Copyright: Copyright ¸ 1997 Kovach Computing Services


What is Accent Composer
What is Accent Composer?

Accent Composer is a tool for Windows 95 or later that simplifies the process of entering accented characters.

Typing accented characters in Windows programs can be problematic, particularly if you have an English language keyboard. Keyboards designed for non-English languages will have keys for some accented characters, or will allow these to be entered with two or three keystrokes. However, they commonly have just those few accented characters that are most useful for the particular language.

If your keyboard does not have accented characters then more laborious techniques must be used to enter accented and other extended characters. You must either cut and paste from the Windows Character Map application or type the character's code on the numeric keypad (e.g. Alt-0228 for ä).  Hands up all of you who have a chart of these codes taped up next to your computer!

Accent Composer provides an easy way to create any character supported by the standard Windows character set on any keyboard. To create an accented character simply press the designated 'Compose' key (the right hand Alt key by default), then press the desired accent mark followed by the letter. For example, to produce the accented letter 'ñ' just press the 'Compose' key followed by '~' and 'n'.

Accent Composer is not limited to accented characters. For instance, the copyright symbol, ©, can be produced with the keystrokes 'Compose', 'c' and 'o', while the Yen symbol ¥ can be created with 'Compose', 'Y' and '='. You can modify these and all other sequences if you wish.


Using Accent Composer

When you install Accent Composer it will be set up so that the program is launched every time you reboot or login to Windows. This way it is always sitting in the background, ready to allow you to enter accented characters into any Windows program. If you wish to turn off this feature and start it manually through the Start Menu you can do this through the Options dialog.

Accent Composer places an icon in the task bar notification area (or tray) next to the clock. When the program is in an inactive state the icon is a red accented letter Á. When you press and release the compose key the icon turns green. This lets you know that it is in compose mode and is now trapping the keys you type, looking for a compose sequence. Double clicking on this icon brings up the Options dialog box. (Note for Windows NT 3.51 users)

When in compose mode, the program will wait for you to type two character keys. When you have done this it will compare the two keys to the list of compose sequences. If a match is found then the appropriate accented (or other extended) character will be entered into the text editing area of whatever program you were working with when you pressed the compose key. If no match is found then the program will beep and the two characters you typed will be placed into the editing area.

Most of the compose sequences are obvious: an Á is produced with a sequence of 'A , an æ with ae, and an ñ with ~n. To see the full list of compose sequences scan through the table on the Options dialog.

By default the sequences must be entered in the specified order. However, you can change a setting in the Options dialog box that will allow them to be used in either order.

If you wish to close down Accent Composer so that it doesn't trap the compose key or sequences simply right click on the taskbar tray icon and choose 'Close' from the resulting menu. You can also temporarily disable Accent Composer without exiting by choosing the 'Disable' option on this menu. To return to having Accent Composer trapping keystrokes just choose 'Enable' from the menu.


How it works

Accent Composer can be set up to produce characters other than the default ones (e.g. it can produce characters from Eastern European, Greek, etc. languages), but only if:

1.	you have a font installed that actually contains these characters and

2.	your word processor is set to use that font.

You will then need to create some new compose sequences to match those new characters. The help file with Accent Composer tells you how to do this.

As further explanation, the characters produced by Accent Composer rely on the particular font in use in your word processor or other program. When you press a compose sequence, Accent Composer tells the word processor "put in the character that is at position 0169 in the table of characters for this font". To produce the expected character the active font must contain that character at position 0169 in the table. If another font is in use with a different character at that position then this different one will be displayed instead.

You can view all the available characters in a font through the Windows Character Map utility (which can be found on the Start Menu under Programs|Accessories) or through the dialog box produced when you press the Add button on the Accent Composer Options dialog.

If you are looking for fonts to produce particular characters, try some of the following links:

Dr. Berlin's Foreign Font Archive - An extensive collection of fonts for languages from around the world.

Microsoft Euro update - Microsoft's site with updated standard Windows fonts for producing the new Euro currency symbol.

The ISO 8859 Alphabet Soup - A site explaining how Windows (and other operating systems) deal with character sets and fonts for different languages.


Alternative character sets

One thing that Accent Composer cannot do is create a character not represented in one of the Windows fonts. No matter how much you may want to produce, say, an X with a circumflex (the ^ accent mark), you can't do it unless you have a font that has this character.

