Hi All,

Note that the subject line reads 'working' not 'playing' nor 'fooling around', rather doing real work. Spent several hours yesterday and early this morning "fixing up" an old doc that was originally created on the Amiga side with version 4156, and was brought over to the MacIntosh side. There were a huge number of adjustments to make, and a lot of modifications of ILU graphic files, which have thrown up inconsistencies in the past, and, for which there are still some 'seemingly' inconsistent behaviour. But for this message I'll concentrate on the behaviour of "Insert character".

The "Insert character" icon, which I have on the Toolbar, behaves as follows:

The text cursor is located at a point where the active font is Times Roman. I do:

-1- Click the "Insert character" icon.

-2- The "Insert character" panel opens, and the 'Font:' field is changed from Times Roman to Symbol.

-3- An appropriate character from the Symbol font is selected, the 'Insert' button is clicked.

-4- The "Insert character" panel dissolves and back at the text cursor location a strange looking character appears! The Edit Palette claims that the strange character is set with Times Roman.

-5- Highlight the new character, and then with the Edit Palette change the active font from Times Roman to Symbol. Immediately the proper character from the Symbol font appears.

I regard the above as a bug, and, if it is not, then the noted behaviour is inefficient and annoying. On the Amiga with 4156, when step -3- is completed, the appropriate character appears and step -5- is NOT necessary. One should not have to perform step -5- as I see it.

I realize that if you precede step -1- by changing the active font to Symbol, and go to step -1-, then step -5- is unnecessary, but this approach is equally clumsy.

A request
+++++++++
The behaviour at step -4- is undesirable. The "Insert character" panel should not close until one specifically requires that. For example, even with the lowly TextEdit program, when the equivalent of "Insert character" opens, it remains open after inserting a special character, and consequently one can insert several special characters in succession within the text. This is a much more efficient way of entering special characters from my point of view. Often, I will put in some phoney code that will later have to be replaced by a special character. E.G., I write "m$cdotX" knowing that later I will replace each occurrence of '$cdot' by a special character from the Symbol font. At the moment, I tend to do this by highlighting '$cdot' (not the quotes), changing the active font to Symbol, and then use:

Ctrl-D + 903 + <space key> + <delete to left key>

Clumsy! It would be much more efficient via the "Insert character" guy, if only he would remain open. I think one can do this with the Find/Replace mechanism, but I forget how that goes! It can also be done via used-defined scripts (Start Recording ..... Stop Recording), but I don't want to introduce a hundred user-defined scripts if I could use "Insert character" more efficiently.

So the request is:

Can the "Insert Character" interaction be modified so that the panel remains open after an insertion is made, in order that multiple insertions can be made during a single session with "Insert Character" active?

If this is a major programming revision, then I realize it is low priority.

Note on Ctrl-D behaviour
++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the typing sequence above, after the numeric sequence is complete, I use the
<space key> to tell PageStream that I'm done. I don't use the <Return key> since --- unlike the behaviour on the Amiga --- that results in a newline, which I rarely want. So instead, I follow the Control sequence
Ctrl-D + 903
with
+ <space key> + <delete to left key>
in order to NOT get a newline and to erase the blank character which normally I do not want.

Is there some reason for the Amiga style not being followed? The response to <Return key> is very useful on the Amiga.

Don Green Dragon
fergdc@Shaw.ca

Thanks Don,

Insert Character will now select a selected font like it should. This
was a bug, and one on all platforms in the current releases. In fact, it
was straight missing the code it needed (two lines) and I have no idea
when it went away As you have verified, it used to work that way.
Must have been some rewrite that code carried away...

I also changed the behavior of the dialog. The positive button remains
"insert" and the other is now labeled "Close". Insert will insert the
currently selected character in the currently selected font and will the
dialog will remain open. Close will close the dialog.

Deron

> Note on Ctrl-D behaviour
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++
> In the typing sequence above, after the numeric sequence is complete, I use the
> <space key> to tell PageStream that I'm done. I don't use the<Return key> since --- unlike the behaviour on the Amiga --- that results in a newline, which I rarely want. So instead, I follow the Control sequence
> Ctrl-D + 903
> with
> +<space key> +<delete to left key>
> in order to NOT get a newline and to erase the blank character which normally I do not want.
>
> Is there some reason for the Amiga style not being followed? The response to<Return key> is very useful on the Amiga.

Control-d is expecting a 5 digit number. Give it the five digits, and
life will be good. The behaviour is if you enter < 5 numbers and then
enter something else it will enter the <5 digit unicode value and then
insert the character that aborted the string. So [ctrl-d]327x will enter Ňx.

If you want some "end the sequence" key but don't actually want to
insert anything after the sequence, try one of the arrows.

