path: root/gnome-users-guide/gnome-users-guide-1.4/C/applets/charpick-ug.sgml

 <sect2 id="charpickapplet">
  <title>Character Picker Applet</title>

  <para>
   <application>Character Picker</application> applet, shown in <xref
   linkend="charpickapplet-fig">, allows you to easily write many
   characters which are not available on standard keyboards such as
   accented characters, certain mathemathical symbols and punctuation,
   and some other special symbols.  To add this applet to a 
   <interface>Panel</interface>, 
   right-click on the <interface>Panel</interface> and choose
   <menuchoice>
    <guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
    <guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
    <guisubmenu>Applet</guisubmenu>
    <guisubmenu>Utility</guisubmenu>
    <guimenuitem>Character Picker</guimenuitem>
   </menuchoice>.
  </para>

  <figure id="charpickapplet-fig">
   <title>Character Picker Applet</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Character Picker Applet</screeninfo>
    <graphic format="png" fileref="figures/charpick_applet" 
    srccredit="muet">
    </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>

  <!-- ============= Usage  ================================ -->
  <sect3 id="charpickapplet-usage">
   <title>Usage</title>
   <para>
    First, bring the cursor focus to the <application>Character
    Picker</application> applet by left-clicking on one of the
    characters displayed in the applet.  Specify the character group
    by pressing the corresponding key on your keyboard. (For a
    complete list of the character groups and corresponding keys, see
    <xref linkend="charpickapplet-characters">.) For example,
    to see the  various accented versions of the "a" letter, press
    "a".  After you have found the correct letter or symbol,
    left-click on it to copy the symbol into the buffer.  The
    character should appear as a depressed button.  This is similar to
    the common Copy command available in many programs.  To paste the
    symbol in any window, just click in the window with the middle
    mouse button.  Most applications which have Copy and Paste
    features will also allow you to paste the symbol using its Paste
    command.
   </para>

   <note>
    <title>ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1) character support</title>
    <para>
     Note that some applications do not support ISO-8859-1
     characters.  These applications will not display some characters
     from the <application>Character Picker</application> applet.
    </para>
   </note>

   <note>
    <title>Cut and Paste in X</title>
    <para>
     The X Windows system allows you to copy and paste text by 
     highlighting it with the first mouse button to copy the text and
     then pasting the text by pressing the middle mouse button.  
     Note that <application>Character Picker</application> uses the
     same copy buffer as X uses. Thus, when you
     select a character in the <application>Character
     Picker</application> it replaces any previous text in the buffer
     from highlighting text.  Similarly, if you have selected a
     character in <application>Character Picker</application> and then
     highlight text, the highlighted text will replace the character
     in the buffer and the character's button will no longer appear
     depressed.  
    </para>
   </note>

   <para>
    Right-clicking on the applet brings up a menu containing the
    following items:
    <itemizedlist>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Properties&hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       opens the <link linkend="charpickapplet-prefs">
       <guilabel>Properties</guilabel></link> dialog.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       displays this document.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>About&hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       shows basic information about <application>Character Picker
       Applet</application>, inluding the applet's version and the
       author's name.
      </para>
     </listitem>

    </itemizedlist>
   </para>
  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Customization ============================= -->
  <sect3 id="charpickapplet-prefs">
    <title>Customization</title>
    <para>
      You can customize <application>Character Picker</application>
      applet by right-clicking on it and choosing
      <guimenuitem>Properties&hellip;</guimenuitem>. This will open the
      <interface>Properties</interface> dialog(shown in <xref
      linkend="charpickapplet-settings-fig">), which allows you to
      change various settings.
    </para>

    <figure id="charpickapplet-settings-fig">
     <title>Properties dialog</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Properties dialog</screeninfo>
      <graphic format="png" fileref="figures/charpick_applet_settings"
      srccredit="muet">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>

    <para>
     The properties in the <guilabel>Size</guilabel> tab are:
     <itemizedlist>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guibutton>Follow panel size</guibutton> &mdash; If this
        button is checked, the
        <application>Character Picker</application> applet will
        automatically set the appropriate number of columns and rows
        of characters to fit in the <interface>Panel</interface>.
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Minimum number of cells</guilabel>: (for autosize)
        &mdash; This sets the
        minimum number of character buttons (or "cells") which will be
        shown. The actual number of character buttons may exceed this
        number, depending upon the <interface>Panel</interface> size
        and number chosen.  Note that if this number is too small,
        some characters may not be visible. (This variable does not
        influence the cell layout if the <guibutton>Follow panel
        size</guibutton> button is not selected.)
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Number of rows of buttons</guilabel>: &mdash; This
        determines the number
        of rows of character buttons (or "cells") that appear in the
        applet. (This variable does not influence the cell layout if
        the <guibutton>Follow panel size</guibutton> button is selected.)
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Number of columns of buttons</guilabel>: &mdash;
        This determines the number
        of columns of character buttons (or "cells") that appear in the
        applet. (This variable does not influence the cell layout if
        the <guibutton>Follow panel size</guibutton> button is selected.)
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Size of button</guilabel>: (pixels) &mdash; This is
        the size (in pixels)
        of each character button in the applet.
       </para>
      </listitem>