All fonts for versions of Windows in one of the Western European languages will have accented characters commonly used in those languages. Many fonts (including Arial and Times New Roman) will also have alternative character sets that provide accented characters used in other languages, such as the Central and Eastern European languages.

The Accent Composer Options dialog box lets you choose an alternative character sets for displaying the available accented characters and their compose sequences. However, the fact that you can see one of these characters in this dialog box does not mean that it will be displayed properly in your text editing program. Your program must support alternative character sets.

If you have a font with these characters and, more importantly, are using software that recognizes the alternative character sets, then you can display these accented characters. You can also set up new compose sequences in Accent Composer to allow you to create these characters. You must, of course, first tell your software to use this alternative set through its Font dialog.

However, remember that the characters in these alternative character sets replace other accented characters. For example, with the default Western character set the character with the numeric code of 0200 is È, but with the Central European and Baltic character sets this same numeric code is displayed as a C hachek (a C with an inverted ^ over it). If you type this character into one program, then try to import the text into another that doesn't recognize alternative character sets, it will revert back to being displayed as È.

Also, Windows will internally see this character as an accented letter E. If you sort text that uses an alternative character set it will be sorted to be next to the other E characters, rather than with C.

To summarize, if you wish to set up compose sequences for characters in alternative character sets you must follow these steps:

1.	Use the 'Character Set' drop down list box on the Accent Composer Options dialog to display the desired character set

2.	Press the 'Add' button to display the character chart. This will display the extended characters in your chosen character set. Find the required accented character (for example, C hachek) and press 'OK'

3.	A row with this character will be entered into the sequence table. Type in the compose sequence you want to use for this character in the 'Sequence' column ('^' and 'C' might be good for C hachek).

4.	Press 'OK' to close the dialog box.

5.	Now, any time you wish to place a C hachek into your document you must first change the font in your text editing program to use the alternative character set (Central European or Baltic for C hachek). Check the documentation for your program to find out how to do this.

Unicode - This is a relatively new standard that is geared towards representing a much wider range of characters from languages and alphabets around the world. This is done in such a way as to avoid the problems with alternative characters sets mentioned above. However, only certain programs support Unicode. Currently Accent Composer can't produce Unicode characters, but we hope to add this in the future.


Accent Composer Options dialog box

This dialog lets you change the way that Accent Composer works. You can change the key that you press to start composing a character, you can specify that the program is always run at system startup, and you can customize the sequences of characters used to produce any or all of the accented characters.

To open up the Options dialog you just double click on the Accent Composer icon in the taskbar tray. Alternatively, right click on the icon and select 'Options...'

To find out more about each of these tasks click on the appropriate entry below:

Changing compose key

Loading at system startup

Modifying compose sequences

Ignoring sequence order


Changing the compose key

On the Accent Composer Options dialog the drop-down box labelled "Compose Key" allows you to specify which key is used to enter the compose mode. When the selected key is pressed the Accent Composer icon turns green and the program traps the next two keystrokes. If these match one of the compose sequences then the appropriate character is entered into which ever text editing program you work working with when the compose key was pressed.

By default the compose key is the right hand Alt key (often labelled AltGr); the left hand Alt key will work as normal. The drop-down box will give you a variety of other keys that you could use, including the left or right control key and any of the function keys, either on their own or with the Alt key. If you have a keyboard with the Windows keys (the ones with Microsoft's flying window logo) you can also specify those in combination with the Alt key.

Before selecting a new compose key make sure it isn't used by any of your other programs.  Accent Composer will take precedence, so if you choose F10, say, for your compose key that key will no longer perform its normal function in other programs.


Loading at system startup

On the Accent Composer Options dialog box is a checkbox labelled 'Load Accent Composer at system startup'. When this is checked Accent Composer will automatically be loaded every time you start Windows. This means it is always ready and available for use.

If you would rather just start Accent Composer when you need it then clear this check box.

Accent Composer tells Windows to start it each time through an entry in the Registry. With Windows 95/NT 4 or later this entry is under the key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and it takes the form of:

ACompose=C:\Program Files\ACompose\ACompose.exe

where the part after the = symbol is the location of the program on your computer.

Please note that you should not modify entries in the Registry unless you know exactly what you are doing; otherwise you run the risk of accidently make changes that can seriously disrupt your computer. Let Accent Composer take care of doing it through the above mentioned checkbox.

