Re: Microsoft Layer for Unicode on Windows 95/98/Me systems

Sam Hobbs <samuel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> schrieb im Beitrag
<eAwkGYmVFHA.3280@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>...

Sorry for the delayed answer - I have been away for some days...

> > "- Codepoint conversion from upper to lower case and vice versa
> > - Codepoint sorting
> I am not sure I understand what you mean, but if I understand then those
are
> language-dependent, especially sorting. The StrConv Function, however,
does
> do some conversion.

Yes, >some<, but no upper case to lower case conversion etc. StrConv() is
able to convert text from ANSI code pages to Unicode and vice versa (VB 6,
VB 5 only very restricted). What can be converted depends on what code page
and Unicode support is installed on the OS.
This conversion has nothing to do with conversion from upper to lower case
(and vice versa) or code point sorting...

> > - Codepoint properties
> > - Codepoint composition and decomposition"
> I am not sure I understand what you mean, but if I understand then they
are
> either font-dependent or are defined by the Unicode standard. It seems
> reasonable to me that they are not part of the language.

They are part of the Unicode standard, and for Unicode support they are of
basic significance. Since VB does not support this part of the Unicode
standard, it does not implement real Unicode support.

> Do you know any computer language that includes support of you are
talking
> about?

No (.NET?). But that is not the point: The question was if VB has real
Unicode support implemented. And is hasn't, no matter if other computer
languages have or not.

> The following is one way to do what you are talking about, but it uses
the
> forms controls, which is part of Office. See KB article "224305 INFO:
Usage
> and Redistribution of FM20.DLL [OffDev]" for instructions for use of the
> control in systems without Office. Hopefully there are other components;
> probably someone has written such a thing, even if Microsoft has not.
> For systems that have the control installed, add the component "Microsoft

> Forms 2.0 Object Library" to your project. Then add a textbox from the
forms
> control to a VB form. That textbox can display Unicode. The following is
> some code that works for me (but it does not work for a VB textbox; it
works
> with a Forms textbox). Also see KB article "193540 How To Read and
Display
> UNICODE String on Visual Basic Form"

a) The MS Forms are not allowed to be redistributed.

MS KB article Q224305: "INFO: Usage and Redistribution of FM20.DLL"
"The Fm20.dll is NOT redistributable. You must have an application such as
Microsoft Office 97 on the target system that installs Fm20.dll as part of
its setup. (Fm20.dll is included with the OSR2 and OSR2.5 releases of
Windows 95.) You can also find this file on the Visual Basic 5.0 CD under
the \TOOLS\DataTool\Datatool\Msdesign folder. This will be installed only
if you run the setup for the Visual Database Tools. In any case, you may
not distribute the Fm20.dll as part of your setup, even if you purchase the
Microsoft Office Developer Edition product."

b) The fully Unicode enabled MS Forms are not installed with VB but with MS
Office products (see above!).

c) MS Forms is not designed for use in VB and may cause major problems when
used in VB.

MS KB article Q241245: "PRB: 'Error 7 - Out of Memory' Error Message From
Visual Basic Application Using FM20.DLL"
"The problem is that FM20.DLL file is used by the project. FM20.DLL file is
not a redistributable component and is intended for VBA use only. FM20.DLL
is known to have many problems when used with Visual Basic and other
developer products. Its use is neither recommended nor supported in any
Visual Studio product."

MS Forms again has nothing to do with the Unicode support of VB.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
THORSTEN ALBERS Universität Freiburg
albers@
uni-freiburg.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------
.

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