[WM-Dict] Awesome Software! But how to set another font?

[Peter]

Hey Guys!

WM Dict is an absolute awesome App! You did a great job! I've got the
download link yesterday and created imediatly my on German-English
Dictionary without any Problems. It was so easy and the description
how to build own dictionaries is easy to understand. Fortunaly you do
NOT need Access 2002 or higher. It works also without any Problem with
Access 2000 (that is my Version).

The Dictionary have a very clever structure with its search and sort
columns. You did a great Job! Thiss App is excactly what I need for my
own Khmer (language in Cambodia) Dictionary. I am Programmer in VB6
and now I wanted to start with .net just to programm my own
Dictionary. But WM Dict is excatly what I wanted! So there is no need
for me to start with a new programming language. I can focus on
learning Khmer language - that is much more important to me.

BUT...
there is one thing I am missing. And that is an option where I can
choose the used font. Without this function I cannot use your programm
because it doesn't show Khmer Unicode Symbols. Of course I get only
nice quarters instead of Khmer letters.

To get a real Multi Language Dictionary, you have to select your font
for each Dictionay. That means the font must be setup in the Database,
right? If that is to complicated, please bring a select-box to your
settings tab where I can choose my Font. What do you think? Is that
possible? That would be much easier than to put the font option into
the database and it would be also suitable for most Users with the
same Problem.

Wow, I really hope I can do you any favor to do me this favor ;-)

Best regards, Peter

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[WM-Dict]

We are glad you like the software. And you are so right, the font
issue is complex. Though its even more complex than stated. Frankly,
WM is a one language OS by its nature. You have to have the correct
language/region edition to guarantee success. Having said that, the
fact is that WM still works well with different languages, even though
unsupported. For example, our users often install a chinese font and
it works well. The instructions are in step 3 here:
http://sites.google.com/site/wmdict/wm-dict-general/wm-dict-v20/wm-dict-v20-install-wm

Out of curiosity, did you install your font on WM just to see if it
works? You always need to restart the device as well for new fonts to
become active.

[Peter]

Thanks for your quick reply, Master. I think you got me wrong...

First of all: I went to all instructions and the chinese dictionary
works well. It displays me nice chinese symbols. But they are all
chinese to me... I do not nee a chinese dictionary, I need a Khmer
dictionary.

The Problem is, that my device system Font is Tahoma. Tahoma can
display some Unicode symbols like greek, hebrew, kyrill and a few
chinese symbols, but NOT Khmer Symbols. Therefore I need to use use my
font called Khmer OS System in WMDict. (By the way... I COULD set
Khmer OS System as the Systemfont in my Device, but I really don't
like this because the latin letters inside this Font are not very good
to read on a mobile device. And I need my HTC for more than only as a
dictionary...)

With Tahoma, MS Song (inside the chinese font pack) and even "Arial
Unicode MS" it CAN NOT work. It will always disply just empty boxes
instead of Khmer Symbols because ALL this fonts do not provide Khmer
Symbols. In those Fonts you might find for example Thai, but not
Khmer. Therefore I definitly need to set the TextBox font to Khmer OS
System. Do you see any chance to make this happen?

Out of curiosity, if the chinese font pack is installed, I assume that
the TextBox.Font is MS Song. But what if this font pack is not
installed? Does he use the Systemfont e.g. Tahoma?

By the way: The font "Khmer OS System" works well on my device. I use
it at moment for example in Mobile Excel and Word.

[WM-Dict]

You are right, we are using MS Song font for chinese. But we are
letting Windows Mobile do the font mapping. Basically the idea is
documented here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms901082.aspx

We create 3 registry entries (which you can see in the XML file of the
Chinese cab installer):

<characteristic type="Registry">
<characteristic type="HKLM\Software\Microsoft\FontLink\SystemLink">
<parm name="Arial" value="\windows\mssong.ttf,MS Song"
datatype="string" />
<parm name="Courier New" value="\windows\mssong.ttf,MS Song"
datatype="string" />
<parm name="Tahoma" value="\windows\mssong.ttf,MS Song"
datatype="string" />
</characteristic>

Basically this system link connects the standard fonts to a Chinese
font for when its needed. What I don't know is if this is only for
chinese. Its possible it would work for other language fonts. So if
you are brave and bold, go ahead and install your font and add the
appropriate registry entries mapped to your font and see what happens.
Remember to do a reboot on the device after making the registry
changes, I believe this only works from startup.

WM-Dict