Note to users of Windows NT 3.5 and 3.51: The above method does not work under earlier versions of NT, so this option is disabled. You may manually create an icon for Accent Composer in the Startup group of the Program Manager. This is most easily done by copying the icon from the Accent Composer group.


Command line options

Running Accent Composer with the command line option '/opt' will cause the options dialog box to be displayed without having to double click on the task bar icon tray. This is useful in secured installations where the task bar has been locked down to prevent casual users exiting vital programs or altering important settings.

To create a shortcut to do this:

1) Right click on the Windows desktop and choose New|Shortcut

2) In the resulting dialog box click the Browse button and find the Accent Composer program (usually C:\Program Files\Accent Composer\acompose.exe)

3) Click next and type in a name to be displayed under the short cut (such as "AC Options")

4) Click finish

5) Right click on the resulting icon and choose "Properties"

6) Go to the Shortcut tab

7) Click in the "Target" box, press the End key to go to the end of the line, then add a space and '/opt' (without the quotes)

8) Click OK


Ignoring sequence order

By default the order of the two characters in the compose sequence is meaningful. This means that the sequence 'ae' can be used for one character and 'ea' for another.

You may wish to allow the characters to be entered in either order. You may want both '~n' and 'n~' to produce ñ. To do this ensure that the checkbox labelled 'Ignore order of sequence characters' is checked.

The default sequences have been chosen so that there are no conflicts if you turn on this option.  For example, because 'ae' is used for the character æ the sequence 'ea' has not been used. However, if you have added new sequences there could be conflicts when you select this option.

Accent Composer will check for conflicting sequences when you turn on the Ignore option. If any are found you will be asked to allow one of them to be deleted.


Modifying compose sequences

Accent Composer is a flexible program that lets you customize how it works. It comes pre-configured with two-key compose sequences for most of the extended characters in the regular Windows character set. You can view these by scrolling through the list on the Accent Composer Options dialog box.

However, you may decide that certain other keystrokes are easier to remember than the pre-configured ones. For example, the µ is by default produced with the compose sequence ',' and 'u'. You may decide that you'd rather have it produced by '/' and 'u'. Following the procedures listed below will allow you to change this.

Note that you can have multiple sequences for the same character. If you aren't sure which might be the better sequence for the µ key you can have both! A two-key compose sequence can only be used once, however. Any attempt to use a sequence already in use for another character will give an error message.

Viewing existing sequences

Modifying an existing sequence

Adding new sequences

Removeing sequences

Resetting default sequences

Importing and exporting sequence files

Selecting display font/character set


Viewing existing sequences

The list of currently active compose sequences is given in the scrolling table on the left hand side of the Accent Composer Options dialog. The extended character to be produced is displayed in the 'Char' column, followed by the two-character compose sequence in the 'Sequence' column.

The sequences are displayed in sorted order, with the various symbolic extended characters (such as ® and ¥) at the top of the list, followed by the accented letters in alphabetic order. To view them simply click on the scroll bar or use the Page Up and Page Down keys when the list box has the focus. If you wish to view them sorted by the sequences rather than the extended character simply click on the word 'Sequence' at the top of the column. Clicking on 'Char' returns to sorting them by the extended character.

You may wish to print out a list of the sequences to tape up by your computer. You can do this using the Print button on the Options dialog.


Modifying an existing sequence

You can change the two-character sequence used to produce any extended character. This can be done with these simple steps:

1.	Open the Options dialog box.

2.	Find the character and sequence you wish to change in the list box.

3.	Click once in the 'Sequence' column to select the sequence you wish to edit.

4.	Type the two characters you wish to use for the new sequence. This will replace the existing sequence.

5.	Alternatively, you can go into edit mode by clicking on the sequence again or by pressing the F2 key. This will place a blinking caret in the table, which you can move back and forth to allow editing of individual characters.

6.	Press the up or down arrow keys or click in another row to exit edit mode and keep the changes in the table. If the new sequence is already in use for another character you will be warned of this fact. You can then choose to either use this sequence for the current character or to go back and type a new sequence. A particular sequence can only ever be used for a single character.

7.	Note that the sequence will not actually become active until the 'OK' button is pressed. If you press 'Cancel' all changes will be lost. Any changes you make will be saved and reinstated each time you start Accent Composer.


