topic Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript? in Libraries & objects

Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:59:53 GMT

I want Zones to display room area in square meters, using the shorter version of it : m2, with "2" in superscript. I also want it to be displayed in cyrillic - small cyrillic "m" is like capital latin "M".

Zone stamp is Zone_Stamp_02 10 on AC10.

Can you share any ideas?

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:33:35 GMT

Here is a very good question...

Anybody...

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Laszlo Nagy — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:15:53 GMT

I actually checked this but after the first look I said it is pretty long to do it.
But I can explain it to you the GDL behind it.
So: the format in which Area Text is written out by the Zone Stamp is acquired using a REQUEST function in GDL.
Check this script from the 2D SCript of Zone_Stamp_02 11.gsm:

area_form = "" ! Format as set in the Preferences
rrr = request ("Area_dimension", "", area_form)
room_area = str (area_form, Temp_CalcArea)
gross_area = str (area_form, Temp_GrossArea)

The line starting with "rrr..." uses a REQUEST function to read what format is set in Project Preferences for Area dimensions and loads this info to the area_form variable. So area_form will contain the format of the area value. By format we mean number of characters, number of decimal places or fractions of inch, plus units of measurement, such as meters or feet-inches.
The room_area and gross_area lines create the Text strings using this format.
All the available variations that can be returned by the format tring can be found in the GDL Reference Guide in the STR command under String Functions.
You would have to check whether the unit in the format string is "m2", then take apart the string into two pieces (e.g. "12.50 m2" into "12.50m" and "2") and you would have to generate the "2" with a smaller font and a bit raised relative to the main text of the dimension.
So it can be done but it is not fast or easy or simple.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:11:51 GMT

Actually it is more simple than I expected...

1. In the 2d window, insert a text box;
2. In the text box, insert the symbol that you want ( for example ³ or a cyrillic one) and select it with copyclip;
3. In the 2d script of the zone object, find the unit string definition (something like " m2", select the "2" and paste the symbol.
4. That's it!

You can do the same procedure with a custom/static area!

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Laszlo Nagy — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:53:16 GMT

I see what you mean.
At label 1002 of the 2D Script it defines the units like "m2", "cm2" etc.
I tried this copy-paste thing you wrote about but it did not work for me.
The character that was displayed was a question mark or some other strange character.
Could this be some character coding problem?
Would be nice if it worked because it is a pretty good and simple solution.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

vistasp — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:37:39 GMT

It worked when I tried it - thank you Paulo. I didn't use the cut-paste method but directly put in the "²" character (Alt+0178 on a Windows system. BTW, "³" is Alt+0179).

Just out of interest, Laszo, what character were you using that returned a "?"

It may be an encoding problem but there is also the possibility that the font you were using for the zone stamp simply didn't have a definition for that particular character.

When I use - say - Arial, the superscript appears correctly. However, when I use another font which doesn't have that character defined, I get a square box instead (right side of the attached image).

Hope this helps.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

vistasp — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:58:28 GMT

One thing cropped up during this issue which I don't understand. Actually there are lots of things I don't understand about GDL but...

In the 2D script of the area units of the zone stamp, why is mm2 given twice? Additionally, in the volume units, how come there are no cubic feet or cubic inches?


1002:                                           !*** Area unit strings

   if strstr (form, "sqm") then unit = " m2"
   if strstr (form, "sqcm") then unit = " cm2"
   if strstr (form, "sqmm") then unit = " mm2"
   if strstr (form, "sqmm") then unit = " mm2"
   if strstr (form, "sqf") then unit = " sq ft"
   if strstr (form, "sqi") then unit = " sq inch"

return

1003:                                           !*** Volume unit strings

   if strstr (form, "cum") then unit = " m3"
   if strstr (form, "cucm") then unit = " cm3"
   if strstr (form, "cumm") then unit = " mm3"

return

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:02:47 GMT

You're welcome Vistasp.

I agree with you with the encoding problem that Laszo is experiencing...

I tried this with arial font, but I think that if the symbol appears correctly in the 2d it should work when pasted in another place, shouldn't it?...

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 10:47:07 GMT

Thank you very much, guys!
I will try it right away and post the results.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Rob — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:05:35 GMT

and you would have to generate the "2" with a smaller font and a bit raised relative to the main text of the dimension.

this is the only reliable approach AFAIK.

Any use of special characters is prone to errors due to different coding of fonts (as you have already discovered anyway).

