Copy glyph from default layer to another

StephenNixon

I'm trying to copy a glyph from its default layer to a background layer. I'm doing it in script, so I can eventually do it for all glyphs in a UFO.

I think this copying is relatively simple with a pointPen, but I must be missing a critical part.

Here's my code for doing it to the current glyph, which already has a "bg" layer (unless I'm misunderstanding the UFO structure, which is a possibility). It doesn't yet work.

glyph = CurrentGlyph()

glyphDefaultLayerName = glyph.layers[0].layer.name

glyphDefaultLayer = glyph.getLayer(glyphLayerName)

pen = glyphDefaultLayer.getPointPen()

# just to make sure layer is there and cleared
glyphLayer = glyph.newLayer("bg")

## doesn't work ... not sure why
glyph.getLayer("bg").drawPoints(pen)

## also doesn't work
# f.getLayer("bg")[glyph.name].drawPoints(pen)

Any insight is very appreciated!

StephenNixon

Was told the solution by a helpful person. Turns out, copyToLayer works great!

Also, I didn't need to get the name of the layer and use that to get the layer... obviously. 😄

Here's the code:

glyph = CurrentGlyph()

glyph.layers[0].copyToLayer("bg", clear=True)

# apparently, better than matching `width`
glyph.getLayer("bg").leftMargin = glyph.layers[0].leftMargin
glyph.getLayer("bg").rightMargin = glyph.layers[0].rightMargin

ArrowType

I’ve adjusted this to go through the currently-selection glyphs only, and to clear the non-foreground layer before copying to it.

from mojo.UI import AskString

f = CurrentFont()

newLayer = AskString('Layer to copy all existing glyphs to, e.g. "overlap"')

for glyphName in f.selection:
    
    glyph = f[glyphName]
    
    glyph.getLayer(newLayer).clear() # if you wish to clear the non-foreground layer
    
    glyph.layers[0].copyLayerToLayer("foreground", newLayer)
    
    glyph.getLayer(newLayer).leftMargin = glyph.layers[0].leftMargin
    glyph.getLayer(newLayer).rightMargin = glyph.layers[0].rightMargin

StephenNixon

As a later follow-up, I've found that copyLayerToLayer is actually more what I was looking for, as it just copies over everything without issue: contours, anchors, width, guidelines. copyToLayer is nice in that it gives more control, if you want it.

from mojo.UI import AskString

f = CurrentFont()

newLayer = AskString('Layer to copy all existing glyphs to, e.g. "overlap"')

for glyph in f:
    glyph.layers[0].copyLayerToLayer("foreground", newLayer)

frederik

font = CurrentFont()

# use font.templateSelectedGlyphNames is you need the template glyphs
for glyphName in font.selectedGlyphNames:
    glyph = font[glyphName]
    # the above script

good luck!!

FosterType

Basic question, how might one rewrite this for selected glyphs only?

StephenNixon

Was told the solution by a helpful person. Turns out, copyToLayer works great!

Also, I didn't need to get the name of the layer and use that to get the layer... obviously. 😄

Here's the code:

glyph = CurrentGlyph()

glyph.layers[0].copyToLayer("bg", clear=True)

# apparently, better than matching `width`
glyph.getLayer("bg").leftMargin = glyph.layers[0].leftMargin
glyph.getLayer("bg").rightMargin = glyph.layers[0].rightMargin

SOLVED Copy glyph from default layer to another