Adding new sequences

You can add new sequences to the list of possible compose sequences. This allows you to assign a sequence to a character that does not, by default, have a sequence (although most extended characters do). Also, you can add alternative sequences for the same character, so that, for example, a © symbol can be produced by typing either 'C' and 'O' or 'c' and 'o'.

To add a new sequence follow these steps:

1.	Open the Options dialog box

2.	Press the 'Add' button

3.	A chart showing all the extended characters will be presented.

4.	Select the character you wish to use and press 'OK'.

5.	A new row will be added to the sequence table with this character in the first column. The cursor will be in the second column ready for you to type the sequence. See steps 3-6 on the page on modifying sequences for details of how to do this.


Removing sequences
Deleting sequences

To delete a sequence follow these steps:

1.	Open the Options dialog box.

2.	Find the character and sequence you wish to change in the list box. Select the sequence by single clicking in the 'Sequence' column with the mouse or using the arrow keys to move the selection bar to the appropriate line.

3.	Press the 'Delete' button to remove the sequence from the list.

4.	Note that the sequence will not actually be removed from the active list until the 'OK' button is pressed. If you press 'Cancel' all changes will be lost. Any changes you make will be saved and reinstated each time you start Accent Composer.


Resetting default sequences

If you have accidentally modified or deleted some sequences, you may wish to reset Accent Composer to use the default compose sequences it had when you first started using the program. You can do this by:

1.	Opening the Options dialog box

2.	Clicking the Reset button

3.	Answering Yes to the warning that the sequences will be overwritten.


Importing and exporting sequence files

Previous versions of Accent Composer stored the compose sequences in a text file in the Accent Composer directory. The current version stores them in the Windows Registry so that each user of the computer can have their own customized compose sequences.

However, you may still wish to save the sequences to a file. This may be because you wish to use different sets of sequences for different purposes, or to share you customized sequences with others. You can do this with the import and export buttons on the Options dialog. Simply click either button and provide the name of the file you wish to export to or import from.

The files used by Accent Composer are plain text files that can be edited with any editor, such as Windows Notepad. The file contains one compose sequence per line. The first character is the actual accented character or other symbol. This is followed by a tab character, then the two characters that make up the compose sequence.


Selecting display font/character set

You can change the font used to display the list of sequences in the Accent Composer Options dialog box. This lets you choose the best font for viewing the different characters. Simply choose the desired font from the list of installed fonts labelled 'Font'.

Keep in mind that many fonts, particular the more decorative ones, do not have all the possible extended characters. When one of these is chosen the character will simply appear as an empty rectangle. Also, many fonts, such as Wingdings, are composed of symbols rather than letters. These will be of little use in this dialog box.

Many fonts designed for Windows 95/NT will have alternative character sets, containing accented letters not found in the standard character set. These include those for Central European and Turkish languages as well as the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets. Choosing an alternative character set from the 'Character set' drop down box will allow you to view these characters.

However, before selecting an alternative character set, please see the discussion about the limitations of using these different character sets.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q. When I hold down the compose key and type a compose sequence, such as ' and A, nothing happens.

A. There are a few things you can check:

1.	Make sure the program is actually running (a red Á should appear in the system tray in the lower right corner).

2.	Make sure you are pressing the correct compose key (double click on the Á icon to see what it is currently set at; it's the right hand Alt key by default).

3.	Make sure you are pressing and releasing the compose key before typing the two characters of the compose sequence; do not hold the key down.

4.	If you are using StarOffice/OpenOffice then open the Options dialog (double click on the red Á icon), then hold down the Alt key and press X. A dialog box called "Fix Incompatibilities" will come up. Choose the "Shift key" option and press OK. Press the Help button on the Fix dialog for more details. This may also fix problems with Accent Composer working with other programs.

Q. How can I get Accent Composer to produce other accented characters (e.g. Welsh or Turkish).

A. You must have a font installed that contains the desired accented character. For more information click here.

Q. When I type a compose sequence for certain characters (for example, the copyright symbol ©) I instead get a different character (e.g. ó). What's wrong?

A. The characters produced by Accent Composer rely on the particular font in use in your word processor or other program. When you press a compose sequence, Accent Composer tells the word processor "put in the character that is at position 0169 in the table of characters for this font". Most fonts will have the copyright symbol at that position, but some will not. If you are using one of these other fonts, then the wrong character will appear.

