Sprite Font XML Schema Reference

  • Article

Describes the valid tags and values for Sprite-Font (.spritefont) XML files used by the Content Pipeline to create SpriteFont textures.

Tag name Content type Content description
<FontName> string The name of the font to be imported. This is not the name of a font file, but rather the friendly name that identifies the font once it is installed on your computer. You can use the Fonts folder in Control Panel to see the names of fonts installed on your system, and to install new ones as well. The Content Pipeline supports the same fonts as the System.Drawing.Font class, including TrueType fonts, but not bitmap (.fon) fonts.
<Size> float The point size of the font to be imported.
<Spacing> float The number of pixels to add between each character when the string is rendered.
<UseKerning> Boolean Specifies whether to use kerning information when rendering the font. Default value is true.
<Style> Regular, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic The style of the font to be imported.
<DefaultCharacter> char The Unicode character to substitute any time an attempt is made to render characters that are not in the font. Specifying this element is optional.
<CharacterRegions> One or more <CharacterRegion> tags One or more numerical ranges indicating which subset of Unicode characters to import.
<CharacterRegion> One <Start> and one <End> tag The beginning and ending of a region of Unicode characters.
<Start> char The first Unicode character to include in a <CharacterRegion>.
<End> char The last Unicode character to include in a <CharacterRegion>.

Example

Here is a sample .spritefont file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<XnaContent xmlns:Graphics="Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.Pipeline.Graphics">
  <Asset Type="Graphics:FontDescription">
    <FontName>Courier New</FontName>
    <Size>18</Size>
    <Spacing>0</Spacing>
    <UseKerning>true</UseKerning>
    <Style>Regular</Style>
    <CharacterRegions>
      <CharacterRegion>
        <Start>32</Start>
        <End>127</End>
      </CharacterRegion>
    </CharacterRegions>
  </Asset>
</XnaContent>

See Also

Concepts

Adding Content to a Game

Reference

SpriteFont