Smart Characters 3.0 Release Notes Build 19-Present

• Implementation of the Frame and Anchors dialog.
• Add bookmarks as hypertext destinations.
• Evaluation of the new characters added in Build 38.

The DoubleByte TrueType font interface now supports new .otf and .ttf fonts containing additional font tables.

The DoubleByte TrueType font interface Setup TrueType Font dialog Symbol Sets | In Documents control no longer causes a protection fault if accepted (OK selected) when unspecified (blank). Instead, the field is treated as unknown. Note: this field becomes unspecified (blank) when first installing a unicode font that does not contain information to indicate the character set actually implemented by the font. To install the font, select a character set (JIS, Big5, GB, or Uni) in the Symbol Sets | In Documents control that matches the font (Japanese, Traditional, Simplified, or Combined CJK).

Combination list and edit controls in dialogs now automatically scroll horizontally when typing or editing long entries.

Alpha release of Scw32 32 bit version. Edit | Paste Special no longer causes a Protection fault under Windows NT.

Irregular word formations, accepted as written by previous versions, no longer cause a program freeze. Two notes objects in succession at the end of a line no longer cause the first note to display at the end of the line and also at the beginning of the next line.

Very low memory conditions which prevent creating a new document window now fail gracefully with a "Cannot create new document window" error message.

The Doublebyte TrueType Font Interface now supports unicode encoded Chinese fonts.

Clicking the mouse on a header or footer now invokes the edit text object dialog more reliably. Using the mouse to make a selection across a page break no longer invokes the dialog. Newly created headers and footers now display center and right tabs in the initial edit text object dialog, Page break line indicators display more consistantly. The footer now always displays on the last page. Paragraphs that contain text that wraps to the next page no longer prevent footers and footnotes from displaying and printing.

Clicking in the margins of a document no longer causes excessive scrolling. When printing a document, an extra page is no longer printed. Print Preview, broken in build 39, has been restored. Keyboard and Glossary files that are located by browsing at launch now make corrected entries into the project desktop file. The Unlimited File Size accessory no longer crashes under Windows NT 4.0.

The HyperKanji dictionary has been updated to remove MsMincho as the default typeface, and to remove an extra code that broke hypertext for high numbered kanji with the current version which allows hypertext references to break a line. Numbered variables (as used in HyperKanji) no longer cause display of alternating red and black lines of text.

Pressing Ctrl+X with nothing selected no longer deletes the next byte character (use Shift+Delete to delete the next byte), so former Student version users in the habit of pressing ^X (now ^T) for katakana input mode will no longer be surprised by unintended deletions.

Margins are relaxed when typing in a pronunciation input mode to prevent breaking the line prior to conversion to Chinese characters. Typing at the end of a line no longer blanks the beginning of the line. Words that wrap to the next line now scroll the next line up to 1 inch to make the word visible. Inserting Chinese characters at the end of a line now redraws the paragraph properly. Adding a word separator after a Chinese character no longer no longer adds a blank or an empty character. When the display mode RomanStyle is set to ToBpmf, typing in Pinyin->Bpmf input mode at the end of a line no longer converts unresolved pinyin objects to (incorrect) Bopomofo.

The horizontal scroll bar thumb tab operates more smoothly. The vertical scroll bar thumb tab no longer bounces back to its original position when dragged and released.

Headers and Footers now include default Center and Right tab stops. Note: to insert a tab in a Smart Characters edit control, press Ctrl+Tab.

Pronunciations and notes are checked for type during word wrap, eliminating undesired pronunciation and gloss artifacts. With View | Annotations Off, pronunciations and notes wrap to the line containing the annotated object, and no longer remain on a previous line. Japanese kana with ten and maru no longer split the ten or maru mark to the next line. Line Height formatting codes no longer cause a flashing or blank line. An erroneous "Gap Position Out of Bounds" error message has been eliminated.

Printing a document in portrait or landscape now resets the document display. When printing, the "Press Space to Stop" dialog correctly indicates the Space key, and the dialog button is much more responsive. The Number of Copies and Collate controls on the Print dialog have been implemented, and persist between print requests in the same session. Printing now correctly frees resources that previously prevented more than a few print jobs a Smart Characters session.

Querying two or more Chinese characters now strips off extraneous characters in a selection that could cause the search to fail.

The File | Open | GuoBiao | Interpret File As command input now correct assigns the font name "GuoBiao" (instead of "GB") to the default 16:GuoBiao symbol set for proper display of characters with a GuoBiao typeface installed. This eliminates the need to install a "GB" typeface, and/or use the Format | Character | Register Symbol Set dialog to switch the 16:GuoBiao symbol set default typeface to "GuoBiao."

With the addition of up to date concordance files, all conversions now handle level II characters. Conversions from SC to GB no longer delete Chinese characters. Conversions from Big Five to SC now handle punctuation symbols followed by English correctly, and no longer stop after certain Chinese characters. The menu file has been fixed to prevent displaying an incorrect error message dialog when an inappropriate concordance file has been inadvertently specified. The default annotation mode has been changed from "Keep" to "Discard." Notes annotations, if kept, are correctly converted to English. The default file extension for Smart Characters output files has been changed from '.jaz' and '.jzz' to '.sc'. ScConv no longer causes a program fault in Windows 95 and NT when launched from a directory other than \Sc. New test files "internet.gb" and test-chi.bat test the round trip conversions from GB to SC to Big5 to SC to GB and HZ.

The File | Open | GuoBiao | Interpret File As command input now correct assigns the font name "GuoBiao" (instead of "GB") to the default 16:GuoBiao symbol set for proper display of characters with a GuoBiao typeface installed. This eliminates the need to install a GB typeface, and/or use the Format | Character | Register Symbol Set dialog to switch the 16:GuoBiao symbol set default typeface to "GuoBiao."

The 16_00.con file shipped in Build 38 which was not compatible with the ScConv DOS interactive and batch conversion program has been fixed and a service bulletin issued.

