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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 11 Util
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charcs.zip
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1995-05-06
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Characters 2.5
Isn't it infuriating when you can't type in exactly the
right character in your otherwise superbly prepared
document?
You want a fraction but you end up with 3/4 ? You need the
copyright mark but have to write it in? You can't get £
when you are in the US or you can't get $ in the UK. And
no-one can get Yen (and at under 100 to the US$ dollar I'm
not surprised!)
The fact is that special characters under OS/2 are hard to
find and annoying to use. But now you have a
solution...read on...
CHARACTERS
This program was shareware. However, although I've had many
enquiries, and some downloads - I've not had any actual cash!
So now it's free to all. All I ask is that you contact me
with your comments and ideas:
Brian Renwick
Hong Kong
CIS 100314,1117
About "Characters"
I devised this program (in VisProRexx) because I need
sometimes to write letters in the French language. You can
only do this with difficulty under OS/2 for two reasons:
a. the ASCII character set is not as complete as under some
other operating systems, and
b. as yet OS/2 has no applet to make it easy to transfer the
characters it can supply to the document you are using.
"Characters" (or "Charcs" for those who can't use long file
names!) supplies this capability.
I have incorporated most of the non-standard characters you
can get under OS/2 into one or other of "Characters" pages.
So now you can easily use nearly all those hard-to-find and
difficult-to-substitute characters and symbols you need from
time to time.
Installing "Characters"
You must have REXX on your system to run this program. If
you installed all the features of OS/2, you will have it.
If you excluded REXX, you can install it easily by using
"Selective Install" in the OS/2 system folder. It only
takes up .4MB of disk space.
Unzip the zip file and put the .exe file, the readme, and
.ico file in any folder or directory you choose. All three
files should be in the same directory. The program requires
no extra files, no .dll's. You can put it on your desktop,
keep it in a folder, or run it from the an open "Drives"
object. You can run it from any open OS/2 window. You will
probably find it helpful to migrate it properly to your
desktop.
CODEPAGE
The codepage you use determines which characters appear on
your screen when you press certain keys. The two usual
codepages in English-speaking countries are 437, and 850.
When you installed OS/2, chances are that these will be the
two codepages for which your system will be set up. If you
go to an OS/2 prompt and type 'chcp' (no quotes) you will
probably see one of these two numbers (most likely 437) on
the first line - this is the "active" code page. On the
next line, chcp will tell you that the two codepages
available to you are 437 and 850.
"Charcs" automatically detects which of the two principal
codepages your system uses. However, if you want to get
certain of the characters IBM allows you, you must change
codepages by altering the line in the config.sys file that
sets up the CODEPAGE.
For those of you who know how to do this - please skip this
part! For those who don't, here's what to do:
a. make a back-up of your current "config.sys" file,
normally to be found in your C: drive, or the root
directory of your boot drive;
b. open the file with the OS/2 system editor (File - Open -
"C:\config.sys", or wherever your file happens to be). If
your config.sys file is in C:\, Characters will
automatically open it for you if you click "yes" in the
message box that arrives when you open the Otions/Codepage
menu.
c. scroll down the text to about two-thirds down the lines,
normally, until you find the line that reads:
CODEPAGE=437,850
(If you are set up outside the US or UK parameters, you may
find that one or other of these numbers is different. If
so, try using "Characters" without changing anything. If
you can't get all the ones you want, come back to this
procedure.)
Change the order of the numbers to read:
CODEPAGE=850,437
Save your changes, shutdown the system, and reboot. When
you next run "Characters", you should see some new
characters. The notebook pages will also be slightly
different.
For more details on Codepage, please consult the OS/2
on-line help.
Using "Characters"
It's really very simple! Click through the pages to see
what is available to you. Find the character you want and
click the button. Notice that the colour changes to white,
and the character becomes red. Clicking the button puts the
character onto your clipboard. Place your cursor at the
position on your document where you need the character and
either use Shift+Insert, or your "Paste" command, to place
it in your text. That's all...
If you need another one, simply repeat the procedure.
Notice that when you choose another character after the
first one, the original goes back to yellow, but the symbol
stays red, to show you have used it. I find this useful if,
for example, I have to go through a letter and replace
several letters "e" with "é", followed by "ê". You
sometimes forget where you are and what you've done. The
colour changes help you keep track of your changes.
Mathematicians, and others, will note several useful symbols
for their work. There are a few currencies, and one or two
unusual buttons like the male/female symbols.
If I've made some mistakes in my groupings, please let me
know. No offence intended to anyone!
You can change the fonts, using the menu item, to any of the
fonts on your system. This will make no difference of
course, to how the characters appear in your document - only
to their appearance on the buttons. The fonts will reset
themselves to the or iginals the next time you opn up
Characters.
Known flaws
Well... I can't yet get all the publishers' requirements
for example, the big quotes, en, em etc. I'll keep trying.
Nor can I yet get the Trade Mark symbol.
As you will see, you can get some characters under codepage
437, and others under 850. Most are available under both.
The Yen sign does not always work in all fonts for some
reason.
There may be other problems you notice. PLEASE, please, let
me know.
Customisation
It may be that you have special needs, or would like
something done especially for you. If so, please let me
know and I'll try and do it. It's not a difficult program
to customise and I'll try to make it flexible for your
special purposes.
I also hope to continue to improve the general program. You
can help with your ideas. If it can be done - I'll try and
find a way. And there's nothing like constructive criticism
to egg me on a bit...!
Disclaimer
I really don't think this can do any possible harm to
anyone's hard or software - it just uses the OS/2 clipboard.
However, I have to protect myself with the usual things:
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
THIS SOFTWARE IS SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO
PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES
WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM
MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
IS OFFERED.
GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE
THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON
IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE
PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED
EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE
PRICE.
Brian Renwick Hong Kong August 1994
V2.5 May 1994