APDL Eductation Resources/APDL Eductation Resources.iso/programs/keyboard/xchars/!XChars/!Help

Text File | 1996-01-22 | 13.7 KB | 277 lines

XChars 1.04 (22-Jan-96)

Purpose:     Advanced chars utility
Author:      Martin Würthner
Runs under:  RISC OS 3.1 or higher
Status:      FREEWARE (see below)

XChars is a replacement for the Chars utility that comes with RISC OS
with a lot of additional features, such as:
- multiple windows
- outline fonts at arbitrary sizes
- font aspect, line/character spacing control
- different arrangements of characters (+optional display of ctrl chars)
- configurable default settings
- character zoom window at configurable size by clicking Adjust on a letter
  (during the duration of the button press only or as a persistent window)
- configurable character insertion hot key: Shift, Ctrl or Alt (both keys
  or only left/only right key)
- option to install an application icon on the icon bar
- all options can be set independently in each window
- "hotlist": the state of all options (font,font size,line spacing etc.) of
  a window can be saved (associating a name with it) and restored later
  from the hotlist menu
- automatic display of character code under the pointer


****************************************************************************
*  Features added recently: (If you are new to XChars, skip this section)  *
****************************************************************************

New feature of version 1.04
---------------------------
The Display options window offers a new option: "Display character code".
This option can be switched on/off for each window individually. If it
is on, the character code of the character under the pointer is displayed
near the pointer in a small yellow box which also moves as you move the
pointer. (see "The Display options window")

New feature of version 1.03
---------------------------
Now works much better with dialogue boxes! (For details, see "History")

New features of version 1.02
----------------------------
Clicking ADJUST on the XChars icon on the icon bar brings the most recently
used character window to the top. Holding SHIFT down simultaneously brings
all windows to the top (see "The XChars icon").
For some fonts, it is helpful to see the click-sensitive zone of each
character. The arrangement submenu offers the new option "Show grid" with a
submenu to choose the grid colour from (see "Character grid").


*******************
*  XChars manual  *
*******************

Starting XChars
---------------
Double-click on the !XChars application to load it. Depending on the
Startup options which have been set up, the application installs an
icon on the icon bar and/or opens a character display window.

The XChars window
-----------------
Each window shows the full character set in one font. If you click SELECT
on a character, it is inserted at the caret position in the application
which currently owns the input focus (the window with the cream title bar).
  If you click ADJUST, the character is displayed in a bigger 'zoom' window
(note that this only works with outline fonts, not with the System font!).
Depending on the 'Persistent zoom window' option in the Choices window (see
below under "Choices window"), the zoom window disappears automatically as
soon as you release the ADJUST button or it remains on screen (in the latter
case it is called persistent). The persistent zoom window has a close icon,
so you can close it just as any other window. To reopen it, simply click
ADJUST again in any XChars window.
  The font size to be used in the zoom window can be changed in the Display
options window (see below).
  When trying to enter text in a writable menu field or a transient
dialogue box, the SELECT click method cannot be used, because this would
cause the destination window to disappear. To overcome this problem, you
can also insert a character by placing the pointer over it and pressing
the character insertion hotkey (e.g. Ctrl). The hotkey to be used can be
configured in the Choices window (see below, "The Choices window").

Changing the font, font size etc.
---------------------------------
The toolbar (at the top of each character window) shows the current font
and the font size. The font can be changed by clicking on the pop-up menu
button next to the font name and choosing a font from the menu.
  If the current font is an outline font (i.e. not the System font), then
The size can be changed by using the up/down arrows or entering a number
in the input field. The change only takes effect if you click on the OK
button. A quicker way of changing the font size is to choose a size from
the font size menu which appears if you click on the pop-up menu button
next to the font size input field. This changes the font size immediately.
  The arrangement of the characters can be changed from the window's menu:
You can choose between 32 by 8,16 by 16 and 8 by 32. Also, if you select
the option 'Show ctrl', then the window shows the control characters at
the top row as inverted letters. So, e.g. to enter Ctrl-C, click SELECT
on the inverted letter 'C'. Ticking 'Show grid' shows the character grid
(see below, "Character grid").
  More advanced options are found in the Display options window: Choose
'Display options' from the window's menu to open it:

The Display options window:
---------------------------
In this window you can change the font aspect, the line and character
spacing and zoom font size. The font aspect determines the width of the
characters in relation to their height. Normally, characters are displayed
at 100% which is the default. If the aspect ratio is smaller than 100%, the
characters appear narrow, if it is greater than 100%, they are expanded.
  The next two options, line spacing and char spacing can in most cases
be left at their default values, i.e. at 100%. XChars automatically leaves
enough room vertically to accomodate even the highest character of the font.
Horizontally, it uses by default 80% of the widest character (i.e. this
corresponds to char spacing 100%) which is enough in almost all cases as it
is very inlikely that two very wide characters are next to each other.
  However, if you want more (or less) space between the rows/columns, then
you can increase (or decrease) the line/char spacing.
  The last value is the font size to be used in the character zoom window
(this is the window you call up by clicking ADJUST on a character). This is
set for each window individually, so if you have a persistent zoom box (or
if you press and hold Adjust) the size of the zoom window may change as you
move from one window to another.
  If you switch "Display character code" on, the character code of the
character under the pointer is displayed near the pointer in a small yellow
box which also moves as you move the pointer. This option can be switched
on/off for each window individually. Probably not a feature you would want
to switch on for every window, but it was added by popular demand, so at
least some people will hopefully find this useful. What about adding a
definition of a System font window with "Display character code" switched on
to your hotlist? This way you have quick access to character codes in case
you need them. If you should really want this feature for every window,
simply modify your default setup.