To check that Accent Composer is set up to match your font, go to the Options dialog (double click on the icon) and make sure that the font list in the "Font" box is the same as the one used in your word processor. Then scroll through the list to make sure the characters and compose sequences match. if they do not you can modify the sequences to match.

Note, however, that modifying the sequences may mean that they will not match up with most other fonts.

Q. Can Accent Composer be used to enter more than a single character? I'd like to assign a compose sequence to automatically type in my full name and address.

A. Not at the moment. However, this is a commonly requested feature and will be in version 2 (no release date set yet).

Q. Something strange happens in one of my programs when I use Accent Composer to enter an accented character. The focus switches away from the window into which I'm typing. (Another program, the Delphi programming editor, opens a second edit window when the character is entered).

A. This is a result of the way in which Accent Composer inserts characters into other applications. There is an option that can be changed that will cure this, but it may have other unwanted effects on other programs, most notably Excel. See the help page about Fixing keystroke faking for more details.

Q. I'm running Microsoft Works for Windows 3 (a 16-bit program) under Windows 95. Whenever I try to enter an accented character with Accent Composer, two characters of the compose sequence are inserted into the Works document as well as the accented character (e.g., 'aá appears rather than just á). How do I fix this?

A. This only seems to happen if the compose key is the right Control key; it does not happen with other ones. To fix this you can try using another compose key. Alternatively, there is an option to insert a small delay while Accent Composer is handling the keystrokes. This fixes the problem but slows down the entry of accented characters by a small but noticeable amount. For details about this click here.

Q. I'm trying to enter the Alt code for Á (0193) into the box on the Extended Characters dialog but it beeps when I try to type the second number.

A. To enter Alt codes into that box you shouldn't type the four numerals of the code; instead you hold down the Alt key and press the numbers on the keypad, as you do when using the Alt codes in other applications.


Version History

Ver 1.09j - Released 13 October 2006

•	Converted help system to HTML help to be compatible with the upcoming Windows Vista.

•	Minor internal changes.

Ver 1.09i - Released 17 November 2004

•	Minor changes to error reporting facility and built-in ordering wizard.

•	Fixed Help button in Options dialog.

Ver 1.09h - Released 25 May 2004

•	Added new start-up timeout option that lets the user set the length of time Accent Composer will wait for Windows to respond when trying to set up the system tray icon.

Ver 1.09g - Released 20 April 2004

•	Fixed problem introduced in ver. 1.09f that disabled Accent Composer in many situations.

Ver 1.09f - Released 29 March 2004

•	Improved error reporting facility to give more details of the error.

•	Minor modification to order form.

Ver 1.09e - Released 20 October 2003

•	Fixed problem where, if a lot of other programs are loading when the computer starts up, the Accent Composer icon isn't created in the system tray, but instead a small window appears on the desktop.

•	Modifications and additions to the help file.

Ver 1.09d - Released 29 July 2003

•	Minor fixes to order form and error reporting dialog.

Ver 1.09c - Released 26 September 2002

•	Added a command-line option that will allows the options dialog to be displayed through a desktop shortcut rather than through the icon tray.

•	Fixed it so that Accent Composer defaults to running at system startup for all users, not just the one who installed the program.

Ver 1.09b - Released 2 September 2002

•	Fixed problem that could cause an error message after the order form had successfully been submitted securely over the Internet.

•	Fixed option dialog so that list of sequences can't be completely emptied; otherwise numerous errors occur.

Ver 1.09a - Released 13 May 2002

•	Made a few modifications to the ordering wizard.

•	Fixed minor problem with error-reporting dialog

Ver 1.09 - Released 22 January 2002

•	Instituted new registration code scheme, which avoids occasional problems with restricted user accounts under Windows 2000/XP. New registration codes will be required; registered users can e-mail us at newcodes@kovcomp.com with name and address to obtain their new codes.

Ver 1.08e - Released 7 January 2002

•	Fixed problem introduced in ver. 1.08d where Ignore Order option was being ignored.

Ver 1.08d - Released 18 December 2001

•	Modified format of registration numbers

•	Improved software order form and error reporting dialog - modified user interface and added ability to send order or error report directly over the Internet (with order form details encrypted).

Ver. 1.08c - Released 21 November 2001

•	Added option to import and export text-based compose sequences (in same format as old acompose.dat file).

•	Added option to print list of compose sequences.

