Indicator Windows

Use your PC to Master Japanese and Chinese

Indicator Windows

Status Bar

The status bar on the bottom of the main frame window indicates the status (shown in the default Page mode) of the active document window(5- 1):

Project #pg #x #y #p ObjectType.Next$.Next# Warning Input>>Output

For an explanation of the indicators, see project indicator(5- 2), insertion point location(5- 2), type indicators(5- 3), and next code(5- 3). The insertion point location indicator (#pg #x #y #p) displays coordinates according to the display mode. See the display mode(3- 7) dialog.

Project Indicator

The project indicator on the far left of the status bar(5- 2) displays the name of the current user or project selected by the User(3- 5) command.

When a selection is active (i.e., text is highlighted), the project name is replaced by the words BLOCK F8 to remind you that you can toggle the Extend(3- 29) command by pressing F8. You can also cancel a selection by clicking the mouse.

Insertion Point Location

The insertion point location indicators on the middle left of the status bar(5- 2) display the location of the insertion point(5- 1) in coordinates controlled by the View display mode(3- 7) dialog Status Indicators buttons.

Page display mode (... #pg #x #y #p ...) displays the insertion point location in pages and inches on the page. #pg is the page number at the insertion point location,

#x is the distance (e.g., inches) from the left side of the page, and

#y is the distance from the top of the page. Line and Window display modes (...#L #c #p #b...) display the insertion point location as would be displayed in a text editor: #L is in lines from the beginning of the document,

#c is in columns from the printer left margin, and

#b is in bytes from the beginning of the document.

Accessing Hidden Locations

Clicking the Left Mouse button and pressing the Right and Left arrow keys always visibly moves the insertion point to the next character that occupies space on the line, skipping annotations that may occupy space on annotation lines, or may not be displayed.

To access annotations or format codes that do not occupy space on the text line, press the Alt+Left and Alt+Right arrow keys. To help track the insertion point, the status bar(5- 2) always displays the following indicator: #p is the insertion point location(5- 2) in bytes from the beginning of the line. This number tracks the insertion point even when it is moving through annotations or format codes(D- - 3) that do not occupy space on the line.

Type Indicators

Object Type is the object type(4- 2) of the text object(4- 1) beginning to the left of the insertion point. The hidden characters(5- 4) window displays the object and its type.
Warn indicates the relationship between the current object type and the input mode(4- 2).

= indicates the input mode matches the current object type.

~ means the input mode will translate to the current object type.

* means The Same(3- 26) input mode is forcing the input mode to match the object type.

In the above cases, pressing a key will add to the existing object.

! means that pressing a key will create and insert a new object at the insertion point. If the insertion point is in the middle of an existing object, the new object will split the existing object into two smaller objects which will then precede and follow the new object.

Input Mode Indicator

The input mode indicator on the far right of the status bar(5- 2) displays the current compound input mode(4- 2). This is by far the most important indicator. It may be a single mode indicator (e.g., Input), or two mode indicators separated by an right arrow symbol (Input >> Output).

Besides the input mode indicator, the insertion point displays a symbol to indicate the output value of the input mode.

A dual input mode indicator means that a key will be interpreted according to the input mode and translated into the output mode. Examples include Romaji >> Hiragana, Pinyin >> Bpmf, and Pinyin >> Pinyin. These translating input modes use the keyboard macros in the macro keyboard(4- 6) and dynamic glossary(4- 6) files.
A single input mode indicator means that a typewriter key(5- 6) will be interpreted and inserted without translation (the output mode is the same as the input). Examples include: English, Notes, Chars(D- - 2), Punct, Hiragana and Katakana when romaji translation is off, and Bpmf (bopomofo) when pinyin translation is off. Use the latter modes with a keyboard with imprinted Chinese bopomofo or a Japanese kana keys.

You can still use macro and dynamic glossary translation by specifying a single mode as translating to and from itself, although some keys (e.g., capital letters) will not display. See the Keyboard Setup(3- 26) command. You should first create a new project to hold these new keyboard settings, so that you can easily switch back to romanized text entry.