Release notes from builds 26 to 19 have been moved from Bullet9.msg to Bullet9a.msg, which now covers builds 26 to 12.

Normal view now scrolls horizontally so that the left margin is on the left window edge. Searching or scrolling to the top or bottom of the document no longer resets the horizontal scroll. Search now positions the insertion point correctly in a small window.

The sorting of items by length implemented in build 37 in a list has been made more robust. List are now sorted by the length of their pronunciations instead of the number of characters in the entry. Trailing spaces are no longer counted. Inflected forms display towards the end.

A bug which displayed an "Almost out of memory" error message when the List window was scrolled then a new list is requested has been fixed. Additionally, on long lists, the List window no longer fills up completely.

The List Bar now accepts Alt+ function keys. Several new accelerator keys have been added to provide access to formatting commands from the list bar (which cannot use the menu bar): Ctrl+F7 invokes View | Zoom, Shift+F7 invokes View | Display Mode, and Alt+F7 invokes Format | Annotations (F6 and F7 continue to invoke character and paragraph formatting).

Fast computer users can format the List Bar so that items completely fill up the line. Set your user or project .ini file [Request Bar Method] section "Line Items" value to 0 = fixed (fast), 1 = fill, 2 = simple. The default is zero (fixed) for a faster display on slower computers.

The Register Symbol Set dialog now supports TrueType fonts as a default symbol set font. GB typefaces now support Hiragana and Katakana Japanese text according to the typeface, within the limitations of a GB font (simplified characters display incorrectly). A bug that displayed missing characters when using a Native Typeface has been fixed.

Two new commands have been added to the Right Mouse Button speed menu: Edit Character, which invokes Hanzi/Kanji | Edit Character, and "The Same" input mode toggle. The Hidden Characters window now displays Big5, GB, and JIS codes after Chars as well as bChars. Asian character edit controls now display the symbol set at the insertion point of the active document window.

Hanzi/Kanji | Edit Character now correctly identifies and opens the character glyph used to display the text to the left of the insertion point. The Symbol Set View window now updates after editing a character. Installing fonts with the same name in different directories is now supported. Adding a large number of new fonts no longer causes a program fault. Copying from a TrueType to a Bitmap font file now works correctly. Reversed fonts can now be copied. Convert | Copy no longer stops on invalid character number.

A bug in Build 37 that required a "c:\sc\" directory when exporting OLE objects has been fixed. A bug in the hypertext compiler that occasionally ruined Chinese and Japanese hypertext has been fixed.

The Combined symbol set has been updated. Ninety characters which had been removed (display as numbers) have been restored. Several characters which displayed wrong glyphs have been fixed. The Big5, GB, and JIS concordances have been updated, including a bug in the GB concordance that displayed 1364 incorrect Level II characters. The CombinedMing 16, 24, and 48 point fonts have been updated. The SimpCombMing 16, 24, and 48 point fonts have been updated and improved for better display. The SimpCombMing font has been extended to 8250 characters.

(The current Combined symbol set map deleted from web version)

Red against gray Chinese character text display on the Request Bar does not work in IBM ThinkPad 360C running Windows 95 in 256 color mode (works with Windows 3.1) because of a problem with the video driver. Call IBM. Work around: press Shift+F7 for View | Display Mode and select Black and White.

To accelerate keyboard input, all dictionary listings are now sorted by entry length, frequency, and original position. Exact matches display first. The new Setup Incremental Match dialog Unsorted control turns sorting on and off.

The dictionaries have been extended to include part of speech and frequency information. Frequencies are indicated by a final period and frequency count in the gloss of a dictionary entry (e.g., japan.pl.12345). A frequency is the number of times a word occurs in a certain body of text. Parts of speech are indicated by a part of speech code preceded by a period. You can add or adjust frequencies in your user dictionary. Dictionaries with part of speech and frequency information will be made available as they are released.

Exact match syllables are now optionally displayed in dictionary listings according to the new Setup Incremental Match dialog Show Syllables control.

Multiple "Target Not Found" messages are no longer displayed when de- inflecting Japanese verbs. A spurious warning message no longer appears when using Incremental Match and pressing Enter with the insertion point after a punctuation object.

The new View Display Mode dialog Ctrl+End Scrolls control turns swaps the behavior of the Ctrl+End and Ctrl+PageDown (and Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+PageUp) keys. With the control on, Smart Characters behaves according to the Window common user interface guidelines, with Ctrl+End scrolling to the end of a document, and Ctrl+Home scrolling to the top. Otherwise, Ctrl+PageDown scrolls to the end, and Ctrl+PageUp scrolls to the beginning, like Smart Characters for Students and other DOS programs.

Vocabulary lessons created from a document now adopt the underlying documents typefaces and symbol sets. The Vocabulary | File | Exit command has been activated, with an Exit Application confirmation dialog that displays "Select Yes to exit Smart Characters, or No to close just the Vocabulary Window (like File | Close)."

The Pick Symbol Set dialog now displays unused entries as "Unused" instead of the default "0:Combined." Selecting the default 0:Combined symbol set in this dialog now activates it.

The List window now initializes itself against the right border of the main frame window, rather than tracking the Hidden Characters window. Scrolling the List window then generating another short list no longer causes an "Initial Boundary Limits" dialog to appear. Substituting text using incremental match input method no longer causes a fault message. Pressing Esc from the List Bar when no previous document window was selected (e.g., just after launch) no longer causes a fault message. The search function no longer yields a Boundary Limits error message when used with unlimited file size editing.

File | Save All has been implemented. The Window 95 Minimize and Close buttons now work when a document window is maximized,

Interesting Bug and Workaround

An ancient but obscure bug which prevented saving files when using unlimited file size editing on a document that had not been saved and scrolled to the end has been fixed. The bug prevented renaming the original file with a .bak extension, which in turn prevented renaming the temporary save file (called filename.$$$) to the original name.