Ver. 1.08b - released 5 November 2001

•	Added option to reset compose sequences to original defaults.

•	Fixed problem with the sort order of the compose sequences in the option dialog changed when sequences added or deleted.

Ver. 1.08a  - released 22 June 2001

•	Modifications to compose sequences are now saved on a per-user basis, so different users can have different preferences.

•	Fixed further problems with using AC under different user accounts on multi-user Windows NT/2000 machines.

Ver. 1.08 - released 18 Jan. 2000

•	Fixed a "Cannot make visible window modal" error that occurred after (and masked) other errors.

•	Fixed some problems with using AC under different user accounts on multi-user Windows NT machines.

•	Minor improvements in installation and uninstallation.

•	Updated contact details and country information on ordering wizard.

•	Added a default compose sequence for the Euro symbol. Note that you will need a font that supports the euro symbol to see it. If you don't see the symbol here (€) then you need to visit www.microsoft.com and your other font suppliers to download new fonts.

Ver. 1.07 - released 11 Sep. 1998

•	Fixed problem where the list of compose sequences could get corrupted, causing a "PutObject to undefined item" error when opening the options dialog.

Ver. 1.06 - released 30 April 1998

•	Fixed Access Violation problem when clicking on Order Form button on shareware startup dialog.

•	The Load At Startup checkbox stopped working in version 1.05. This now works again.

Ver. 1.05 - released 6 March 1998

•	Fixed problem where floating point exceptions would occur in 3-d graphics programs based on Microsoft's OpenGL when Accent Composer was active.

Ver. 1.04 - released 24 Feb 1998

•	Fixed problem where Windows 95 would crash in MPREXE.EXE, Explorer or other Windows modules when Accent Composer was active. This would happen soon after a password was typed in to access a network, the Internet or a screen saver.

Ver. 1.03 - released 9 Feb 1998

•	Fixed problem with Microsoft Works for Windows 3, where compose sequence characters were being inserted into the editing window as well as the accent character. This fix was also made an option, like the key faking one. See here for more details.

•	Fixed problem where floppy disk drive was being activated when Accent Composer was started.

Ver. 1.02 - released 2 Feb 1998

•	Fixed problem that caused Excel to not go into edit mode if an Accent Composer compose sequence was entered as the first character. The fix causes problems with the Delphi 3 programming editor; it is possible other programs may also be affected. As a result this fix was made an option. See Fix key faking for more information.

Ver. 1.01 - released 16 Jan 1998

•	Added a menu option to allow Accent Composer to be disabled without exiting the program.

•	Fixed a problem that meant that spaces could not be used in compose sequences. A space can now be used as either or both characters of the sequence.

28 Jan 1998 - Modified ordering wizard to include multiple user discounts in prices. Also slightly modified printed order form. No new version number.

Ver. 1.0  - Initial release, 1 Oct 1997


Registering Accent Composer
Ordering Accent Composer

Accent Composer is being distributed as a 'Try before you buy' program. You are allowed to evaluate this program for up to 30 days. After that time it will stop working. If you wish to continue using it, then you must register by paying a fee to the author. The cost of registration is UK£15 (US$25) plus shipping and handling and VAT (UK and Europe only). In return for registering you will receive:

The legal right to continue using the program

A registered copy of the program without the time limitation and the shareware reminders at startup

Free technical support for the program for 90 days by e-mail, fax, post

Notification by e-mail of updates to the program

Free minor upgrades (downloaded from our web site; a handling charge is payable if a disk is required by post)

Special prices on major updates to Accent Composer, as well as special deals on other KCS software

If you have access to the Internet you may register on-line using a credit card at our World Wide Web page (http://www.kovcomp.com/).

Otherwise, you can use the Ordering Wizard built into Accent Composer. Just click on the 'Order Form' button on the shareware notification screen and follow the instructions.  Alternatively, you can print out this order form and fax, e-mail, or post it to us with your payment.

In the USA, Accent Composer is also available from RegNet (21200 Trumpet Drive #201, Santa Clarita, CA 91321-4441 U.S.A.  Tel. 1-800-WWW2REG (1-800-999-2734), fax: 805-288-1867, e-mail: RegNet@swregnet.com URL: http://www.swregnet.com/1403p.htm).

For full details of restrictions on the distribution of this evaluation version see the file VENDOR.WRI on the distribution disk.

