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Making a Keyboard and Glossary

Keyboard Definition Format

A keyboard definition(4- 6) file consists of a keyboard identification line(12- 6) plus up to 1256 entries. All entries control a translator that converts from romanization to alphabetic for romanized keyboard entry, and from alphabetic to romanization for display in the hidden characters(5- 4) window. The entries are ordered into the following sections:
  1. Alphabetic keys are the first entries that correspond in exact sequence to each character in the corresponding alphabetic font(4- 13). Subsequent entries define translation macros.
  2. Key compounds are romanizations that translate to two or more alphabetic keys.
  3. A blank line to delimit the rules used to translate alphabetic text back into romanization for display in the hidden characters window. Rules after the first blank line will not be used.

Text Entry Macros

  1. Asian punctuation macros speed romanized text entry by eliminating the need to switch to Asian punctuation mode. To save space, only the most common punctuation is included.
  2. English punctuation versions of the above Asian punctuation macros. You may wish to add more entries.

Dynamic Glossary Macros

  1. Glossary Area: you can enter any valid Smart Characters entry here. Make sure that the roman entry will not match any other valid entry. These entries will be available to all users in your group (who share the keyboard file). For example, there is no Japanese letter that contains "cs", so we are free to use it for Apropos Customer Service (and you are free to delete it).
User Glossary Area: the glossary area extends to the dynamic glossary(4- 6) file, which is loaded and compiled immediately after the corresponding keyboard definition(4- 6) file. The order of the entries is significant: earlier entries match before later entries. Examine the keyboard and glossary files and experiment.

Keyboard Definition Line Format

<From Roman><To Key Strokes><Alpha Code><Optional Number>
  1. From Roman is the syllable to translate, including spaces. Its object type(4- 2) is always romanization (e.g., pinyin or romaji). Any initial object type code(D- - 5) is ignored.
  2. To Key Strokes are the text objects(4- 1) that correspond to the romanization. If the To Key Strokes field contains a romanization type text object, then that object will be resubmitted to the translator for further translation. For example, the Japanese entry kk^WZ^Ok matches two romaji k's and returns a hiragana small tsu (^WZ) and a romaji ^Ok for further matching.
  3. An Alpha Code (typically ^D) identifies the entry as an alphabetic entry, which corresponds in order to the characters in the alphabetic font, and must be in the beginning of the file. For example wo^W)^D matches the romaji wo and returns the ^W hiragana wo particle: `)'.
  4. If the Optional Number is 2, the character is to have 1/2 normal horizontal spacing. If 3, the character is to be written over the preceding character. JIS keyboards require additional codes: 4 tells the translator that this key changes the definition of the previous key, while 5 signifies that the translator must look at the following key to form a two keystroke alphabetic character.

Keyboard Identification Line

The keyboard identification line defines the object type codes(5- 11) to be used for romanization, alphabetic, and alpha codes.

Setting the Keyboard Macro Memory Size

You can create and save up to 1000 dynamic glossary(4- 6) items (keyboard macros) per macro keyboard or glossary file. It is possible to have several files on line at one time, for thousands of keyboard macros! However, you must first allocate memory in the Scw.ini Memory Sizes(B- - 2) section:

Dictionaries and Keyboard Definitions

If you wish to install a font in an entirely different language whose symbol set(D- - 7) does not correspond to one already installed, and you want full functionality, you must install a keyboard definition(4- 6) for each alphabetic font(4- 13) (or the alphabetic portions of a font with both alphabetic and Chinese characters). Ideographic fonts(4- 13) require converting a dictionary. See Dictionary Basics(4- 7).
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Last Modified: March 23, 1996

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