Where does FontTypes live in the IronDrawing API?

FontTypes is a class in the IronSoftware.Drawing namespace, shipped in IronSoftware.Drawing.dll. It acts as an enumeration of PDF-standard font values, all exposed as static properties, with no base type beyond the root object. No constructor is needed; reference members directly, such as FontTypes.Helvetica, or call FontTypes.FromString with a name string.

How do you select a PDF font at runtime in C#?

Call FontTypes.FromString with the font name as a string. It returns the matching FontTypes value, which is useful when the font choice comes from a configuration file, database, or user input. For compile-time selection, reference the static property directly, for example FontTypes.TimesNewRomanBold.

Which font families does FontTypes cover?

FontTypes covers Arial (four styles), Courier and Courier New (eight variants), Helvetica (four styles), Times New Roman (four styles), Symbol, and ZapfDingbats, totaling 23 members. These correspond to the 14 fonts guaranteed by the PDF specification plus extended variants.

Do you need to install fonts to use FontTypes?

No. The fonts represented by FontTypes are part of the PDF specification and are embedded or referenced by compliant PDF viewers without requiring separate font installation on the host machine. Simply reference the desired static property or use FromString to resolve by name.

Class FontTypes

Supported PDF Fonts

Inheritance

System.Object

IronSoftware.Drawing.Extensions.Enumeration

FontTypes

Implements

System.IComparable

Namespace: IronSoftware.Drawing

Assembly: IronSoftware.Drawing.Common.dll

Syntax

public class FontTypes : Enumeration

Selecting a standard PDF font in C# is a matter of picking the right FontTypes value and passing it wherever a font parameter is expected. FontTypes is the catalog of PDF-standard typefaces available across IronSoftware rendering pipelines, covering the 14 fonts guaranteed by the PDF specification plus extended variants, all exposed as static properties on the class.

The 23 members fall into four functional families:

**Arial variants:** Arial, ArialBold, ArialItalic, ArialBoldItalic cover the sans-serif workhorse in its four standard styles.

**Courier and Courier New variants:** Courier, CourierBold, CourierOblique, CourierBoldOblique, CourierNew, CourierNewBold, CourierNewItalic, CourierNewBoldItalic provide monospaced options useful for code listings, receipts, and tabular data where character-width consistency matters.

**Helvetica variants:** Helvetica, HelveticaBold, HelveticaOblique, HelveticaBoldOblique deliver the classic neutral sans-serif in upright and oblique weights.

**Serif and symbol fonts:** TimesNewRoman, TimesNewRomanBold, TimesNewRomanItalic, TimesNewRomanBoldItalic handle body text that benefits from serifs, while Symbol and ZapfDingbats supply mathematical symbols and decorative glyphs that are embedded in the PDF specification itself.

Beyond the static properties, FromString accepts a font name as a plain string and returns the matching FontTypes value, which is useful when a font choice arrives from configuration, a database column, or user input rather than being fixed at compile time.

Because every member is a static property, no constructor call is needed. Reference the font directly by name, or resolve it at runtime with FromString.

using IronSoftware.Drawing;

// Resolve a font from a config value at runtime
string configuredFont = "TimesNewRomanBold";
FontTypes font = FontTypes.FromString(configuredFont);

// Or reference a font directly by its static property
FontTypes heading = FontTypes.HelveticaBold;
FontTypes body    = FontTypes.TimesNewRoman;
FontTypes mono    = FontTypes.CourierNew;

Explore the IronDrawing get-started guide for setup, the font rendering how-to for practical usage patterns, the PDF font examples, and the full API docs for related drawing types.

Properties

Arial

Represents the Arial font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes Arial { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

ArialBold

Represents the Arial-Bold font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes ArialBold { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

ArialBoldItalic

Represents the Arial-BoldItalic font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes ArialBoldItalic { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

ArialItalic

Represents the Arial-Italic font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes ArialItalic { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

Courier

Represents the Courier font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes Courier { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

CourierBold

Represents the Courier-Bold font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes CourierBold { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

CourierBoldOblique

Represents the Courier-BoldOblique font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes CourierBoldOblique { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

CourierNew

Represents the CourierNew font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes CourierNew { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

CourierNewBold

Represents the CourierNew-Bold font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes CourierNewBold { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

CourierNewBoldItalic

Represents the CourierNew-BoldItalic font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes CourierNewBoldItalic { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

CourierNewItalic

Represents the CourierNew-Italic font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes CourierNewItalic { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

CourierOblique

Represents the Courier-Oblique font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes CourierOblique { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

Helvetica

Represents the Helvetica font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes Helvetica { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

HelveticaBold

Represents the Helvetica-Bold font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes HelveticaBold { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

HelveticaBoldOblique

Represents the Helvetica-BoldOblique font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes HelveticaBoldOblique { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

HelveticaOblique

Represents the Helvetica-Oblique font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes HelveticaOblique { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

Symbol

Represents the Symbol font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes Symbol { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

TimesNewRoman

Represents the TimesNewRoman font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes TimesNewRoman { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

TimesNewRomanBold

Represents the TimesNewRoman-Bold font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes TimesNewRomanBold { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

TimesNewRomanBoldItalic

Represents the TimesNewRoman-BoldItalic font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes TimesNewRomanBoldItalic { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

TimesNewRomanItalic

Represents the TimesNewRoman-Italic font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes TimesNewRomanItalic { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

ZapfDingbats

Represents the ZapfDingbats font type.

Declaration

public static FontTypes ZapfDingbats { get; }

Property Value

Type	Description
FontTypes

Methods

FromString(String)

Returns the corresponding FontTypes based on the provided font name string.

Declaration

public static FontTypes FromString(string fontName)

Parameters

Type	Name	Description
System.String	fontName	The name of the font.

Returns

Type	Description
FontTypes	The corresponding FontTypes object.

Exceptions

Type	Condition
System.InvalidCastException	Thrown when the provided font name is not a recognized standard PDF font type.

Implements

System.IComparable