I have been using a customised setup for XY4 under VDos and its variants
whereby I set the VDos... character page to 1252 (which I think is the
closest match we have to the Western windows character set). When this
is done and a suitable 1252 font is also used, then I appear to get
interoperability between Windows and XY4 without any need for
conversion. However the way XY4 draws its boxes etc means that the
graphics characters that it normally used are now European language
characters and so the appearance is rather weird. The line below the
status line, for example is a row of ÂÂÂÂ's (or similar).
To get around this Kari modified the font for me, replacing around 12
characters that are used by XY4 for box drawing with suitable graphics
characters. This works well for me. If I need to preserve formatting
then I can open the files directly in NB9 or NB10 under windows without
the need to carry out any conversion. If there is no formatting, the
files can be opened directly in Word too. Alternatively there is a good
routine in NB9 and later that will convert to RTF which can then be read
by Word. Cutting and pasting can be carried out directly, too, without
translation. However my usage is limited to French and English so I have
no need of the characters that have been canibalised.
I am wondering if there is any way of making this this more universal.
To do this would, I think, require two things. The first would be to
choose ten or twelve characters from the CP 1252 character set that are
the least likely to be used and making those the graphics characters.
(some exiting CP 1252 characters could probably be drafted in for
graphics use, reducing the number that need to be adapted.) The second
would be to find out where all the graphics characters are defined.
Many, but it seems not all, can be found in SETTINGS.DFL under:
DF RL
DF WB
The first thing to do, therefore, is to find out where the others are
defined. Does anybody here have any idea?
(I did wonder it would be possible to define a font specifically for the
graphics characters but on reflection I don't think that is feasible as
the program uses the standard font for this.)
Paul
