[comp.sys.hp] Display of mixed ASCII/Kanji strings in X11

marr@dev8n.mdcbbs.com (Jack Marr) (09/24/90)

    We are trying to display mixed ASCII/Kanji strings using the HP X11
    system and the fonts from the Japanese NLIO 98861A.  Our method of
    displaying these mixed strings on DECwindows and Sun's X implementation
    is to parse through the string and direct characters or sub-strings to
    XDrawImageString (ASCII) or XDrawImageString16 (Kanji) as appropriate. 
    In HP X11 this doesn't work.  In fact the only way we can get these
    strings to display is to direct them to XDrawImageString exclusively.
    Since we haven't loaded the Kanji font (j16.16x32), and the ASCII/Kana
    font (jpn.8x32) definitely doesn't contain any Kanji characters (if xfd
    is to be believed), we are a bit confused.  How is mixed ASCII/Kanji
    display supposed to work, and how can we tell that Kanji characters are
    available?

    Additional info:  I note in the example in HP-UX "A Guide to
    Internationalization of Software", on the X11 Window System (section
    8.2) that only the jpn.12x24 font is loaded, but that Kanji characters
    are displayed.  So I guess this is working as designed, but we're still
    mystified as to the mechanism.  BTW, this is the only FM we have on the
    Japanese NLIO.

-- 
	Jack Marr             |    Voice: (714) 952-6526
	McDonnell Douglas M&E | Internet: marr@mdcbbs.com
	Cypress, CA  90630    |      FAX: (714) 952-5734

arnet@hpcupt1.HP.COM (Arne Thormodsen) (09/26/90)

Jack,

I've forwarded your question onto the guy who wrote our X11 Kanji
support, if he isn't too busy then he should be able to get to you.

In the meantime, I can (maybe) help you with two points (please keep in
mind that I am a total novice when it comes to X)

( rah-rah on :-)
1> HP doesn't have TWO output routines because we don't need them.  The
approach we have consistently tried to implement is "a character is a
character is a character" regardless.  The idea of segregating 8 and 16
bit output strikes me as somewhat klunky, with the HP approach the same
code work for German, Japanese, English, whatever.  Why use different
techniques for different locales?

2> HP's Asian fonts come in two files, the small one contains the
"ASCII" characters, the large one contains the "Asian" characters.  The
large file is an "associated" font to the smaller file, and is loaded
when needed.  The mechanism is automatic and transparent to the
application.
( rah-rah off :-)

--arne

Arne Thormodsen
Hewlett-Packard
CSG Internationalization

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