Most of the functionality in systemfonts is intended to be used from compiled code to help e.g. graphic devices to resolve font specifications to a font file prior to rendering. systemfonts provide key functionality to get called at the C level using the R_getCCallable() function. The systemfonts namespace must be loaded for this to work, so be sure to import e.g. match_font() in the package namespace. For more information about this interface see Registering native routines in Writing R Extensions.
The C equivalent of the match_font() R function is locate_font() with the following signature:
It takes a UTF-8 encoded string with the font family name, an int setting both italic and bold styles along with a char pointer to be filled with the located path and the maximum length it can hold. The return value is an int giving the index of the font in the font file.
The best way to use the function in a package is to wrap it in a function to avoid fetching it multiple times, e.g.
static int locate_font(const char *family, int italic, int bold, char *path, int max_path_length) {
static int (*p_locate_font)(const char *family, int italic, int bold, char *path, int max_path_length) = NULL;
if (p_locate_font == NULL) {
p_locate_font = (int(*)(const char *, int, int, char *, int)) R_GetCCallable("systemfonts", "locate_font");
}
return p_locate_font(family, italic, bold, path, max_path_length);
}