MLEditor User's Guide

6. Intelligent High-Precision Code Conversions Between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese  Contents  8. About Input Method


7. Unicode-Related Conversions


7.1 Unicode and Windows NT/2000/XP
7.2 Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show - All-Purpose Unicode-Related Conversions Between Unicode/Unicode BE and ANSI/UTF-8
7.3 Fluent Conversions Between Current Text/Language and Unicode 

 

7.1 Unicode and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista


Unicode is the "system" code for Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista. It was designed so text in all languages can appear in one code table. When we copy some thing from a web page under NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista, what you got are in fact Unicode data. However, since pure text (ANSI) code has been widely used in all the past time before the appearance of Unicode, most document we have are still in ANSI text even at the time of NT/2000. Now, with the time of Windows 98 fading away and most Windows users changing to Windows 2000 and XP, Windows XP changed its strategy to set Unicode as the dominating text code and provide less compatibility support to non-Unicode data processing.

 

Though it's a trend for Windows to use Unicode as its default code, it cannot change the fact that people in different countries and areas still speak and write different languages, and most text documents and maybe most programs exist on earth are still ANSI files and ANSI programs in different languages. MLEditor provides a bridge for the difference. It not only helps user read and edit text in all languages visually in the ANSI way, but also provides full and fluent conversion between Unicode/Unicode BE and ANSI in any languages as well as UTF-8.

 

 

Pic UG-7-1 Unicode-related clipboard conversions. Clicking the first command in the left pop-up menu will start the Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show dialog. The 3 items under it are 3 recent Unicode-related conversions happened in the Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show dialog box. The 6 clipboard conversions at right are convenient ANSI/Unicode conversions where the ANSI text or language is that currently in the source or destination area.

 

7.2 Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show - All-Purpose Unicode-Related Conversions Between Unicode/Unicode BE and ANSI/UTF-8


Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show is an all-purpose Unicode-related conversion solution.

 

Code Conversion -> Clipboard Conversion: Unicode Conversion Show -> Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show

 

In the Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show dialog box, you can convert between Unicode/Unicode BE and ANSI in all languages as well as UTF-8. Conversions support in this dialog includes:

 

     Unicode <-> Unicode BE

     Unicode / Unicode BE <-> UTF-8

     Unicode / Unicode BE <-> ANSI in any languages

 

Recent conversions you performed in the dialog box will be recorded, and appear in the under the "Clipboard Unicode Conversion Show" command, so you can use them quickly without starting the dialog box again (see picture above).

 

7.3 Fluent Conversions Between Current Text/Language and Unicode


Since most users are interested only in conversions between Unicode and ANSI in only in one or two languages. 3 pairs of most often used commands are specially provided, they appear both as menu commands (see the above Pic UG-7-1) and toolbar buttons. Except for the areas related to these commands, the 3 commands for upper areas and the 3 commands for lower areas are same in nature.



"Clipboard Conversion": Selection to Unicode / Text to Unicode

The first command is in fact two commands of some differences. If some text is selected in the specified edit area, the left button appears. You can convert the selected text in this edit area to Unicode and put the final Unicode result to clipboard, which can then be pasted to some Unicode editor. If nothing is selected in the specified edit area, the right button appears, at this time you can convert all text in the edit area into Unicode, and put the converted Unicode to clipboard. The text will be seemed as text in the current display language during the conversion.

 

Clipboard Conversion: ANSI to Unicode / Unicode to ANSI

The next two commands are a pair of pure clipboard conversions from ANSI to Unicode and From Unicode to ANSI. Text in the specified edit area is not involved in the conversion, but the language of the edit area is used as the language of the ANSI text during these conversions.