Teknik makale

HotPDF: Unicode text shaping for complex scripts in Delphi

HotPDF, harici bir PDF runtime kurmadan doğrudan PDF oluşturma ve düzenleme, formlar, notlar, şifreleme, dijital imzalar, Unicode yazı tipleri, standart odaklı çıktı ve preflight raporları gereken Delphi ve C++Builder uygulamaları için yerel bir VCL PDF kütüphanesidir.

Bu yazı developers producing multilingual invoices, certificates, labels, or reports from Delphi için hazırlanmıştır. Unicode text shaping for complex scripts konusunu tek bir bileşen çağrısı olarak değil, üretim düzeyinde belge mühendisliği olarak ele alır.

Pratik risk şudur: text can appear plausible in a sample PDF while ligatures, bidirectional order, fallback fonts, or copy-and-search behavior fail for real customer names. Bu nedenle akışın yazılı sözleşmeye, gözlemlenebilir tanılara ve gerçekçi regresyon dosyalarına ihtiyacı vardır.

Mimari kararlar

Make the text pipeline locale-aware. font fallback order for Arabic, Hebrew, Indic, CJK, and mixed Latin text / normalization rules for copied text, database values, and template placeholders

  • font fallback order for Arabic, Hebrew, Indic, CJK, and mixed Latin text
  • normalization rules for copied text, database values, and template placeholders
  • right-to-left paragraph handling and mixed-direction number policy
  • whether text must remain searchable, selectable, and accessible after output

Uygulama akışı

Resolve fonts and shaping before pagination. The order below keeps the workflow reviewable for Delphi and C++Builder teams.

  1. normalize source text and record the locale used for formatting
  2. select fonts that contain the required glyphs before measuring layout
  3. shape and position text before page breaks are finalized
  4. embed or subset fonts according to licensing and PDF standard requirements
  5. verify visual output and extracted text with multilingual regression samples

Doğrulama kanıtı

Proof that text is readable and extractable. Keep these fields with the output or support record.

  • font selected for every script range and fallback reason when it changed
  • glyph coverage warnings, embedding mode, and subset identifier
  • extracted Unicode text compared with the original application value
  • viewer screenshots for representative right-to-left and combining-mark cases

Visual output is not enough

Complex-script support involves character normalization, shaping, glyph positioning, embedding, ToUnicode maps, and reading order. A PDF that only looks right in one viewer can still fail search, selection, accessibility, or downstream extraction.

Regression files worth keeping

Keep more than successful samples. A useful Unicode text shaping for complex scripts regression set contains normal files, boundary files, and intentional failure files so the behavior is stable across releases.

  • database collation can alter composed characters before the PDF layer sees them
  • font substitution on a developer machine can hide missing embedded fonts
  • line breaks in bidirectional text can reorder punctuation and numbers
  • search may fail when ToUnicode data is missing even if the page renders correctly
  • normalize source text and record the locale used for formatting
  • select fonts that contain the required glyphs before measuring layout

Engineering review notes for Unicode text shaping for complex scripts

Use these review notes to make sure the feature has moved beyond a demo and can be defended during release, support, and customer escalation.

  • Decision: font fallback order for Arabic, Hebrew, Indic, CJK, and mixed Latin text. Implementation pressure point: select fonts that contain the required glyphs before measuring layout. Acceptance evidence: extracted Unicode text compared with the original application value. Regression trigger: search may fail when ToUnicode data is missing even if the page renders correctly
  • Decision: normalization rules for copied text, database values, and template placeholders. Implementation pressure point: shape and position text before page breaks are finalized. Acceptance evidence: viewer screenshots for representative right-to-left and combining-mark cases. Regression trigger: database collation can alter composed characters before the PDF layer sees them
  • Decision: right-to-left paragraph handling and mixed-direction number policy. Implementation pressure point: embed or subset fonts according to licensing and PDF standard requirements. Acceptance evidence: font selected for every script range and fallback reason when it changed. Regression trigger: font substitution on a developer machine can hide missing embedded fonts
  • Decision: whether text must remain searchable, selectable, and accessible after output. Implementation pressure point: verify visual output and extracted text with multilingual regression samples. Acceptance evidence: glyph coverage warnings, embedding mode, and subset identifier. Regression trigger: line breaks in bidirectional text can reorder punctuation and numbers

Sınır durumları

  • database collation can alter composed characters before the PDF layer sees them
  • font substitution on a developer machine can hide missing embedded fonts
  • line breaks in bidirectional text can reorder punctuation and numbers
  • search may fail when ToUnicode data is missing even if the page renders correctly

Delphi / C++Builder notes

HotPDF Component should sit behind a small service boundary that receives files, streams, profiles, and credentials, then returns output paths, warnings, metrics, and validation status. Important terms include Unicode, text shaping, font embedding, ToUnicode, bidirectional text, fallback font.

Delphi kod örneği

Aşağıdaki Delphi taslağı bu konu için pratik bir servis sınırını gösterir. Politika kontrollerini, günlüklemeyi ve doğrulamayı dar ürün çağrısı bölümünün dışında tutarak akışı test edilebilir bırakın.

procedure DrawShapedRun(Pdf: THotPDF; const Text: UnicodeString; const Script: TScriptProfile);
begin
  Pdf.CurrentPage.SetFont(Script.FontName, [], Script.Size, 0, Script.Vertical);
  if Script.RequiresReorder then
    Pdf.CurrentPage.TextOut(Script.X, Script.Y, 0, ShapeUnicodeRun(Text, Script))
  else
    Pdf.CurrentPage.TextOut(Script.X, Script.Y, 0, Text);
  RecordGlyphCoverage(Script.FontName, Text);
end;

Üretim kontrol listesi

  • Run the workflow on an empty file, a normal customer file, and a worst-case file
  • Open the generated PDF with the target viewer, validator, printer, or downstream application
  • Log product version, profile version, input hash, output path, elapsed time, and warning count
  • Keep passwords, certificates, temporary files, and customer data under explicit retention rules
  • Add regression documents when a customer file exposes a new edge case

Product documentation

HotPDF Component