     </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para>
     The properties in the <guilabel>Default List</guilabel> tab are:
     <itemizedlist>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guilabel>Default character list</guilabel> &mdash; This is
        the list of characters
        which will be shown in the applet when you press the space
        bar. This is a convenient way to keep a list of your most
        frequently used characters. Just enter your most frequently
        used characters here.
       </para>
      </listitem>

     </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para> 
      After you have made all the changes you want, click on
      <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to apply the changes and close the
      <interface>Properties</interface> dialog. Click
      <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> to apply changes without closing.
      <guibutton>Close</guibutton> closes
      <interface>Properties</interface> without saving changes which
      have not been applied.  Applied changes cannot be cancelled.
    </para>
  </sect3>

  <!-- ============= Characters ================================== -->
  <sect3 id="charpickapplet-characters">
   <title>Characters</title>
   <para>
    <application>Character Picker</application> applet has all
    the characters from the 
    ISO-8859-1(Latin 1) character set which are not on standard US
    keyboards. They are mapped onto the standard characters as shown in
    <xref linkend="charpickapplet-characters-fig">.  The bold
    characters in the first column of each half and to the left of the
    dotted lines are the characters you
    must type in the <application>Character Picker</application>
    applet to obtain 
    the corresponding characters shown to the right.
   </para>
   <figure id="charpickapplet-characters-fig">
    <title>Character Picker's Character Key</title>
    <screenshot>
     <screeninfo>Character Picker's Character Key</screeninfo>
     <graphic format="png" fileref="figures/charpick_characters.png" 
     srccredit="muet">
     </graphic>
    </screenshot>
   </figure>
  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Bugs ================================== -->
  <!-- This section should describe known bugs and limitations of
       the program if there are any - please be frank and list all
       problems you know of -->
  <sect3 id="charpickapplet-bugs">
   <title>Known Bugs and Limitations</title>
   <para>
    This applet has no known bugs.
   </para>
  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Authors ================================ -->

  <sect3 id="charpickapplet-authors">
   <title>Authors</title>
   <para>
    <application>Character Picker</application> was written by Alexandre Muñiz
    (<email>munizao@xprt.net</email>).  Please send all comments,
    suggestions, and bug 
    reports to the <ulink url="http://bugs.gnome.org" type="http">GNOME
    bug tracking database</ulink>. (Instructions for submitting bug
    reports can be found <ulink
    url="http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html" type="http">
    on-line</ulink>. If you are using
    GNOME 1.1 or later, you can also use <application>Bug Report
    Tool</application> (<command>bug-buddy</command>), available in the
    <guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu> submenu of <guimenu>Main
    Menu</guimenu>, for submitting bug reports.
   </para>

   <para>
    This manual was written by Dan Mueth
    (<email>d-mueth@uchicago.edu</email>). Please send all comments and
    suggestions regarding this manual to the <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.gnome.org/gdp">GNOME Documentation Project</ulink> 
    by sending an email to <email>docs@gnome.org</email>. You can also
    submit comments online by using the <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.gnome.org/gdp/doctable/">GNOME Documentation Status
    Table</ulink>.
   </para>

   <!-- For translations: uncomment this:

   <para>
    Latin translation was done by ME
    (<email>MYNAME@MYADDRESS</email>). Please send all  comments  and
    suggestions regarding this translation to SOMEWHERE.
   </para>

   -->

  </sect3>


  <!-- ============= Application License ============================= -->

  <!-- 
   <sect3 id="license">
   <title>License</title>
   <para>
    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
    modify it under the terms of the <citetitle>GNU General Public
    License</citetitle> as published by the Free Software Foundation;
    either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
    version.
   </para>
   <para>
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> for more details.
   </para>
   <para>
    A copy of the <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> is
    included as an appendix to the <citetitle>GNOME Users
    Guide</citetitle>.  You may also obtain a copy of the
    <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> from the Free
    Software Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.fsf.org">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to
    <address>
     Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     <street>59 Temple Place</street> - Suite 330
     <city>Boston</city>, <state>MA</state> <postcode>02111-1307</postcode>
     <country>USA</country>
    </address>
   </para>
  </sect3>

 --> 
 </sect2>