Can't use fonts

[wilsonowilson]

I can't seem to add a custom font to my project built with nativeshell. Trying to add a font to the pubspec.yaml causes the build to fail with this error:

Stderr:
  [  +67 ms] Error: unable to locate asset entry in pubspec.yaml: "fonts/Inter/Inter-Regular.ttf".
  [  +11 ms] Target debug_macos_bundle_flutter_assets failed: Exception: Failed to bundle asset files.
             #0      copyAssets (package:flutter_tools/src/build_system/targets/assets.dart:61:5)

I have confirmed the path to the asset is correct, and I have used the exact same configuration on another project to be sure.

[knopp]

This could definitely be issue with nativeshell build. Given that some flutter targets litter the root project structure with ephemeral files as a workaround nativeshell runs the actual flutter build in a subfolder inside build folder. It does create symlinks for assets, but there might be cases where it doesn't work correctly. Is there a repository I can reproduce this with?

[wilsonowilson]

Not that I have publicly available, but I think trying to add a custom font to the nativeshell examples might produce the same error. I'll try and see immediately

[wilsonowilson]

Trying to add a custom font to the example project produces this error:

  Stderr:
  [        ] Unexpected child "example" found under "flutter".
  [   +8 ms] Please correct the pubspec.yaml file at /Users/wilson/Developer/Experimenting/examples/target/x86_64-apple-darwin/debug/build/nativeshell_examples-c92add7ebd1546ee/out/flutter/pubspec.yaml

[knopp]

That seems like a flutter tool error. Are you sure the pubspec.yaml is correct? Can you post it here?

[wilsonowilson]

My bad, the pubspec.yaml file was not correctly formatted. Trying again on the app template yielded the same error:

  Stderr:
  [  +50 ms] Error: unable to locate asset entry in pubspec.yaml: "fonts/Inter/Inter-Regular.ttf".
  [   +5 ms] Target debug_macos_bundle_flutter_assets failed: Exception: Failed to bundle asset files.
             #0      copyAssets (package:flutter_tools/src/build_system/targets/assets.dart:61:5)

[knopp]

Can you post the whole pubspec.yaml? Just in case. I'll try to reproduce this tomorrow.

[wilsonowilson]

Sure!

name: app_template
description: NativeShell application template
publish_to: 'none'
version: 1.0.0+1
environment:
  sdk: ">=2.12.0-214.0.dev <3.0.0"

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  pedantic: ^1.9.2
  path: ^1.7.0

  cupertino_icons: ^1.0.0
  nativeshell:
    version: ^0.1.9

dev_dependencies:
  flutter_test:
    sdk: flutter

flutter:
  uses-material-design: true
  fonts:
    - family: Inter
      fonts:
        - asset: fonts/Inter/Inter-Regular.ttf
        - asset: fonts/Inter/Inter-Bold.ttf
          weight: 700
        - asset: fonts/Inter/Inter-Black.ttf
          weight: 900    

[wilsonowilson]

I can upload the project to a temporary repository if that helps

[wilsonowilson]

Here's the app template with fonts included: https://github.com/wilsonowilson/app_template

[knopp]

Sure, it won't harm :) Or at least the fonts folder. But I think the problem is that nativeshell only recognizes flutter/assets, it ignores flutter/fonts at this point. The functionality will need to be added in flutter_build.rs (copy_pubspec_yaml)

[wilsonowilson]

I initially tried with an assets folder. Let me update the example and see if that works.

[knopp]

I think for now you can manually add the fonts in flutter/assets so that they get copied.

[wilsonowilson]

In the flutter sdk?

[knopp]

No, I meant specifying the font files as flutter assets in pubspec.yaml (https://flutter.dev/docs/development/ui/assets-and-images)

[knopp]

Something like this should work:

flutter:
  assets:
    - fonts/

It should force nativeshell build to link the fonts folder.

[wilsonowilson]

Ah, gotcha. I guess if I wanted to use fonts that way, I'd have to use the FontLoader, correct?

[wilsonowilson]

Oh I think I misunderstood. It just helps nativeshell create a link, right?

[knopp]

No, you should be able to have both in pubspec.yaml

flutter:
  uses-material-design: true
  assets:
    - fonts/
  fonts:
    - family: Inter
      fonts:
        - asset: fonts/Inter/Inter-Regular.ttf
        - asset: fonts/Inter/Inter-Bold.ttf
          weight: 700
        - asset: fonts/Inter/Inter-Black.ttf
          weight: 900    

I haven't test this but it should work. The assets/fonts part is there just so that nativeshell makes the proper symlink before running the build.

In any case, this is a bug and it should be fixed properly.

[knopp]

Oh I think I misunderstood. It just helps nativeshell create a link, right?

Right.

[wilsonowilson]

Works like a charm! Thanks for the help!