Work Around

If you have edited and already saved the file and received an "Error Code 5, Permission denied error message, scroll to the beginning of the file, then use File | Close (File | Clear with permanent windows) to close the file. Launch a DOS box or use file manager to rename "filename.xxx" to "filename.bak" and "filename.$$$" to "filename.xxx" where filename is the file name and xxx is the file extension. Then reopen the file using File | 1 (the quick pick number) or File | Replace for permanent windows.

If you open a new file, save it before scrolling to near the end. Otherwise, scroll to the beginning and use File | Replace to close and reopen the file, then use File | Save to save it. You will be able to save the file from that point on until you quit Smart Characters.

Selected text is now displayed more in accordance with Windows Control Panel foreground and background color settings. A new experimental Text Selection control has been added to the View | Display Mode dialog to select one of three selection highlighting modes: Fast (the fastest method and default), Black and White (exact colors with a two color text) and Color (exact colors when using color (hypertext) text). This control is experimental, and its preferences are not saved (you have to select them each session). Most users should use the default Fast mode. Interested users should experiment with the other modes, and possibly request that the control and its preferences be made a permanent part of Smart Characters.

GIF, PCX, and BMP graphic files are now rendered internally. Graphic objects now scroll correctly in Page and Normal views. JPEG graphic files are now rendered using an interface to an external conversion program. The interface uses the new [WorkStation] JpgToBmpConv entry to define a command line to a external conversion utility. A free add- on program, JpgConv.exe, which, among other things, converts jpeg files to a .bmp file for importing and display is available from Customer Service at no charge. If the add on program is not installed, Smart Characters will attempt to launch an OLE server that handles JPG files.

Word wrap (including around frames) and reformatting has been improved and made more robust to handle cases involving combinations of horizontal scroll, and cases in which the user does not use word separators. Typing English at the end of a long scrolled line no longer hides the insertion point. Edits to lines are now detected and cause the paragraph to display correctly when using View | Redraw Line. Reformat Paragraph now restores any scrolled line, and scrolls the screen up if the insertion point would be below the bottom line. Lines that are reformed by the printing process no longer print the window background color on the line.

Notes and pronunciations both can now be displayed in RIGHT mode separated vertically by the Format | Character | Notes | Point Size , and the Format | Annotations | Pts Pron controls. Format | Annotations | Pts Char , Pts Word , and Pts Spacing display in points regardless of the setting of the Format | Character | Units of Measure control. The Format | Annotations | Right Column control now correctly displays columns instead of internal units / 8. The control accepts any unit of measure by adding an appropriate suffix. When using the Right display mode, be sure to increase the right margins (e.g., to 3") to force the main text to wrap and avoid the annotations. When paragraph units of measure are set to rows and column, the ruler now displays a legible looking column scale with one minor division per column instead of 10.

Pressing Left with the insertion point at the beginning of the second line in a paragraph now reliably moves the insertion point to the end of the first line. Lines no longer display at the top of the window when unhighlighting a block starting on the top row. The mouse now makes selections more smoothly. The insertion point is no longer displayed at the beginning of a new selection made with the mouse. Moving the mouse beyond the right margin now scrolls a window by a page, not a line, horizontally.

Automatic line spacing modes (all except Exact) now display more quickly and reliably. A bug introduced in build 34 that displayed the insertion point incorrectly on the last line of a page in Page View mode, and caused View | Redraw Line to redraw the last line incorrectly has been fixed. The Wrong Line dialog message now also tries to fix any problems instead of just repeatedly complaining. A bug introduced in Build 34 that caused lines to not increment correctly has been fixed.

File names are now displayed in dialogs that report embedded object errors. The message FileName: unregistered frame deleted replaces the less informative Fixed: phantom object deleted message. The Object Count Discrepancy message now displays correct numbers. A new Up and Coming: stay tuned for graphics commands message has been added to temporarily handle activation of graphics objects.

A change in Windows 95 that caused a gap in the main frame window on startup when it is a certain size has been corrected. Smart Characters now shows itself if you launch it while running as a hidden OLE server. Smart Characters now beeps if launched when another instance it itself is running. Choices are now written to a log file (for use by ScWeb) correctly when SC works as an OLE server.

The list and dynamic glossary windows default sizes have been increased from 4096 to 16384 and 65520 bytes respectively.

Frames that are narrower than the margin width now wrap text by default.

Auto, Single, 1.5 and Double line spacing modes are now functional.

Making a selection with the mouse now displays the selection correctly as the window scrolls (by moving the mouse below the window). The selection highlight works better on variable height lines. The menus are no longer updated on each keystroke if they do not require it, resulting in less flicker when moving the insertion point. Notes whose following characters were beyond the right margin no longer cause an incorrect display.

Deleting or damaging the first bookmark of a bookmark pair no longer causes a series of "deleting missing bookmark" messages. Printer forms more exactly round to internal coordinates, so printing a document no longer causes changes to word wrap from slight changes to the page size.

A new Windows resources cache accelerates printing 10-20 times, and OLE exporting by up to 50 times! You can print from one window while browsing in others.

Smart Characters now acts as a server to render Chinese and Japanese web pages when used with the new accessory web browser, ScWeb. Besides rendering the pages for the browser, you can view and work with the text in Smart Characters by opening the last rendered file. The hotbuttons are active, and will launch a web browser. A new [WorkStation] CachePath entry specifies the location of graphics, etc., downloaded from the web and included in a document.

In-line graphics are now supported as frames that are anchored to (move with) the text at a specific point. The frames are rendered by OLE or by optional internal handlers.

Hypertext has been extended to interface with a browser when a hot link URL is not a local file. Selecting a hypertext button linked to a URL or URI now launches a web browser or similar application specified by the [Workstation] section "UriBrowser" entry. Hypertext hot buttons can now wrap the line break. The Format | Make Paragraph command formats paragraphs containing hypertext references correctly. Hypertext has also been extended to allow jumps to another topic in another file. The syntax is ^A^G^G^A.

Translate | Compile Hypertext now compiles 6-10 times faster. The compiler now reports on most errors, and the hypertext error window is now auto-saved, and is itself hypertext, to allow quick jumping to errors. The return stack has been increased to 16 jumps. The error window title and file name no longer get lost. The "Abort" control works easily, and other applications continue to function while compiling.

