Re: Character Entities in FM+SGML

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Th default read/write rules for ISO entities that use the Symbol font
specify a character tag named FmSymbol. On export to SGML, the greaterequal
symbol will not be recognized as the greaterequal ISO entity unless that
FmSymbol character tag is used to specify the symbol font. 

There are several other character tags which FM+SGML's default ISO
read/write rules use when special fonts are needed to replicate ISO
character entities in FM+SGML. These include FmDenominator, FmNumerator,
FmSubscript, and FmDingbats (the first two are used for ISO fraction
entities). You should include these named character formats in all your
documents, as well as in the template you use for import, in order to
properly import and export ISO entities that use special fonts. In the case
of ISO fractions, you must also include in your documents and the template
for import variable definitions for ISO fractions, using the FmNumerator and
FmDenominator fonts in order for them to be recorgnized, on export to SGML,
as their corresponding ISO character entities.

The character tag FmSymbol, as well as the other ones having names of the
form Fmxxxxx listed above, have one other special characeristic: When you
import or re-import the element definitions into a document with remove
format overrides turned on, FM+SGML does not remove these character tags,
whereas all other character tags are wiped out unless the enclosed character
is wrapped in a text range element.

To simplify the correct insertion of such special characters into your
documents, I strongly recommend the use of a hypertexted FM+SGML palette.
When such a palette is properly set up, all you have to do to insert an ISO
character entity into a document is to put the cursor at the desired
insertion point, then open the palette and to click on the symbol in the
palette that you want to insert. The resulting hypertext command sent to
FmDispatcher (a built-in FM+SGML API) causes FM+SGML to insert the selected
ISO character into the document at the current cursor position. I have
developed such a pallette, together with documentation. I will send it free
to anyone who requests it as a MIME-encoded PKZIP file.

At 05:14 PM 2/16/99 +0100, per@sorman.se wrote:
>
>Hi!
>
>When I want to include a special character in my document, I first
>change the font to Symbol and then type ALT 0179 (the greaterequal
>character). The character is included in the document. Now to the
>problem. When I save the document to SGML, and then open it again, the
>character is changed to ALT 0179 for the Helvetica font. In the template
>I have specified that the default font should be Helvetica, but
>shouldn't a character entity be created when the document is saved to
>SGML?
     ____________________
     | Nullius in Verba |
     ********************
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
10044 Adams Ave. #208, Huntington Beach, CA 92646


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