Default settings
----------------
The whole set of options can be saved as the default by choosing 'Save as
default' from the window's menu. This means that any new window now has
the properties of the current window, e.g. the font, font size etc.
  This is saved to disc, so the next time you start the application it will
still remember which default settings to use.

The hotlist
-----------
One of the most powerful features of XChar is the hotlist: You can add the
complete state of a window including all options to the hotlist and give
it a name. By choosing the entry from a menu later, you can recall the
settings you associated with that name.
  Supposed you use Dingbats quite often and you want it to be displayed at
24pt with a line spacing of 120%. Instead of setting all these options
every time you want to view Dingbats, you can set them once and then add
the current window state to the hotlist:  Click menu over the window and
follow the submenu arrow of the entry "Add to hotlist". Then, type the name
which you want to associate with these settings, e.g. "Dingbats" and click
on OK.
  To recall the settings later, click on the "A" icon to the left of the
tool bar. This displays the hotlist. The first entry of the hotlist is
always "Default". Choosing this restores the default settings. Below this
entry, you can see all the additional entries. Choosing one of these
restores the settings associated with the corresponding entry.
  If you want to modify one of the entries, choose it, change the options,
and then use "Add to hotlist" again without changing the name in the
writable field. This overwrites the old definition with your modified one.
A hotlist entry can be removed by choosing its name from the "Remove"
sub-menu.
  Like the default settings, the hotlist is immediately saved to disc
every time you modify it.

The Choices window
------------------
The Choices window is opened by choosing 'Choices...' from the icon bar menu.
Obviously, this is only possible if there is an XChars icon on the icon bar.
If there is not, the 'Choices...' entry is present in the main menu obtained
by clicking Menu over any XChars window.
  The Choices window allows you to configure some options which are global
and do not belong to a particular window. These are the startup options,
the character insertion hotkey and the zoom window behaviour:
  When the application starts up it can either install an icon on the
icon bar or open a window (or do both). Of course, doing neither of
both is not sensible as in this case you could not access the application
at all! This option only takes effect if you quit and re-load the
application.
  The character insertion hotkey can be either of Ctrl, Shift or Alt. As
each of these keys appear twice on the keyboard, you can choose which one
is to be used. If you want both keys to be active, select both option icons,
'Left key' and 'Right key'. By deselecting both option icons, the whole
feature (character insertion by hotkey) can be disabled.
  The last option in the Choices window determines whether the zoom window
stays on the screen when you release the Adjust button of the mouse (this
happens if the option 'Persistent zoom window' is switched on) or whether
it is closed automatically (if the option is switched off).

Character grid
--------------
Some fonts have characters which behave odd in terms of positioning because
they appear to the left or right of their bounding box. For example, this
happens with the vowels of classical Hebrew fonts, e.g. HolyBible.HebClassic
(by ExpLAN Computers) or Royal.BblcHbrw (by EFF) because the vowels have to
appear underneath the preceding consonant.
  The click-sensitive zone of each character is linked to a global bounding
box, so clicking on one of these characters sometimes seems to insert the
wrong one.
  One thing which helps is to increase the character spacing (e.g. to 140%),
but even then, you have to click exactly on the vowels or to the left of them.
If you switch on the character grid (main menu 'Arrangement.Show Grid'), you
see the click-sensitive zone of each character.
  The submenu allows you to choose the grid colour.

The XChars icon on the icon bar
-------------------------------
Clicking SELECT on the XChars icon opens a new window with the current
default settings.
Clicking ADJUST on the XChars icon brings the most recently used window to
the top. Pressing SHIFT at the same time brings all the windows to the top.

Quitting the application
------------------------
You can quite XChars by choosing 'Quit' from the icon bar menu. If there is
no XChars icon on the icon bar, the application quits as soon as you close
all open windows.

Distributing this application to other people
---------------------------------------------
You are allowed to give this application to anyone you want (terms and
conditions, see below under "Copyright message").
  After copying it, you should delete the files "Default" and "Hotlist"
files inside the copied !XChars directory. Otherwise, the default settings
or the entries in the hotlist may contain names of fonts which are not
present on the destination system leading to error messages.
  Be careful not to delete anything else!

Credits
-------
Thanks to Neil Walker for his !ZoomChars application. I borrowed his idea
of providing a zoom window, transient or persistent.

History
-------
1.00 (24-Nov-95):
  - first version sent to Hensa and Stuttgart
1.01 (28-Nov-95):
  - sensitive boxes around characters are now centred
1.02 (14-Dec-95):
  - minimum window width can be smaller with System font as font size icons
    in toolbar cannot be accessed anyway -> smaller window in System font mode
  - added ADJUST and SHIFT-ADJUST click actions on icon bar icon
  - added character grid option
1.03 (20-Jan-96):
  - Why did not anybody tell me that this thing did not really work with dialogue
    boxes (e.g. Zap and Impression)? Embarassing... Now uses Wimp_ProcessKey
    instead of sending a KeyPressed message to the destination task. So simple...
1.04 (22-Jan-96):
  - Because of popular demand: "Display character code" option added to display
    the code of the character under the pointer

Copyright message
-----------------
This application, XChars, is © Martin Würthner, 1995 and is FREEWARE.
This means that you may copy it freely provided that
(a) all files of this application are distributed together without
    modification (see above: "Distribution this application...")
(b) this application is not sold for profit without my explicit written
    permission (this includes distribution on CD)

You can contact me at:

Martin Würthner
Jahnstraße 18
71116 Gärtringen
Germany

Phone: [phone]
Fax:   [phone]

e-mail: [e-mail]