Exported English fonts display with more reasonable dimensions. Exported paragraph rectangles now display correctly using the correct dimensions, which include pronunciations and glosses that may extend beyond the margin. Colored (e.g., hypertext red) Chinese characters are now exported correctly.

The OLE server now writes a metafile if logging is on according to the file name specified as the third argument in [Log Files] OleServerMessages=1

Failing to specify a different .ini file name for a new user or project no longer overwrites the original file.

Release 32 previously unreported updates: Instructions for Learn | Replace Glosses have been added to Appendix F. The screen no longer loses its place when repainting from being covered up by the list window, or select glosses dialog.

The DoubleByte TrueType font interface has been enhanced to support incomplete fonts. This is useful to interface with fonts that have been simply rasterized from bitmaps, and contain no "hinting" information or font programs and other sections normally required by the TrueType font specification.

Entering Chinese characters or words that have multiple glosses in a document window that covers or overlaps the List window now replaces the entered pronunciations and redraws the paragraph correctly. A bug introduced in build 29 is fixed: looking up the first part of a pronunciation now correctly splits the pronunciation into two pieces, and no longer damages the second part.

Build 31 - January 22, 1996

New entries in Scw.ini map user font code space characters 0-49 to the 0:Combined code space range 7750-7799. This allows adding the first 50 user characters to a concordance file in order to use rare Chinese and Japanese characters that are not in the 0:Combined code space 0-8229. (Additionally, the 0:Combined code space is being extended to map all the Level II Chinese and Japanese characters to the range beginning with 8250.)

Several desktop (.ini), user dictionary, glossary, and User's Group example files have been been updated to avoid a display mode conflict when opening the files or a default project that refers to these files.

The diagnostic display code incorporated into ScConv in an earlier build has been removed for a clean display when exporting a document. ScConv now handles level II concordances using versions of the JIS concordance file based on either 1:JIS or 11:JIS symbol sets.

Build 30 - January 5, 1996

Smart Characters now supports codes to FFFE (as used by the extended GB code). A new function Edit | Insert | Character Code (Shift+F3) inserts a character in a native encoding. To use, invoke the command, select an encoding, enter the code, and select Ok. The hidden characters window now displays Big5 and GB as well as Shift-JIS codes when the insertion point is on a native character (viewing an interpreted file).

Clicking the mouse on a ruler in an area not close to an existing tab now sets a new tab. Pressing Enter on a line that contains preceding tabs now adds leading tabs to the next line to align the new line with the previous line. UnDo now deletes automatically added leading tabs. Word Spacing is now suppressed after a tab (like at the beginning of the line). Alt+Right no longer jumps to next line at a tab.

The maximum permissible line length has been increased from 512 to 768 bytes. The insertion point no longer gets lost on lines that are at the maximum.

A new function now checks for a conflict between Page View and Line or Window View Display mode, and opens a dialog to allow switching to either Page Display mode or Normal View. Zooming the window to fit a page now switches to Page View. The Hypertext button now switches to Normal View.

The new Format | Repaginate command applies formatting to the entire document. This is useful for converting documents from Pinyin to Bopomofo and back again, or when working with hypertext documents.

The Learn | Expand Modifiers and Contract Modifiers commands have been improved to work with documents that use word wrap (3.0 documents) that do not contain the Level formatting information normally added by the Japanese version of ScAnnotate. You can add level information to existing documents by using Expand Modifiers to replace existing tabs with spaces, then positioning the insertion point within a sentence, pressing Enter, then Tab repeatedly to correspond with the level of the phrase to the right of the insertion point. Periods are defined to be at level zero (in the left hand margin). Increasing levels of modification move a phrase to the right one tab stop. Both of these commands switch the document to line mode, and repaginate when complete.

The Learn | Replace Glosses command has been implemented. The directions have changed. To use, double click to select an existing word that contains a gloss. Query the word, and select it from the List window, and select or type in a new gloss. Then select Learn | Replace Glosses to replace all same glosses in the document. This is useful when an inappropriate gloss has been repeatedly used in an automatically annotated document.

The Symbol Set View and Bit Edit windows "Quit" menu items have been renamed "Close." Shortcut key letters have been assigned to the Symbol Set View | File menu commands. The Symbol Set View scroll bars have been made much more smoother and useful. The beginning is now zero instead of the first character in a font file, and the end of the range corresponds to the end of the font's code space. This change makes browsing much easier.

Pasting small amounts of text no longer duplicates the insertion point.

Character number legends now display vertically to the right of the character. The characters initially displayed in the Symbol Set View window when opening a font are now spaced correctly. Characters in a native font when displayed according to the 0:Combined symbol set no longer display in their native range for character numbers outside the 0:Combined code space.

The Install Font dialog no longer asks twice to locate a font. Locating a font file used by a font entry will also locate all other entries that use that font file. The Install Font dialog has been made more robust to avoid system faults. The Bit Edit dialog now limits the size of the characters to prevent a fault.

A bug in the DoubleByte TrueType font interface which caused a fault on the DF-Gyosho font character number #6482 has been fixed.

Vertical glyphs are now automatically picked according to the writing direction, without separately specifying a vertical TTF, as required in other Windows applications. The Vertical Glyph checkbox in Set TTF Size and the Character Number dialog allow browsing fonts to view vertical characters. The Character Number dialog has been redesigned for clarity to accommodate the new Code Space, Encoding, and Vertical Glyph controls. The Character Number dialog now displays "Big5" correctly (was "Big").

The improvement in build 28 which uses the background color as specified by the Windows control panel to color a document window background has been extended to all screen erasing functions (e.g., horizontal line scroll). A bug in Windows 3.1 and 3.11 VGA screen drivers which failed to erase when scrolling vertically has been counteracted.

