Font Descriptor Returns Nil in iOS 8

Font Descriptor returns nil in iOS 8

FWIW, this is the workaround I came up with, using UIFontDescriptor's attributes dictionary initializer instead of the seemingly buggy fontDescriptorWithSymbolicTraits:

NSString *fontFamily = @"Arial";
BOOL isBold = YES;
BOOL isItalic = YES;
CGFloat fontSize = 20.0;
UIFontDescriptor *fontDescriptor = [UIFontDescriptor fontDescriptorWithFontAttributes:
                  @{
                    @"NSFontFamilyAttribute" : fontFamily,
                    @"NSFontFaceAttribute" : (isBold && isItalic ? @"Bold Italic" : (isBold ? @"Bold" : (isItalic ? @"Italic" : @"Regular")))
                    }];
UIFont *font = [UIFont fontWithDescriptor:fontDescriptor size:fontSize];

swift alternative for fontDescriptorWithSymbolicTraits ios 8 bug

You're right about this. The bug was fixed in iOS 8.3, fortunately. The only reliable workaround is to drop down to the level of Core Text and perform the trait application there. It's a pain, but it solves the problem.

Thus, for instance, before iOS 8.3, this doesn't work:

if let body = UIFont(name: "GillSans", size: 15),
    emphasis = body.fontDescriptor().fontDescriptorWithSymbolicTraits(.TraitItalic) {
        fbody = body
        femphasis = UIFont(descriptor: emphasis, size: 0)
}

So you have to import CoreText and drop down to that level:

if let body = UIFont(name: "GillSans", size: 15),
    result = CTFontCreateCopyWithSymbolicTraits(body as CTFont, 0, nil, .ItalicTrait, .ItalicTrait) {
        fbody = body
        femphasis = result as UIFont
}

Fortunately, Swift 1.2 and later is aware that UIFont and CTFont are now toll-free bridged. Before Swift 1.2, this was even more complicated! And of course in earlier systems, they were not toll-free bridged and this was still more difficult.

ios11- UIFont return nil

Try to check the available fonts

for familyName:String in UIFont.familyNames {
    print("Family Name: \(familyName)")
    for fontName:String in UIFont.fontNames(forFamilyName: familyName) {
         print("--Font Name: \(fontName)")
     }
}

May be the font spelling is different.

Custom font iOS in Today Widget always return nil

Maybe it's because you forgot to add key in your .plist file.

Add the key Fonts provided by application to a new row. Add items for each font you have added.

Add custom weight to iOS Font descriptor in Swift

UIFont(descriptor: imgFontDescriptor!, size: 24.0) is returning a Font what match with the descriptor. If it can't find a Font match with your description, it returns a default font. Therefore, you can't control your weight manually. It depends on the Font you use. If the Font is support that weight, it will return that.

One more thing, you should use [UIFontDescriptorFamilyAttribute: "Helvetica"]. So it will determine FontName base on FamilyName & your FontWeight.

The correct way is use the constant from Apple lib:

public let UIFontWeightUltraLight: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightThin: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightLight: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightRegular: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightMedium: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightSemibold: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightBold: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightHeavy: CGFloat
@available(iOS 8.2, *)
public let UIFontWeightBlack: CGFloat*/

You should use http://iosfonts.com/ to determine which font weight that family name is supporting.

In case of Helvetica:

let traits = [UIFontWeightTrait: UIFontWeightLight] // UIFontWeightBold / UIFontWeightRegular
let imgFontDescriptor = UIFontDescriptor(fontAttributes: [UIFontDescriptorFamilyAttribute: "Helvetica"])
imgFontDescriptor = imgFontDescriptor.fontDescriptorByAddingAttributes([UIFontDescriptorTraitsAttribute: traits])

custom font becomes a nil value in swift 3

Try this

let attribute1:[String:Any] = [NSFontAttributeName: UIFont(name: "Bariol-Bold", size: 18)! ,
                NSForegroundColorAttributeName : UIColor.init(colorLiteralRed: 120.0/255, green: 173.0/255, blue: 194.0/255, alpha: 1.0)]

     let attributedStringGreeting=NSAttributedString.init(string: welcomeMessage, attributes: attribute1)

Why do some iOS font families not support UIFontDescriptorTraitBold?

This is a bug. fontDescriptorWithSymbolicTraits: is guaranteed to return a font descriptor; returning nil is therefore unexpected behavior.

In fact, if you rewrite the same thing with Swift, it will cause a crash because desc isn't optional:

var desc = UIFontDescriptor()
desc = desc.fontDescriptorWithFamily("Times New Roman")
desc = desc.fontDescriptorWithSymbolicTraits(.TraitBold)
println(desc); //crash

Whether or not the UIFontDescriptor would return a UIFont is a separate question. You should file a radar.

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