[Oberon] Re. What does Char(hexA7) look like ?

[easlab at absamail.co.za]

--- shark at gulfnet.sd64.bc.ca wrote:
 
> > ETH Oberon / PC Native 05.01.2003 shows the "section
> > sign" properly.
> > Better to upgrade the system than waste time
> > patching a font!

John Drake wrote:
> Peter, which font in PC Native Oberon displays this?
> I've tested it with Oberon10.Scn.Fnt with all of
> the versions of System 3 I use (Plugin 2.4, WinAos,
> BlueBottle Jan 2003 build) and none of them display
> charecter A7 out of the box.  Perhaps this brings
> up another issue, how to keep changes consistent
> across multiple versions of System 3.

That's why this thread relates also to CVS/WebDAV.

My view:
* the job is never perfect/finished,
* what is important is to have a mechanism, whereby
    corrections can be efficiently fed in.

 Char A7 is only one of several.
A previous one which used to annoy me was the 
'engish-pound' sign. Since I know what that looks like,
I drew my own version; which was inevitably not perfectly
style consistent with the Oberon10.Scn.Fnt font set.
------

Peter wrote:-
jd> which font in PC Native Oberon displays this?

> Good question.  There can be more than one 
> font used in filling a viewer; how can we 
> know which font is used to make a particular
> glyph?  Seems one way is to have and use an 
> intimate knowledge of Texts, ET and Desktops. 
> Alternatively one might browse through fonts
> with the font editor until the glyph is found.
> Neither of these methods is feasible for me 
> at present.

 Oberon10.Scn.Fnt is the default and should be able to 
handle the characters which are received from the inet ?

> Previously I said,
> pe> ETH Oberon / PC Native 05.01.2003 shows the "section
> sign" properly.
> 
> OK.  I should apologize for oversimplifying.
> When Desktops.OpenDoc encounters § it shows 
> the "section sign" glyph. 

I don't see how this is possible.
I think the charcter is rendered/shown by the particular
*.Scn.Fnt , independant of Desktops.OpenDoc or Edit.Open ?

Or is the new version of Desktops.OpenDoc extra clever ?

------------------------
> > Thus:-
> > PictConverters.GIFToPict specialchar.gif  =>
> > CharA7.Pict ~
> > Desktops.OpenDoc  CharA7.Pict ~ == CAN expand to see
> > pixels.
> >    == 10 high, 5 wide
> 
John M. Drake wrote:
> I was able to view the character under Oberon
> without having to first convert it to a Pict.

Yes, me too. When I saw your *.gif, I immediately recognised
what it 'looked like'. But to edit the existing font, I wanted
to get down to bit-map level; which I could do under *.Pict
but not under gif.

> > Where did you get it ?
> > Did you draw it manually, or 'pick it up' some where
> > ?
> > If you can 'pick-up' and post the other missing
> > ones, it can save us
> >  some manual work/guessing.
> 
> I followed Dougs lead of pasting it to BlackBox.
> Then I was able to copy and paste the character
> to MS-Paint.  For some out reason I was not able
> to paste it directly from my email to Paint.
> (I'm using Yahoo web mail under the Opera 
> browser).  
  
This might me important :
* If we hand-patch wrong (like the underline) or missing
   chars, we end up with a mish-mash-mess; like my Cyrillic
   font set (partly done).
* The folks who created the existing fonts especially
   Oberon10.Scn.Fnt are 'arty types'. We/I can't do it.
* The char(167) which you sent, seemed to match perfectly
     with the existing Oberon10.Scn.Fnt , so perhaps we should
     get the other missing chars from the same source ?

> > Desktops.OpenDoc  FontEditor.Panel 
> > [Load] OB2ULINE.Scn.Fnt ~
> > [A7] == see 'blank template
> > Set [Metric] = red: left & 1 pixel both sides of
> > edge-lines.
> >    Based on the appearance of "p", lets put 3 pixel
> > below the line.
> > 
> > Try to select-and-move the received bit-map into the
> > 
> > blank A7 bit map of the FontEditor.Panel .
> > 
> > In this particular case the received char(A7) is
> > reverse-video
> > (came about during *.gif  => *.Pict transformation
> > ?) so
> > we can't use it immediately. 
> 
> I had this same problem when I copied the .gif 
> image directly to the font edit window.  But
> I did not have this problem when I used a 
> monochrome bitmap. 

OK, I'll try that next time.

> And thanks for bringing up FontEditor again.  It's
> been a while since I played with it.  I've learned
> (or remembered?) a few things.  For instance every
> time I did a new charecter (like A7) and tried to
> display it using ASCIITab I kept getting "empty
> boxes" inserted.  After re-reading the docs I
> realized I needed to adjust the "metric" lines.
> Perhaps we can pull all of the old posts on using
> the FontEditor into a "HOW-TO" also.

André Fische's documentation is OK. Besides, as an experienced
user I'm no longer qualified to write or judge the tutorial.
The problem(s) which I previously had is common to several
*.Panels: that one often needs to 'reset' <F9> the display
after setting a parameter.

Since this requirement 'appears' random, it gives the false
impression that the application is unreliable.
In particular when I started trying with Columbus.Inspect
I had geat problems (with this ESSENTIAL tool), until I 
found that to mark a gadget/object; best do <F9>/<F1>;
where<F9> 'resets'.
Another problem with Columbus, is the repeated reference to
"inspection button" in the documentation.  For unimaginative,
'literal' people like me an icon is NOT the "inspection button".
BTW it's these trivial snippets which make a massive difference
to beginner's usability.

== Chris Glur.