Site licenses

We also offer multiple user discounts, starting at 5 users. The bands are: 5-9 users - 20% discount, 10-24 - 30%; 25-49 - 40%; 50-100 - 50%. Please contact us for quotations for more than 100 users.

These discounts are automatically factored into the price by the Ordering Wizard. Even if you are ordering through the web page or by other means you can calculate the correct price with the Wizard.


KCS Order Form

To order Accent Composer, you may print out this order form using the File/Print Topic command.  Alternatively, you may paste the order form into your word processor by using the Edit/Copy command above, then the Edit/Paste command in your word processor.  The address for submitting the order form is given at the bottom.

Note: you may prefer to use the Ordering Wizard built into Accent Composer. This is simpler to use and will automatically calculate the correct price for you.

Please remember to include the appropriate shipping and handling charge, as well as VAT (if applicable)

  Name: _________________________________________________________

  Address: ______________________________________________________

           ______________________________________________________

  City, State, Province:_________________________________________

  Postal/ZIP code, Country:______________________________________

  Tel.:   _______________________________________________________

  Fax:    _______________________________________________________

  E-Mail: _______________________________________________________

  Credit card number:______________________________ Exp.: _______

  Signature:_____________________________________________________

  Cardholder's address (if different than above)_________________

  _______________________________________________________________

  ITEM                  UNIT PRICE                 QUANT.  TOTAL

  Accent Composer       UK£15/US$25                _____   _____

  Shipping & handling   UK£2/US$4                          _____

  Subtotal                                                 _____

  VAT (17.5%, UK & European Union customers only)          _____

  TOTAL                                                    _____

Payment may be by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Access, or

Eurocard), cheque or money order in UK pounds or US dollars

(drawn on UK or US banks), or Eurocheque in UK pounds.

Credit cards will be charged in UK pounds; your card company will

bill you in your home currency. The exact amount billed will vary

depending on the card company's exchange rate.

Please make cheques payable to "Kovach Computing Services".  Departmental

purchase orders not accepted except for site licenses.

European Union customers - if you are registered for VAT,

please send your registration number; otherwise VAT will be

charged at the UK rate.

-----------------------------

    Kovach Computing Services

    85 Nant-y-Felin

    Pentraeth, Isle of Anglesey

    LL75 8UY  Wales, U.K.

    E-mail: sales@kovcomp.com

    Tel.(UK): 01248-450414, (Intl.): +44-1248-450414

    Fax (UK): 020-8020-0287, (Intl.): +44-20-8020-0287


Contacting Kovach Computing Services

Kovach Computing Services

85 Nant-y-Felin

Pentraeth, Isle of Anglesey

LL75 8UY

Wales, U.K.

E-mail: support@kovcomp.com

Tel.(UK): 01248-450414, (Intl.): +44-1248-450414

Fax (UK): 020-8020-0287, (Intl.): +44-20-8020-0287

Please note that KCS has a World Wide Web facility on the Internet.  This contains links to the latest shareware versions of all our software, information about our products and commonly encountered problems and questions on the use of the software.

There is also some information about Wales and the Isle of Anglesey, the home of KCS.  The URL for the home page is:

http://www.kovcomp.com/


Add a new sequence to the list


Accent Composer also runs under this operating system version, but there is no task bar notification area. Instead an icon is placed on the desktop along side your other program icons. To open the Options dialog box restore this icon by double clicking, then choose File|Options.


Contents
 Accent Composer

•	 What is Accent Composer?

•	 Using Accent Composer

•	 Customizing Accent Composer

•	 Frequently Asked Questions

•	 Version History

•	 Order Accent Composer

•	 Contacting Kovach Computing Services


Fix incompatibilities

The options on this dialog allow you to fix incompatibilities that may arise between Accent Composer and certain other applications. If Accent Composer is working fine with all your applications then you can ignore this. If, however, a program does unusual things when accented characters are entered one of these options may fix the problem.

These options should be changed only if there are problems, so they have been placed on a "hidden" dialog box. In this way the user does not change them by mistake. to access the dialog box with these options simply open the Options dialog box, then hold down the Alt key and press x.