A bug introduced in build 29 to fix another bug which caused a spurious character #255 (y umlaut) to be inserted when entering repeated Chinese characters has been fixed. A bug introduced in build 28 which causes pressing BackSpace to deletes pronunciation along with a Chinese character has been fixed. A bug introduced in build 28 which disables the Character Number dialog Native - Combined button has been fixed.

Release Notes for Build 18 to Build 12 have been moved to Bullet9a.msg.

Build 29 - December 19, 1995

Edit | Re-Do has been implemented. UnDo has been improved, and redraws the screen much less, making it far easier to use. The UnDo command now beeps if there is nothing to UnDo, displaying a dialog only if invoked three times in a row with nothing to UnDo.

The mouse now cancels and unhighlights any arrow key hypertext selection in process. To use the arrow keys with hypertext, move the mouse cursor outside the document window. Otherwise, use the mouse to make the selection.

The right indent can now be positioned independently of the first line indent by pressing the Shift key before grabbing the indent thumb tab on the ruler. The thumb tabs have been made slightly larger for easier grabbing.

The Unlimited File Size Editing accessory has been extended to allow copying text larger than a window’s memory size to the Windows clipboard.

A bug in build 27 that made line spacing erratic has been fixed. A small bug in English word-wrap has been fixed. Removing Bold no longer incorrectly displays the entire window as bold text. Applying center tab formatting to a block of text on a single line no longer causes erratic results. The default tabs are no longer set to 1/3 inch when creating a new List or Request bar window. Substituting text List Bar no longer turns following English into hiragana or pinyin! The Remove Codes function no longer removes hard returns, nor does it remove left margin codes when removing the italic attribute. Misplaced formatting attributes no longer display on the line after a page break indicator.

Build 28 - December 10, 1995

You can now drag and drop files from File Manager, Explorer, your desktop, or any other Drag and Drop server onto the Smart Characters window to open them.

A new experimental "Request Bar" input method now displays Chinese characters on a horizontal bar or sheet. The horizontal bar display in the incremental match method is also implemented. The new Horizontal list bar formats can be changed by using the accelerator keys, or by editing the Horizontal list bar template, "ListBar.sct." The Incremental Match substitute method works more smoothly. The highlight on substitute mode is no longer irregular.

Hypertext highlighting is now smoother and easier. The arrow keys to move up and down as well as right and left. The Return command has been promoted to 2nd place on the Right Mouse Speed menu for convenience. The highlight now displays correctly. Scrolling a list moves the selection to the entry closest to the previously selected. Typing and deleting at the end of a document or in Page Mode is much smoother and less erratic. Smart Character no longer allows insertion of multiple empty Notes objects. Edit UnDo is more reliable.

When importing a file in another format, Smart Characters tries to guess the type based on the file name extension and the initial file contents. Smart Characters now displays half width katakana (hankaku) as full width characters in the Interpret File As import mode.

A new DBCS character code input method and indicator gadget has been implemented in Character Number dialog to facilitate locating characters using native character codes. TrueType fonts now calculate approximate code space ranges, and now display a horizontal scrollbar to allow quick browsing.

The Zoom Window toggle command (Shift+F9) has been implemented to toggles a window between restored and maximized. Format Annotations can be accessed by pressing Alt+F6. Certain commands that don't depend upon child windows now work without a child window being active. Null help IDs now invoke the help Table of Contents. The Sign On screen now displays "Version 3.0 Build #" instead of "Early Experience #" A bug introduced in build 27 (sorry) which prevents use of many keys in a Smart Characters edit control (e.g., the Search and Replace, or Footnote dialogs) has been fixed. A bug which caused certain hypertext documents to fail has been fixed.

The syllable dictionary interpreter has been made more forgiving, and continues to display characters following a (misplaced) foreign text object until the next hard paragraph break (return). Accordingly, the shi4 Chinese syllable listing in the Chi100sy.dic dictionary no longer stops after character 2930.

OLE objects are more reliable and less erratic. The Edit Links dialog now always appears. The Auto and Manual link options and the Change Link command are now supported. Selecting an OLE object no longer results in unnecessary window repainting.

When substituting Chinese characters in text, the Select Gloss annotation dialog is now suppressed to avoid popping up in the middle of scrolling. A missing or empty [Input Methods] ini file section no longer causes a program fault. The wide English object type wraps correctly to the margins. Initial spaces and other "right hand" punctuation remain on the previous line.

The Setup Font dialog Browse control now correctly saves the browsed file name. The 100 percent scale (small) character now exactly follows the zoomed Edit character during bitmap editing. A bug introduced in build 27 which zooms Bitmap characters at the minimum has been fixed. Copying a TrueType character from the Alternate Character no longer reverses the pixels.

An "Out of Bounds" no longer occurs after resetting a vocabulary lesson. When displaying a vocabulary lesson created with bopomofo in pinyin or vice versa, the notes answers no longer contain extra spurious text.

Adding an entry to the active Glossary no longer breaks the glossary. The Dynamic Glossary default memory size is increased to 10000 from 1000 bytes. You can set a larger size by entering a value in the Scw.ini [Memory Sizes] section Keybd entry. Change the existing entry from 1000 to another value (e.g., 32000) in your Scw.ini file. The maximum glossary entry size has been increased from 80 to 256 bytes.

Build 27 - November 21, 1995

The DoubleByte TrueType font interface has been extended to support non standard fonts including Macintosh Japanese fonts without Unicode tables, simplified fonts in the Big5 code space, and Twinbridge fonts without correct bounding box limit entries, but with contours that have no points.

TrueType fonts with non-Roman PostScript names are now supported: you can enter an English typeface name by hand during the installation process. To facilitate this process, the font interface creates .map file in the directory containing the TrueType font file, which now lists all the font names in addition to the code maps. Examine this file to see if a suitable name can be adapted to an English typeface name. A TrueType font instruction which did not function correctly has been fixed.

The symbol set view (browse) window now complete redraws when a TrueType point size is changed. Characters in the last (leftmost) row in the symbol set view window can now be selected with the mouse. The Bit Edit dialog Edit character zoom and scroll is now recalculated only when the base font point size changes. This means you browse characters without the zoom and scroll being reset.

