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)