The following explains what they does:

Fake keystroke

Accent Composer works by trapping compose sequences, then sending an instruction to your current application telling it to insert the accented or extended character into its editing window. Most programs are happy to receive just this one instruction, but others also expect to see notification that an actual key has been pressed. Since most accented and extended characters don't have a single key that corresponds to them (that's the whole reason for Accent Composer's existence!) a keystroke must be faked to keep these programs happy. This keystroke must be one that does not produce any character in the edit window; otherwise two characters will appear.

Unfortunately different programs react in different ways to these faked keystrokes. By default Accent Composer 1.02 and later fakes a keystroke with the numeric code of 0 (null), which doesn't correspond to any real key. However, some programs may get confused by this code; for instance, the Delphi programming editor opens a second edit window when it receives this keystroke notification. I've heard of another program where the focus switches away from the window into which the user is typing. As an alternative, the code for the shift key can be sent (this was the default for version 1.00 and 1.01). However, other programs have problems with this. Excel, for example, will not go into edit mode if an accented character is entered as the first letter in a cell.

Since different programs have different requirements the method of faking the keystroke has been made an option. If the user has problems with one method it can be changed to the other.

Delay key processing

Some 16-bit programs, particularly Microsoft Works for Windows 3, seem to somehow jump in and grab keystrokes while Accent Composer is still processing them. This causes the two characters in the compose sequence to be inserted into the editing window as well as the accent character (e.g., 'aá appears rather than just á).

This only seems to happen if the compose key is the right Control key; it does not happen with other ones. To fix this you can try using another compose key.

Alternatively, you can tick the "Delay key processing" option on this dialog to insert a small delay while Accent Composer is handling the keystrokes. This fixes the problem but slows down the entry of accented characters by a small but noticeable amount.

Start-up timeout

If you occasionally or frequently find that Accent Composer forms a small window on the desktop rather than the red Á system tray icon then try increasing the time here.

This window is formed because of a timeout error. If a lot of programs are being loaded into the system tray during startup this can cause Windows to be slow in responding to them all. As a result, some of the programs could be told, after a short wait, that Windows is too busy to set up the icon in the system tray. This is the timeout error. If a timeout error occurs when Accent Composer is starting up then it will keep trying for a specific amount of time before eventually giving up and loading the program as a regular window rather than the system tray icon.

This option lets the user set how long it will keep trying. Ten seconds should be sufficient, but on slow computers or those with lots of system tray icons this may need to be increased to 30-60 seconds.


Extended characters chart

This dialog box presents a chart listing all the extended characters available to Windows. These are the ones with numeric codes ranging from 0127 to 0255. This lets you easily scan through for the character you wish to add to the list of compose sequences. Simply select the desired character and press the 'OK' button.

If you have memorized the Alt codes for commonly used characters you can type these straight in using the edit box at the bottom of this dialog. You will need to hold down the Alt key and type the code number on the keypad as usual.

Note: the font used in this chart is the same as that used for the table in the Options dialog. It can be changed through the font selection box on the Options dialog.


Allows you to directly type in the numeric code for a character (by holding down the ALT key and typing on the numeric pad).


Displays the extended characters available to Windows.


Displays the numeric code of the currently selected character.


Allows characters for different languages to be displayed


Delete selected sequence


Export compose sequences to a text file.


Changes font for displaying characters


Specifies whether sequences are order insensitive (i.e. if '~n' and 'n~' both produce the same character)


Import compose sequences from a text file.


Select key for entering Compose mode


Have Accent Composer loaded automatically every time Windows restarts (Win95 and NT4 only).


Modify selected sequence


Choose character for adding or modifying


Print out compose sequences.


Reset compose sequences to their default values.


Type in or modify two characters for compose sequence


View sequences or select one for modification/deletion


The compose key is the one you press to begin entering a compose sequence. By default this is the right hand Alt key but you can change this in the Options dialog box.


A series of two characters that are typed after the Compose key is pressed. These are usually designed to be as easy to remember as possible, e.g. the sequence 'o' and 'a' produce the letter 'å'.


Welcome to Accent Composer

Welcome to Accent Composer, a utility for Microsoft Windows 95 and later that allows you to enter accented and extended characters into any program. It looks like you are running the program for the first time, so we'll give you some pointers on what the program is all about and how to use it.

What you are looking at now is a part of the help file for Accent Composer. At any time this help file is only a keystroke or a mouse click away. It will help you learn how to use the program and its dialog boxes.

To learn about how to use Accent Composer you can click on the link below to go to the introductory section.

Introduction to Accent Composer