The export filter ScConv now treats (and removes) Pinyin as a pronunciation. A change introduced in build 25 that unnecessarily processed the first 100 lines of a newly opened document has been compensated for, resulting in faster operation. Number field variables have been implemented. The font mapper now works with the Student version symbol set 1:JIS(obs) as used in Fancy-JIS.

The vocabulary tutor flashcard window now wraps long glosses at the right margin. The Learn | Speak Block menu interface to the optional Text To Speech accessory has been implemented and tested. Hilarious!

Changing the default printer in the Windows Control Panel now changes the default printer used in a Smart Characters session. A new message box displays an error code if the print dialog does not appear in File | Print.

Build 26 - November 6, 1995

First units of the final release! The final User's Guide is now shipping, and is now included in help form on a new standard distribution Install Disk 8, replacing the compact help file on Install Disk 2.

The Character Map command opens a character map window to select characters from a Windows font and copy them to the Windows Clipboard. The English font character set attribute (a property of the font selected, and hidden from the user) now supports non ANSI characters, so CharMap with works with WingDings.

The units of measure abbreviations now override default units in a control: pt, cm, li, in, double quote ("), x (pixel), and y (internal inches x 1800). The indent controls now offer negative number selections. Rounding and display is correct for negative numbers.

The version 83 ScConv import and export filter "Furigana" group has been renamed "Annotations," and now treats notes in the same way as pronunciations, and no longer loops when it encounters soft page breaks. The File Format dialog "Retrieve As Is" selection has been renamed to "Plain Text" for clarity. Interpreted files no longer inquire whether or not to save in Smart Characters format. Attempts to save an interpreted file as Smart Characters display a "Cannot convert Interpreted (name)format. Re-open an The Print Abort dialog has been enhanced to display Writing and Finishing page numbers. Printing margins are no longer incorrect if in Zoom | Page Width.

The Vocabulary tutor now works with main window minimized. Vocabulary | Print has now opens a Create Vocabulary Lesson dialog which supersedes the functions performed by the menu selections Page Setup and Printer Setup, which have been removed. After a vocabulary lesson, the underlying document window no longer "sticks." Vocabulary selection is now accurate. A vocabulary lesson that has been edited now works properly with the vocabulary tutor (scores are updated correctly, and no longer mangle the lesson). The rare hiragana characters dzu and dji (dotted su ji) are now represented as well by "du" and "di." To change them back to "zu" and "ji," select Keyboard | Setup | Hiragana | KeyFile to edit the JisRules.kbd file.

True type fonts now copy selected ranges that have characters missing from the Combined symbol set. The Font Convert Abort dialog now displays "Comparing..." and "Copying ..." instead of "Searching..." The bitmap editor import function now works with small characters. Font | Print now opens the Create Character List dialog to create a new document window to list a symbol set or font.

The titles and explanatory text in several error and information dialogs are no longer reversed. Minimizing the main frame window in page view no longer causes a program fault. Long lines are now handled correctly. The word processor works more gracefully when typing at the end of a very line, and running out of space. The Find and Replace commands now display the insertion point in the correct location (not one character after).

The new text file FmtCodes.txt documents format codes. The new text file Reinstal.txt documents reinstalling from a corrupted installation. Printing 5 of the beta User's Guide.

Early Experience Units Build 25 - October 11, 1995

The early experience release now contains final versions of the Chinese and Japanese tutorials.

The Keyboard | Macro command now implements keyboard and mouse macros by launching an existing macro recorder application, which by default is the Windows Recorder.exe. You can specify a macro file to load into the application upon launch.

On launch, if there is no open document window, the File | New command is automatically executed to create a new document window.

The five permanent window titles now begin with their permanent names (e.g., Clipboard, List, etc.) for easier identification, especially with minimized Windows 95 icons. The List window prompt has been changed to move "List" to the left ("Copy to Clipboard from List" changed to "Copy List to Clipboard") for easier viewing when the list window is narrow.

A new menu item File | Options | Embed Objects now selects whether to attach objects to the end of a document file, or save them in a separate associated ".ole" object file. You can open a Smart Characters document without its associated object file, but if an associated object file is missing, the corresponding objects in the document will not display. Embedded objects are no longer saved if the underlying document file save fails. Embedded objects now scroll correctly with the page in both normal and page view.

When a selection is active, positioning the mouse cursor outside the margins now scrolls the document window. Clicking anywhere in a document window now cancels a selection. Clicking and dragging still work in drag mode.

The complete user's guide is now available as a help file, which has been moved from Install Disk 2 to a new Install Disk 8. Error and other message boxes have been redesigned, and help buttons added.

The version 2.9 compatible initialization files Scw.cfg and Sc30.cfg are no longer read during launch. Instead, two corresponding sections [Memory Sizes] and [2.9 Defaults] have been added to Scw.ini.

The metric system is better supported with default paper sizes (e.g., A4) now fully supported. Setting the paper size in Format | Page Setup now correctly updates the print driver settings. Canceling a print job no longer prevents further screen display. File | Restore no longer resets zoom. Changing the path for a font, keyboard, and dictionary now saves and uses the correct path, and deletes the incorrect path. Build 24 displayed build 23 in Help | About.

Drag and Drop no longer sticks if attempted in the Clipboard window. Attempting to copy a selection from the Clipboard window causes a beep to be emitted, instead of freezing the system. Edit | Insert | Object no longer crashes on systems with a large number of OLE servers installed. Selected characters now stay selected after a dictionary query, and are no longer highlighted without being selected. Typing at the end of very long lines (without pressing the space bar to insert word spacing and perform word wrap) no longer causes irregular insertion point positioning at the far end of the line.

Early Experience Units Build 24 - September 21, 1995

Landscape printing and forms are now implemented. Legal size paper now prints correctly. Document windows displaying with "Fit Page" zoom automatically resize when the page size is changed. Vertical scrolling when part of a document window was covered or extended no longer displays overlapping or missing characters.