>
> Don Green Dragon
> fergdc@Shaw.ca
>
>
>

--
Deron Kazmaier - support@pagestream.org
Grasshopper LLC Publishing -http://www.pagestream.org
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows

Hi Deron,

On 2010-14Nov-, at 5:44 PM, PageStream Support wrote:

> Thanks Don,

Eieee! You are most welcome.

> Insert Character will now select a selected font like it should. This
> was a bug, and one on all platforms in the current releases. In fact, it
> was straight missing the code it needed (two lines) and I have no idea
> when it went away As you have verified, it used to work that way.
> Must have been some rewrite that code carried away...

I suspect it is all those leprechauns and little green elves that you have running around in South Dakota. Anyway, great to hear that it was an easy bug to squash.

> I also changed the behavior of the dialog. The positive button remains
> "insert" and the other is now labeled "Close". Insert will insert the
> currently selected character in the currently selected font and will the
> dialog will remain open. Close will close the dialog.

That sounds great! I'm sure it will be a boon to those of us who use "Insert character" frequently.

>> Note on Ctrl-D behaviour
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> In the typing sequence above, after the numeric sequence is complete, I use the
>> <space key> to tell PageStream that I'm done. I don't use the<Return key> since --- unlike the behaviour on the Amiga --- that results in a newline, which I rarely want. So instead, I follow the Control sequence
>> Ctrl-D + 903
>> with
>> +<space key> +<delete to left key>
>> in order to NOT get a newline and to erase the blank character which normally I do not want.
>>
>> Is there some reason for the Amiga style not being followed? The response to<Return key> is very useful on the Amiga.
>
> Control-d is expecting a 5 digit number. Give it the five digits, and
> life will be good. The behaviour is if you enter < 5 numbers and then
> enter something else it will enter the <5 digit unicode value and then
> insert the character that aborted the string. So [ctrl-d]327x will enter Ňx.

Ah soo! Normally, I'm not entering a 5-place string. However, note this! If you type

Ctrl-D + 00327

then, when the digit '7' is entered, the character-to-insert immediately appears with the text cursor just to the right of the insertion.

> If you want some "end the sequence" key but don't actually want to
> insert anything after the sequence, try one of the arrows.

Here all four arrows work just dandy fine! Whatever arrow key is selected, the text cursor moves as directed after the insertion. So often the right arrow is the best choice. Does there exist a truly 'dead' key? I.E., when you depress the dead key, the insertion is made but the text cursor remains immediately after the inserted character. Thanks for the tip.
>

Don Green Dragon
fergdc@Shaw.ca

>> Control-d is expecting a 5 digit number. Give it the five digits, and
>> life will be good. The behaviour is if you enter< 5 numbers and then
>> enter something else it will enter the<5 digit unicode value and then
>> insert the character that aborted the string. So [ctrl-d]327x will enter Ňx.
> Ah soo! Normally, I'm not entering a 5-place string. However, note this! If you type
>
> Ctrl-D + 00327
>
> then, when the digit '7' is entered, the character-to-insert immediately appears with the text cursor just to the right of the insertion.
>
>
>> If you want some "end the sequence" key but don't actually want to
>> insert anything after the sequence, try one of the arrows.
> Here all four arrows work just dandy fine! Whatever arrow key is selected, the text cursor moves as directed after the insertion. So often the right arrow is the best choice. Does there exist a truly 'dead' key? I.E., when you depress the dead key, the insertion is made but the text cursor remains immediately after the inserted character. Thanks for the tip.

No post-fix key, but if you enter the pre-fix key of 00 then all is well

> Don Green Dragon
> fergdc@Shaw.ca
>

--
Deron Kazmaier - support@pagestream.org
Grasshopper LLC Publishing -http://www.pagestream.org
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows

Hi-

This is such a minor problem I hate to mention it, but I poked around in the package contents and found some really nice high resolution icons in there. The one that shows up in the application window and then dragged into the dock is the really small blocky looking one.

Is there a way to get the high resolution icon into the dock?

Thanks!

Leslie Bell

On 11/24/10 4:26 PM, Leslie Bell wrote:
> Hi-
>
> This is such a minor problem I hate to mention it, but I poked around in the package contents and found some really nice high resolution icons in there. The one that shows up in the application window and then dragged into the dock is the really small blocky looking one.
>
> Is there a way to get the high resolution icon into the dock?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Leslie Bell
>

I guess I don't know what the problem is! Anyone can modify an
application bundle's icon, if that is what you mean?

What icon do you prefer over the one it has (which I dislike as well,
but I've not seen one I like better either

Deron

--
Deron Kazmaier - support@pagestream.org
Grasshopper LLC Publishing -http://www.pagestream.org
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows