Usage

Just run it from within the directory containing the images (*.png) and the metrics data (*.xml) and it will automatically produce the *.alf and *.ali files.

java -jar AlbiteFontBuilder-0.9.1

Notes:

1. For the images containing the glyphs apply the same requirements as the ones mentioned in AlbiteImageConverter's reademe. See it's readme for more info.
2. The xml file has some specific structure, too. It's almost identical to the one, produced by Angel Code's Bitmap font generator. See next section for instructions

The *.xml metrics file

Here goes an example of how should a file of this king look like:

<font lineSpacing="0" lineHeight="18">
    <char id="32" x="12" y="26" width="1" height="1" xoffset="0" yoffset="14" xadvance="4" />
    <char id="35" x="9" y="40" width="8" height="11" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="37" x="0" y="16" width="12" height="12" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="13" />
    <char id="40" x="16" y="0" width="4" height="14" xoffset="0" yoffset="2" xadvance="5" />
    <char id="41" x="20" y="0" width="4" height="14" xoffset="0" yoffset="2" xadvance="5" />
    <char id="45" x="8" y="14" width="4" height="2" xoffset="0" yoffset="9" xadvance="4" />
    <char id="46" x="30" y="26" width="2" height="3" xoffset="1" yoffset="12" xadvance="4" />
    <char id="47" x="1" y="0" width="5" height="14" xoffset="0" yoffset="2" xadvance="4" />
    <char id="48" x="12" y="14" width="7" height="12" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="49" x="17" y="38" width="7" height="11" xoffset="1" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="50" x="24" y="38" width="7" height="11" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="51" x="19" y="14" width="7" height="12" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="52" x="0" y="40" width="9" height="11" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="53" x="0" y="28" width="7" height="12" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="54" x="7" y="28" width="7" height="12" xoffset="1" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="55" x="0" y="51" width="7" height="11" xoffset="1" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="56" x="14" y="26" width="7" height="12" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="57" x="21" y="26" width="7" height="12" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="58" x="28" y="26" width="2" height="10" xoffset="1" yoffset="5" xadvance="4" />
    <char id="60" x="7" y="51" width="7" height="8" xoffset="1" yoffset="5" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="62" x="14" y="51" width="7" height="8" xoffset="1" yoffset="5" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="63" x="26" y="14" width="6" height="12" xoffset="0" yoffset="3" xadvance="7" />
    <char id="91" x="24" y="0" width="4" height="14" xoffset="1" yoffset="2" xadvance="5" />
    <char id="93" x="28" y="0" width="4" height="14" xoffset="0" yoffset="2" xadvance="5" />
    <char id="95" x="1" y="14" width="7" height="2" xoffset="0" yoffset="15" xadvance="7" />
    <char id="123" x="6" y="0" width="5" height="14" xoffset="0" yoffset="2" xadvance="6" />
    <char id="124" x="0" y="0" width="1" height="16" xoffset="3" yoffset="2" xadvance="8" />
    <char id="125" x="11" y="0" width="5" height="14" xoffset="0" yoffset="2" xadvance="6" />
    <char id="183" x="21" y="49" width="2" height="3" xoffset="1" yoffset="7" xadvance="4" />
</font>

Notes:

1. The lineSpacing and lineHeight attributes of the font tag are obligatory.
2. All fonts must include these obligatory characters: 32 (space), 45 (dash) and 63 (question mark) or the building would fail.

The Binary Font Metrics Descriptor File (*.alf)

Main overview

Meaning	Type	Bytes
Magic number	Integer	4
Line spacing	Byte	1
Line height	Byte	1
Largest ID in the font	Integer	4
Maximum character width	Short	2
Number of characters	Integer	4
Character metrics blocks	Block of several values	18 * number of characters

Character block

Meaning	Type	Bytes
ID	Integer	4
x-coordinate	Short	2
y-coordinate	Short	2
width	Short	2
height	Short	2
x-offset	Short	2
y-offset	Short	2
advance on x	Short	2