Re: Code Page strait jacket (?)

[J R FOX jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

--- Robert Holmgren  wrote:

>  on Sat, 16 Jul 2005
> 12:57:25 -0700 (PDT)

> > One's Code Page setting seems to be under the
> > jurisdiction of the operating system. I find
> nothing
> > changeable in this regard in Settings.Dfl or Xy
> > generally, except for the VA$CP reporting
> facility.

> It's the LAnguage command -- CRG pp. 4-177 to 178.

Thanks, Robert. I don't think I was ever previously
tuned in to this LAnguage command. Probably because I
didn't have a pressing need to use it. Most of my
production output was _not_ taking place in a CP 850
environment. This has been changing.

> This has been discussed
> here on occasion (most recently, with *you*:

http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/xysearch.cgi?xywrite/2002/msg00633.htm).

Wow, I had no recall of that at all. And I'm not sure
I would describe 2002 as "recent." Relatively recent,
perhaps.

> See also
http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/xysearch.cgi?xywrite/2002/msg02435.htm

As you said to Patricia, in the latter:

> VA$CP is the Operating System primary Code Page;
default is 437 in U.S.
> editions of all M$ OpSys, 850 in Europe.

After a quick test inside W2K, I'm reminded of that
now. 437 was also the default for Warp-4 (at least at
pre-MCP fixpack levels), which is why most displays in
Xy4 there are much as I remember them from the DOS era
 -- a submerged reason why I've wanted to keep one
boot partition of this kind on my tower desktop, and
probably won't replace it.

> for effects
> of various display modes. Set your default in
> SETTINGS.DFL:
>  ;LA sets the Code Page
>  df la=850

I will, though this seems to be in effect regardless.

> Embed  or  at beginning of a document,
> to determine the Code Page
> for that file.

So, this will be effective, despite the OS being set
to a default of 850 ? Interesting.

> In Xy4 the LAnguage command definitely changes the
> character set.

Yeah, that certainly seems to be what you're saying.

> You have only those two choices,
> 437|850

I guess I can manage with those. I don't remember if
we need the CP 850 for things like the Copyright
symbol, but we need it (also) for *something.*

> -- a grievous
> misfortune; if XyWrite had the same total
> flexibility that WordPerfectDOS has
> with respect to Code Pages (you can even invent your
> own!), I wouldn't have had
> to develop ANSIfied XyWrite (i.e. to get CP1252).

Yes, it sounds like a serious shortcoming. Is that
the one you cooked up to solve a problem Manuel had ?
 I think I recall the incident, but not the details.

> Interestingly, in NBWin, they've
> changed the LAnguage
> command completely: it's now  (and, I
> suppose,  etc),
> which means (probably) that LA no longer has
> anything to do with Code Pages.

Well, that's not going to help us much . . . unless
we're ultimately forced to migrate to NBWin by some
other developments.

Thanks again. I'll put this to use right away -- the
best way not to lose track of it.


Jordan