Next Code

The next code indicator (Next$) in the middle of the status bar(5- 2) displays the single byte code to the right of the insertion point. Codes in the control character(D- - 2) range (0-31) are indicated by a `^' symbol. All others display as an extended OEM ( code page(D- - 2) 437) Ascii character(D- - 1).
The next Ascii code indicator (Next#) displays the decimal equivalent of the next single byte code. You can enter this code directly from the Side Number Pad keys by pressing and holding the Alt key while entering the number as a numeric code (e.g. 9 or 23). See the Ascii Chart(5- 5).

The Delete commands operate on the next and subsequent codes. Any typewriter key(5- 6) you press will be inserted before the next code, which will remain the next code.

Hidden Characters Window

The hidden characters window floats independently of the main frame window and displays the current object, that is, the object that begins to the left of the insertion point. This window displays text that is or can be hidden using the Annotation Format(3- 23) command, but does not display text objects(4- 1) that cannot be hidden (e.g., English).

The hidden characters window includes a text cursor that matches the insertion point in the text. Smart Characters auto-selects text to the left of the hidden characters window text cursor as an input key to the dictionary translation system. Any explicit selection overrides this auto selection. See ExtendedSearches(3- 31).

Probing a Character

You can probe a Chinese character or word by clicking the mouse or pressing the Left or Right arrow keys to position the insertion point to the right of the character, then pressing the Alt+Left arrow key to observe the annotation text objects. For an understanding of text objects(4- 1), read the discussions beginning Pronunciations Are Saved(4- 13), Type Rules(4- 2), and Input Modes and Type Codes(5- 7). For example:

To view a character number(D- - 2), position the insertion point to the right of a Chinese character. The character's symbol set index(4- 10) and character number are separated by a colon (e.g., Index:Character). Use this to edit the character with the font editor, find a similar character, or add or correct a character's pronunciation using the Query command. When entering character numbers directly from the keyboard, the character number displays as you type.
Because pronunciations come before Chinese characters in words, to view pronunciations, press Alt+Left or Alt+Right to position the insertion point to the left of the character. This is handy if you have forgotten the pronunciation of a Chinese character and the annotations formatting pronunciation display is Off. You cannot access pronunciations using the mouse.
Notes come before pronunciations in a word. To view any associated English translation, press Alt+Left or Alt+Right to move the insertion point one object to the left. Note that the insertion point does not move in the document window as it passes through hidden objects.
If variable word spacing(4- 14) is active, you can access notes by clicking the mouse to the left of a Chinese character, and to the right of the left hand side of the note. However, variable word spacing is always inactive at the beginning of the line, so notes objects at the beginning of a line of the must be accessed using an Alt+ arrow key.

When viewing a document with display mode(3- 7) set to Ascii Only, the hidden characters(5- 4) window shows the text in the vicinity of the insertion point(5- 1) as it would display in the document window with Ascii Only display mode off.

ASCII Codes Window

The Ascii Codes window, when activated by the View Show Codes(3- 8) command, shows you the bytes that make up a line of text. The Ascii codes window (and Ascii Only display mode(3- 7)) display text according to DOS code page(D- - 2) 437 (see the Ascii Chart(5- 5)).

The Ascii codes window is very handy for figuring out strange results that can occur when you don't pay attention(5- 1) to the status bar(5- 2). See Working with Codes(5- 7).

Ascii Chart
Code pages

(D- - 2) consist of three code ranges: a control range (below), the typewriter key(5- 6) range (see Code Page 437 32-126(5- - 5)), and the extended range (see Code Page 437 127-255(5- 5)).

The default U.S. code page(D- - 2) 437 control character(D- - 2) range consists of 32 characters. Although there are characters defined for codes 0, 9, and 13, these are almost never displayed because of their special use as null, tab, and carriage return.

Code Page 437 32- 126

The default U.S. code page(D- - 2) 437 typewriter key(5- 6) range consists of characters beginning with 32 (space) to 126 (~). Character 127 (rub out) is used by the destructive BackSpace key.

Code Page 437 127- 255

The default U.S. code page(D- - 2) 437 extended characters(D- - 3) range consists of some accented characters, Greek characters, and miscellaneous and line draw symbols. The accented characters were insufficient for foreign language support, requiring additional code pages to support even the most popular European languages. The Windows code page (1007) eliminates the line drawing symbols and provides much better European language support.

To browse and use characters from the Windows extended range, select the Keyboard Character Map(3- 29) command, or enter the Alt+0### keypad number code.

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Last Modified: March 23, 1996