Re: Accents (in U2)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from michael.norman@xxxxxxxx on Sun, 29 Dec 2002 19:48:34
-0500

Michael, Patricia:

> [With U2 loaded] 1. load accents.prn (I get an
> *unrecognized command* error message, but the file seems to load)

In STARTUP.INT:
 BX lp [d:\path\]accents.prnQ2 ;*;

Are you sure you have a virgin (uncorrupted) copy of ACCENTS.PRN?
Make ZERO mods to this file -- it is very very delicate! File should
be dated 1/14/99 (header says "1/15/99"). When i LP it, there is no
"unrecognized command" error.

Try loading it on the CMline:
-------------
Blank the CMline and hit Enter (using an "Enter" or XC key with
 just a bare  or func XC on it, & nothing else, no other
 funcs, no nothing)
Get the value of VA$ER (command "VA/NV $ER") -- it should
 be "11" = "There is no command on the command line"
Command "LP ACCENTS.PRN"
Get VA$ER again -- $ER value should still be 11!
-------------

> 2. I open my file and embed code page 850.

You use 437 by default in XyWrite?? If not, put
 df la=850
in SETTINGS.DFL

> 3. I hot-key to *accents* command dialog, pick my accent,
> (a macron) and get the error message *accent is not
> defined*, which makes me think I should be making
> keyboard assignments??? Clearly I'm missing something(s).

I'm missing information:

-- You say you "hot-key to *accents*". If you hot-key to the U2
"accents" program, i.e. have it assigned to a key, then ipso facto that
IS your KBD assignment. Did you assign frame "accents" to a key? See
HELP ACCENTS to learn how...

-- What specific alphabetic character are you trying to accent? Only
a few are legal! The legal letters that accept a macron are:
      A a D d E e I i L l N n S s T t U u
I will add to the Help frame a list of legal chars for each accent...

-- "...get the error message *accent is not defined*". Hmmm, error code
269. I don't get that error even if I enter an illegal character,
such as "o". Lemme try it... Nope, no error. Just for
the heck of it, let's try a legal character like "i"... That works
perfectly. You gotta view it in Graphic mode, but there it is, an "i
macron". It is assumed that you will not try to accent a character
that isn't ever accented. Postscript doesn't even have an o macron.
Fountain pen maybe? Fudge it with a tilde?

-- How have you chosen to put your accents, by entering the
(C)haracter first (then accent), or the (A)ccent first (then
character)? You need to set that up in XYWWWEB.REG (the Registry,
assuming you're using v114 -- otherwise [earlier versions of U2] you
need to adjust to taste the User Variable in U2 frame {{5accents}},
and then LOADHELP to save your selection -- use the Registry,
it's a helluva lot easier). Mine says "(C)har_or_(A)ccent=C". If you
want to put accent first, then character, it should be
"(C)har_or_(A)ccent=A". [I added this option at my own request,
because the native XyWrite way, accent first, then character, is
stupid: who, in all of history, has ever written an accent first,
then the character to be accented? "Yes, I write my grave first, then
position the 'e' underneath it." Sure.]

> Michael, do you already have another printer driver loaded when
> you load accents.prn?... I notice in Tyson's book (p. 220) a
> statement that one should use LOAD +printer.prn

Unnecessary in Xy4. I have a PRN file for a printer loaded, and it
does not get wiped. Easy to prove: just LP ACCENTS.PRN, then do
VA/NV $PR: it still will report the "real" hardware PRN file
(assuming one was loaded previously).

> Nor did I get that error message on trying to type an accent. The
> requested accented letter appeared all right, but on the command
> line.

Ergo your cursor was on the CMline! Put it in text... Quote first
line of Help frame: "ACCENTS puts accented characters both in Text
and on the CMline". The point here (perhaps too implicit/subtle) is
that the native facility will NOT put an accented character on the
CMline, whereas U2 does. Now, you would probably not even have your
cursor on the CMline if you had accents program properly loaded on a
key in KBD -- instead of running it manually off the CMline -- ahem
ahem...

> So I opened my keyboard file and the Accents help file, and copied
> and pasted the accent definitions to keys that I thought I could
> remember.

Oy! If I were writing in French or Spanish or German all day every
day, I'd probably do that; but if you're not -- if your need for
accented characters is occasional and largely unpredictable and
multilingual -- then it really makes more sense to use the frame
*generically*:
  nn=XHJM2,.,a,c,c,e,n,t,s,Q2
Otherwise you end up "working on finding suitable locations" for more
accents than you would ever need if you were using just one of the
above languages as your primary. It makes little sense if your
primary is English.

> So I shall soon have the capabilities of one of the few things
> I've needed Windows for on good old Xy.

*Actually*, it's been available in Xy for quite some time.

So Happy New Year to you too. One and all. At least we didn't get
atomized last night. Those morons in Washington are going to get us
all killed. Profoundly ignorant people.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------