Early Experience Units Build 23 - September 13, 1995

Several changes affect the Chinese and Japanese tutorials, chapters 2J and 2C. Additional user's guide pages update obsolete procedures, and errata and additional instructions have been added to Appendix F.

Conversion of a document from the 1012 Default User to a unique workstation user symbol set now constitutes a change to the document, which automatically causes permanent windows to be saved. A new initialization file Keep1012.ini [1012:DefaultUser Always] section saves the names of files that you wish to continue to use the 1012:DefaultUser symbol set. The Create User Font dialog "Letter" edit control scroll bar now works correctly.

For those with bopomofo keyboards (from Taiwan), Bopomofo->Bopomofo input mode using ChiRules.kbd is fully implemented. Upper case letters display correctly for use in dynamic glossary macros, and pinyin conversion rules are ignored.

When displaying pinyin and writing using Bopomofo dictionaries, changes in the number of characters used to display the pronunciation no longer cause erratic updating while typing. Text entered from another symbol set no longer displays erratically. The mouse highlights more smoothly even with fast mouse moves, and highlighting in the list window is now much less erratic.

The Keyboard | Setup Glossary and Keyboard files controls now always update according to the input mode control. The indent controls on the ruler limit properly when in Page View | Fit Page mode.

Installing a font into a document using the Format | Symbol Set command was broken by build 22, but has been restored with this build by the addition of a new [Default SymbolSet Properties] section. The work- around for build 22 requires invoking the Format | Character | Register Symbol Sets dialog, picking the (correct) font installation typeface, and setting the Usage to Ok.

The Asian Typeface dialog no longer returns the bold attribute by default. Attributes such as bold, italic, and underline can now be removed from a block using the toolbar pushbuttons, or the character format dialog. The insertion point is now properly positioned after inserting format codes in the From Cursor mode.

The Install Font dialog now always displays fonts in their native code spaces. The Horizontal button has been disabled, and the Reverse button has been implemented. The Y height is no longer reset after quitting the dialog. Erroneous large values for X and Y no longer produce general protection fault messages. Fonts now display correctly after changing their typeface name. Fonts that entered into the font table out of size order no longer display incorrectly. Fonts registered by documents no longer add spurious entries to the font table. The font mapper handles more errors robustly. Font entries deleted by the Font Install dialog are now deleted from Scw.ini. Fonts after a deleted font now display in the font combo box controls in Font | Convert dialog.

Hanzi / Kanji | Edit now edits the correct character in the correct typeface and point size corresponding to the font used to display the character in the word processing window. Saving a bitmap character now reliably updates the character's display in a document. Symbol Set View File | Open has been speeded up. The limit of 100 characters in the Symbol Set View window has been increased to 400, and the window no longer truncates columns of characters if the window is tall and narrow. Hanzi / Kanji | File | Convert | Copy | FWD Concordance no longer freezes. Font copy operations now work from native bitmap fonts to the 0:Combined code space, not copying characters that do not concord.

Vocabulary | Convert to Lesson now adopts all symbol sets and typefaces from the original list, and no longer drops short entries. This means a vocabulary lesson consisting of entries using traditional and simplified characters will convert correctly. Binary characters (bChars) are no longer deleted from the end of a line being automatically formatted for vocabulary lesson, dictionary, or dynamic glossary entry. The underlying window zoom no longer affects vocabulary history or drill window displays. New vocabulary lessons created from an existing vocabulary list now have the file name set according to the title bar.

A bug introduced in build 22 that displayed katakana as hiragana has been fixed. The system no longer locks up when redrawing a window with the insertion point within a format code. A bug introduced in build 22 that caused a General Protection Fault message after entering the first user character into a document has been fixed. Pressing a text key in the list window no longer causes a stack fault. Other stack faults are less likely now with increased stack space. A general protection fault message in build 22 has been fixed.

Build 22 not reported: Fonts with all missing glyphs no longer display as zero width characters. After removing erroneous entries from the example DBTTFI.ini file, an uninstalled 48 point font no longer yields blank characters with a wrong width instead of scaled 24 pt characters.

Early Experience Units Build 22 - August 28, 1995

The Font Mapper has been significantly enhanced to allow the display of not only TrueType fonts, but also bitmap fonts using either the Combined symbol set or their native code spaces. Different user font typefaces are now supported. The Symbol Set View window Start command offers the choice of displaying native fonts in both the Smart Characters Combined and the original native code spaces. The concordance file and data files 15_00.con & cob now contain the symbol range 0-471.

New typeface and symbol set names have been created to clearly distinguish between "typeface" and "symbol set." A typeface can exist in any symbol set, and any symbol set can support any typeface. Typefaces used in documents and configurations are automatically converted to the new names. This process is managed by a new [Typeface Substitutes] section in Scw.ini.

Symbol set names corresponding to the standard symbol set ID values and ranges are now displayed in any control that selects symbol sets IDs. The dialogs controlling symbol sets have been redesigned to indicate the primacy of the symbol set, and to de-emphasize the importance of the typeface.

The new Create User Font dialog creates a new workstation user font symbol set and corresponding typefaces in various point sizes. (Each workstation uses unique User fonts.) The dialog appears every 10 launches until disabled or a unique user font symbol set is created. In most cases, the unique symbol set is created and assigned automatically according to the software serial and license numbers. When documents are opened that use the factory default user font symbol set "DefaultUser 1012," a dialog appears to control substituting the unique workstation user font symbol set for the default. A new Scw.ini [User Characters] section controls the workstation user font unique symbol set. To disable the automatic Create User Font dialog, set "Do Not Ask Times" to -1.

The [Bitmap Fonts] section in Scw.ini now stores installed font information, and the corresponding Install Bitmap Font dialog have been implemented. If missing, this section is constructed automatically from the information in Sc30.cfg. Additionally, any existing Scw.ini [Fonts] and [Sorted Fonts] sections are deleted. An obsolete entry for CombinedRads has been deleted (now Trad214Rads). Missing fonts no longer infinitely loop on the Open File dialog. Repeated attempts are no longer made to open missing fonts, according to the Install Bitmap Font dialog Status control. The font cache now discards fonts by least recent usage.

