NAME

       load_dat_font - Loads a FONT from an Allegro datafile.

SYNOPSIS

       #include <allegro.h>

       FONT *load_dat_font(const char *filename, RGB *pal, void *param)

DESCRIPTION

       Loads  a  FONT  from an Allegro datafile. You can set param parameter to point to an array
       that holds two strings that identify the font and the palette in  the  datafile  by  name.
       The first string in this list is the name of the font. You can pass NULL here to just load
       the first font found in the datafile. The second string can be used to specify the name of
       the  palette  associated with the font.  This is only returned if the pal parameter is not
       NULL. If you pass NULL for the name of the palette, the last palette found before the font
       was  found  is returned.  You can also pass NULL for param, which is treated as if you had
       passed NULL for both strings separately. In this case, the function will simply  load  the
       first font it finds from the datafile and the palette that precedes it.

       For example, suppose you have a datafile named `fonts.dat' with the following contents:

          FONT  FONT_1_DATA
          FONT  FONT_2_DATA
          FONT  FONT_3_DATA
          PAL   FONT_1_PALETTE
          PAL   FONT_2_PALETTE

       Then  the  following code will load FONT_1_DATA as a FONT and return FONT_1_PALETTE as the
       palette:

          FONT *f;
          PALETTE pal;
          char *names[] = { "FONT_1_DATA", "FONT_1_PALETTE" }

          f = load_dat_font("fonts.dat", pal, names);

       If instead you want to load the second font, FONT_2, from the datafile, you would use:

          FONT *f;
          PALETTE pal;
          char *names[] = { "FONT_2_DATA", "FONT_2_PALETTE" }

          f = load_dat_font("fonts.dat", pal, names);

       If you want to load the third font, but not bother with a palette, use:

          FONT *f;
          char *names[] = { "FONT_3_DATA", NULL }

          f = load_dat_font("fonts.dat", NULL, names);

RETURN VALUE

       Returns a pointer to the font or NULL on error. Remember  that  you  are  responsible  for
       destroying the font when you are finished with it to avoid memory leaks.

SEE ALSO

       register_font_file_type(3alleg4), load_font(3alleg4)