font.namedVariations fails on some fonts

[guidoferreyra]

When parsing some fonts and trying to get namedVariation. it throws the following error:

TypeError: Cannot read property 'en' of undefined

When printing the instance where the undefined is raised it shows the following, name is missing.
{ nameID: 2, flags: 0, coord: [ 0, 400, 100, 0 ], postscriptNameID: 6 }

I dug a bit and the issue is cause because when getting the instance name is not fnding id 2 since name.records.fontFeatures starts at ID 256. When instance name matches with font ID 2 will use that, it seems this is very common and allowed by the spec:

The subfamilyNameID field provides a name ID that can be used to obtain strings from the 'name' table that can be treated as equivalent to name ID 17 (typographic subfamily) strings for the given instance. Values of 2 or 17 can be used; otherwise, values must be greater than 255 and less than 32768. The values 2 or 17 should only be used if the named instance corresponds to the font’s default instance.

[guidoferreyra]

By changing

fontkit/src/tables/name.js

Line 79 in 417af0c

let key = record.nameID >= 256 ? 'fontFeatures' : (NAMES[record.nameID] || record.nameID);

and

fontkit/src/tables/name.js

Line 85 in 417af0c

if (record.nameID >= 256) {

to:
record.nameID >= 256 || record.nameID == 2 || record.nameID == 17 will solve the issue.
Is there a reason to create the name array fontFeatures? Why when looking for a name just dont search on the full list?

[ptoussai]

I have the same problem. Glyphs uses nameID: 2 in some cases.
@guidoferreyra do you want to create a PR? Otherwise I can do it.

[quitequinn]

Can we get this merged?

[quitequinn]

Font Subfamily name is Name ID Code 2. This means you could search and replace any named instances with nameID: 2 with the Subfamily name.

[freder]

also getting this error. — if there is a fix, please merge 🙏

[Typogram]

I also run into this issue, it is actually quite common.
The fix PR above seem to have an error at least in the PR description, so please double check before merge: #317 (comment)

[quitequinn]

This also happens with other references (eg. ID 17 was known as “Preferred Subfamily”)

[quitequinn]

Have you found a work around @Typogram ?

Even just a way to lookup by name id without having to create a dictionary via https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/name