File | Add User Character now automatically invokes the BitEdit dialog. Add User Character now displays the user font starting 10 characters before the new character. The Add User Character automatic Copy to Other Point Sizes command now always scales the character. The Hanzi/Kanji | Edit command now displays the correct character in the Bit Edit dialog. Attempting to save a TTF character now using BitEdit | File | Save now yields an error message.

Proxy fonts (which contain the user characters used in a document) are now implemented, including embedding proxy fonts into documents for ease of electronic transmission (e-mail). Proxy font embedding is automatically activated when opening a file containing a proxy font.

The (TrueType) designation is now automatically appended to Asian TrueType fonts, removing the need to add the designation to the typeface name. The Symbol Set View File Open list box now displays the beginning character in a font, if not zero.

The Register Symbol Set dialog has been redesigned. The new Select Document Symbol Set Index control selects an index for display and editing. The Type control now works correctly. Symbol set default font files can now contain path names. Setting a document symbol set index to Ok from Missing now resets the font (if found).

The Open File dialog and preceding error message boxes which pop up to locate missing resources now display the name of the document requesting the resource. The redundant Cancel button has been removed from the File Error message dialog, leaving the choices Browse, Retry, and Ignore. The Hidden Characters window has been increased in size to accommodate Windows 95.

The List window now pops up automatically even when a dictionary search target is not found. The List window dictionary "Target not Found" message now displays the target. Simplified Characters now work as combined symbol set characters for dictionary searches. The User Dictionary window is no longer opened according to the desktop, but rather according to the Translate | Select Dictionaries dialog. Permanent (e.g., clipboard) windows are no longer automatically saved in Ascii Only display mode, eliminating the File Format dialog on a subsequent launch.

Learn | Vocabulary | Reverse Drill is now implemented.

Ill formed pinyin syllables missing a `1' first tone mark now convert to bopomofo correctly. Pasting 2 lines of text beginning with English and ending with another type (e.g., vocabulary lesson entries) no longer incorrectly changes the type of the English on the second line. New English letters typed on a line containing formatted text no longer causes the new letters to display with the attribute of the last formatted item. Text files containing lots of leading and point size changes now scroll, insert, and delete lines correctly. Format | Remove Codes now removes tab codes, and no longer crashes. The PinYin21.kbd Asian parenthesis `()' macro has been re-activated.

Dialog boxes work more smoothly, with the input focus definitively set to the correct control. The Edit | Insert | Header and Footer dialog box have been increased in size to accommodate large menu fonts on some systems. The Character Format | English | Add Typeface selection now displays the correct point size and weight. English fonts are now saved with a ANSI character set ID.

The Symbol Set View window correctly displays characters with numbers over 32768. The mouse correctly selects characters in the Symbol Set View window. The Bit Edit dialog resets the mouse cursor to an arrow pointer when outside of the bit edit control. Entries delete using the DBFTTI Install dialog are now deleted from Dbttfi.ini.

Several new sections to Scw.hlp, and some context ID errors have been fixed.

Early Experience Units Build 21 - August 14, 1995

Switching to a new project no longer writes an initial nonsense keyboard section. Initialization files can handle much longer keys.

Early Experience Units Build 20 - August 9, 1995

Smart Characters has been extensively tested with Windows 95, and found to work faster and more reliably due to the increased resources available.

The Character Format dialog has been re-designed for clarity. A new Substitute control has been added to substitute (or delete) a particular TrueType font that may not exist on another system, or may exist under a different name. All text formatted with the original font becomes formatted by the substituted font. A bug which registered non-existant TrueType fonts entries has been fixed.

The Setup Keyboard dialog has been redesigned to emphasize the primary importance of the Input Mode control. The Keyboard and Dynamic Glossary file controls can now save an arbitrary number of different keyboards and glossaries in the User or Project file, for rapid switching. Typing into the filename controls no longer invokes a 'Cannot open file' notification. Typing an invalid name in either control now causes the File Open dialog to appear for browsing.

A document template "Template *.sct" standard File Type has been added to the File Open dialog (these types are saved in Scw.ini in the [Doc Open Types] section). When pasting, documents near the maximum file size limit now switch to unlimited file editing mode (if licensed).

A bug which disrupted an input mode's keyboard and dyanimic glossary when over 255 entries were added has been fixed. A bug which allowed an ill-formed dynamic glossary entry to interfere with roman to native conversion (e.g., Pinyin to and from bopomofo) has been fixed.

The Compare Font function now stops reasonably if there are too many differences between fonts. Character numbers are now correctly calculated. Character number 846 in the Combined 24 point font 24H0CH00.FNT now correctly displays the earth instead of the hand radical.

Early Experience Units Build 19 - May 18, 1995

The Edit | Paste Special dialog now shows the source name, source file name and range name of objects to paste. The help system has been expanded, with most functions (even some not implemented) in the context sensitive (F1) help. Help | Search now opens the Help system search dialog. Edit | Insert | File now handles inserting very large files into small files. The Format | Set to Default command has been implemented. Wide English numbers match Chinese characters more closely.

The executable now uses 80386 (rather than 80286) instructions resulting in faster operation and smaller size.

Edit | Insert | File no longer gives an error message nor reads in a file header omitting the end of an inserted file. The menus correctly indicate the status of a selection following a single mouse click. The UnDo command is quicker and more reliable, restoring the insertion point to the correct location after each UnDo.

Setting Character font size to under 10 points now works more reliably. A bug introduced in build 18 which causes an error message when setting text to Bold or Italic using the Character Format dialog has been fixed.

Character #846 in the 24 point Combined font now displays the correct radical.

Vocabulary no longer crashes when closing from the vocabulary system menu. The Nothing Opened or Selected dialog now works correctly when The Learn | Vocabulary command is applied to a non-vocabulary file.

Release Notes from build 12 to build 18

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