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Laszlo Nagy — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:36:27 GMT

vistasp wrote:
It worked when I tried it - thank you Paulo. I didn't use the cut-paste method but directly put in the "²" character (Alt+0178 on a Windows system. BTW, "³" is Alt+0179).

Just out of interest, Laszo, what character were you using that returned a "?"

I did what Paulo wrote: went into the Character Map, selected the Superscript Two character, copied it onto the Clipboard and pasted it into the GDL. The ? character appeared only. I also tried entering ALT+0178 into the GDL Script and that did not work either.
I have English Windows XP SP2, that may be related.
SO I guess you guys are lucky it works on your systems.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Laszlo Nagy — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 11:39:43 GMT

vistasp wrote:
One thing cropped up during this issue which I don't understand. Actually there are lots of things I don't understand about GDL but...
1002:                                           !*** Area unit strings

   if strstr (form, "sqm") then unit = " m2"
   if strstr (form, "sqcm") then unit = " cm2"
   if strstr (form, "sqmm") then unit = " mm2"
   if strstr (form, "sqmm") then unit = " mm2"
   if strstr (form, "sqf") then unit = " sq ft"
   if strstr (form, "sqi") then unit = " sq inch"

return

1003:                                           !*** Volume unit strings

   if strstr (form, "cum") then unit = " m3"
   if strstr (form, "cucm") then unit = " cm3"
   if strstr (form, "cumm") then unit = " mm3"

return
In the 2D script of the area units of the zone stamp, why is mm2 given twice? Additionally, in the volume units, how come there are no cubic feet or cubic inches?

In both cases, the answer is: Probably there is no special reason except programmer error.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

vistasp — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:17:54 GMT

laszlonagy wrote:
I have English Windows XP SP2, that may be related.
SO I guess you guys are lucky it works on your systems.

Hi Laszlo, This is an intriguing problem...

I'm using the English XP-SP2 too. Is your zone stamp using some font other than a standard one like Arial/Times New Roman? Also, do you get the same result with Paulo's modified stamp?

One last shot. In plain old notepad, when you hold down ALT and type 0178. Do you get "²" or the same question mark?

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Laszlo Nagy — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:19:05 GMT

vistasp wrote:
laszlonagy wrote:
I have English Windows XP SP2, that may be related.
SO I guess you guys are lucky it works on your systems.
Hi Laszlo, This is an intriguing problem...

I'm using the English XP-SP2 too. Is your zone stamp using some font other than a standard one like Arial/Times New Roman? Also, do you get the same result with Paulo's modified stamp?

One last shot. In plain old notepad, when you hold down ALT and type 0178. Do you get "²" or the same question mark?

I tried it with Arial, Times New Roman, it does not work.
In Notepad, if I enter ALT+0178, then the same wrong character appears.
If I go to Character Map, copy the Superscript Two character and paste it into Notepad, then the correct superscript 2 appears.
Pretty strange stuff.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:08:37 GMT

To get superscript, you have to use some RICHTEXT2 statements, which I don't like.
Here is a quick workaround which gives the same result. The few changes are indicated in 2D script.

About copy/paste issues, i would not trust this solution. Anyway it does not work for me.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 12:51:33 GMT

Thank you, Olivier! I tried your Zone stamp and it worked like a charm!

I just had to replace the letters for the sq.m. with a small Cyrillic "m"! I attach the changed stamp for the Cyrillic writing users:

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:18:44 GMT

Glad to know it worked Kliment.

...Just wanted some feedback from GS to explain that encoding problem on the GDL script... It's really weird...

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Laszlo Nagy — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:34:11 GMT

I tried Olivier's object.
Here is the result I got.
Weird, maybe it is my system.
It is an English XP SP2, but some of the settings are Hungarian regional settings. Could this be related?

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:29:20 GMT

Hi Laszlo & Kliment,

My workaround is a bit dirty, sorry, i made it in a hurry. Laszlo, what if you open the part, reinitialise parameters and save as?
I notice that the Zone_Stamp_02 11 has some improvements. I will look at it to write something more clean and parametric.

Re: Can Zones be made to write in Superscript?

Laszlo Nagy — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:54:10 GMT

Check the attached image.
It is correct in the Settings Dialog preview, and incorrect on the Floor Plan.

However: I did a New & Reset and it fixed it. Now everything is fine on my machine, too.