimeChangedReceiver);
        }

        @Override
        public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {
            super.onStart(intent, startId);

            if (ACTION_UPDATE.equals(intent.getAction())) {
                update();
            }
        }

        @Override
        public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
            return null;
        }


        private void update() {
            mCalendar.setTimeInMillis(System.currentTimeMillis());
            final CharSequence time = DateFormat.format(mTimeFormat, mCalendar);
            final CharSequence date = DateFormat.format(mDateFormat, mCalendar);
            final CharSequence day = DateFormat.format(mDayFormat, mCalendar);

            RemoteViews views = new RemoteViews(getPackageName(), R.layout.main);
            views.setTextViewText(R.id.Time, time);
            views.setTextViewText(R.id.Day, day);
            views.setTextViewText(R.id.Date, date);

            ComponentName widget = new ComponentName(this, DigiClock.class);
            AppWidgetManager manager = AppWidgetManager.getInstance(this);
            manager.updateAppWidget(widget, views);
        }

        private void reinit() {
            mDayFormat = getString(R.string.day_format);
            mDateFormat = getString(R.string.date_format);
            mTimeFormat = is24HourMode(this) ? FORMAT_24_HOURS : FORMAT_12_HOURS;
            mCalendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        }

        private static boolean is24HourMode(final Context context) {
            return android.text.format.DateFormat.is24HourFormat(context);
        }

        private final BroadcastReceiver mTimeChangedReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
            @Override
            public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                final String action = intent.getAction();

                if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_TIME_CHANGED) ||
                    action.equals(Intent.ACTION_TIMEZONE_CHANGED))
                {
                    reinit();
                }

                update();
            }
        };
    }
}

Answer 1

What is needed is to render the font onto a canvas, and then pass it on to a bitmap and assign that to an ImageView. Like so:

public Bitmap buildUpdate(String time) 
{
    Bitmap myBitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(160, 84, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_4444);
    Canvas myCanvas = new Canvas(myBitmap);
    Paint paint = new Paint();
    Typeface clock = Typeface.createFromAsset(this.getAssets(),"Clockopia.ttf");
    paint.setAntiAlias(true);
    paint.setSubpixelText(true);
    paint.setTypeface(clock);
    paint.setStyle(Paint.Style.FILL);
    paint.setColor(Color.WHITE);
    paint.setTextSize(65);
    paint.setTextAlign(Align.CENTER);
    myCanvas.drawText(time, 80, 60, paint);
    return myBitmap;
}

That's the part doing the font to image thingie, and this is how to use it:

String time = (String) DateFormat.format(mTimeFormat, mCalendar);
RemoteViews views = new RemoteViews(getPackageName(), R.layout.main);
views.setImageViewBitmap(R.id.TimeView, buildUpdate(time));

As you might notice, this code just shows the current time in the imageview, but it can easily be adjusted to whatever needs.

Edit:

ARGB_4444 is deprecated for ARGB_8888 as stated in the documentation

This field was deprecated in API level 13. Because of the poor quality of this configuration, it is advised to use ARGB_8888 instead.