How to solve the loss of math symbols in PDF exported using NativePDF – PB Docs 2022

Symptom

Exporting a PDF file using NativePDF, you may notice the loss of
math symbols in “PDE ?_? = Δ₁^? ?”.

Environment

PowerBuilder 2017 R3 Build 1951 and later 

Cause

NativePDF uses the third-party plugin PDFlib to convert the
content to EMF format before exporting the PDF file. When the AutoSize
Height property of a DataWindow column is enabled, NativePDF handle all
of the contents in this column as a whole and redraws them using the
current set font. 

When the column font is set to Arial or Arial Unicode MS font,
NativePDF cannot export them correctly as the specified font doesn’t
support the math symbols “PDE ?_? = Δ₁^? ?”. 

Solution

Solution #1:

Change the font from Arial or Arial Unicode MS font to one that
supports math symbols “PDE ?_? = Δ₁^? ?”, such as Segoe UI.

Solution #2:

Change the AutoSize Height property of the specific DataWindow
column to No.

Sample code: