VietPad

English | Vietnamese

DESCRIPTION

VietPad is a full-featured cross-platform Vietnamese Unicode text editor that can run on different operating systems, such as Windows, Linux/Unix, Mac OS X, or Solaris, owing to its base on the Java programming language. Users can type Vietnamese text without using external helper applications, such as keyboard drivers.

VietPad enables users to type Vietnamese Unicode text using common Vietnamese character entry methods, such as Telex, VNI and VIQR input methods. It provides file and text Drag-and-Drop support and intelligent marking capability. VietPad can open and save files in Windows Latin 1 and Unicode formats via selecting the appropriate file types in the File Dialog. An integrated conversion utility, which operates on the whole file or on selected text, provides Unicode conversion support for legacy, Numeric Character References (NCR), and UTF-8 encoding formats. Sort Vietnamese words, strip diacritics, remove line breaks, and change case operations are also supported.

The ability to add diacritical marks to unmarked Vietnamese text is also integrated. This feature uses a user-modifiable list, located in .vietpad directory under user's home directory, containing common Vietnamese words and phrases. Spell check and normalize diacritics functionality are also included among VietPad's features.

Files saved in Unicode formats can be opened and edited by Unicode-compatible text or HTML editors, such as Microsoft Notepad on Windows NT/2000/XP/7 system. The file content can also be copied/pasted to/from other Unicode applications. The built-in Font Preview function enables users to select fonts that have full Vietnamese character support. The Find/Replace has included support for Regular Expression.

VietPad is released and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Its official homepage is at http://vietpad.sourceforge.net.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

You will need to have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), Standard Edition 6 or later installed on your machine to run VietPad. For Windows, Linux, and Solaris, the JRE can be downloaded free from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads.

For Mac OS X 10.5.2 or later, Java Standard Edition 6 can be installed via Software Update in System Preferences.

HOW TO RUN VietPad

VietPad is packaged as executable Java-Archive program. Download and unzip VietPad-2.4.zip. Run the JAR-packaged application with the Java interpreter either by double-clicking on the VietPad.jar file object or by executing the following command at the command line:

java -jar VietPad.jar

or (on Windows)

javaw -jar VietPad.jar

Note: The filename is case-sensitive in some operating systems. Be sure the directory that contains the VietPad.jar file is the current directory.

To run the Vietnamese localized version, specify the following switch for the Java interpreter:

java -Duser.language=vi -jar VietPad.jar

This switch is not needed if the system's default locale is already Vietnamese. In the International category of System Preferences on Mac OS X, "Việt" has to be added to the Languages list, at a position not below English. On Windows, the Vietnamese locale can be set as default via Regional Options in Control Panel or by selecting Vietnamese User Interface in VietPad's Preferences dialog.

Files that contain Unicode-compliant Vietnamese characters must be saved in Unicode formats. Custom settings, such as Font and Input Method options, will be saved when the program exits. The Always Save with Platform Default Line Separators option, when checked, forces the use of platform default line endings for file saving; when unchecked, preserves the original line endings. This accounts for the difference in End-of-Line (EOL) characters, namely, CRLF and LF, between Windows and Linux/Unix operating systems.

Note: Be sure to turn off other external Vietnamese keyboard drivers—e.g., VPSKeys, WinVNKey, VNI, VietKey, or UniKey—when you use VietPad.

COMMON VIETNAMESE CHARACTER INPUT METHODS

The keys designated as diacritical marks are to be typed immediately after the vowel they qualify. To type those keys literally, i.e., without combining them with the preceding vowel, type the escape character, defined to be the backslash key (\), right before entering those keys. For example, while Viet Mode is on with VNI Input Method selected, if you want to type the character sequence a1 , enter a\1—the escape character (\) will prevent character a and character 1 from combining into character á.

VietPad incorporates SmartMark capability, allowing users to enter diacritical marks at word ends, besides the traditional method above.

UNICODE-COMPLIANT FONTS

Unicode has only limited support in Windows 95/98/Me, but these operating systems are still capable of displaying all Vietnamese characters using appropriate Unicode fonts. Full Unicode support is built into Windows NT/2000/XP. Linux and Mac OS 8.5 or greater have begun to provide support Unicode. Mac OS X and Palm OS provide full Unicode support.

The following Windows fonts, which come supplied with Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP, contain many Unicode characters, including Vietnamese:

Times New Roman, Courier New, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Palatino Linotype

Note: Users of Windows 95/98/NT and Mac OS X should download the latest versions of these fonts, as the older versions, which are not fully Unicode-compliant, would display question marks (?), squares (◻), or glyphs from other fonts for unsupported characters. They can be downloaded from TrueType Core Fonts. These fonts are also included in Windows NT Service Pack 4, in Internet Explorer 5.5 or later, and in Microsoft Office 2000.

Many other Unicode fonts can be found at VietUniFont, Uvn Free Font, and Font Chữ.

Note to Linux Users: To make Unicode fonts available to Java applications, you may need to set the environment variable JAVA_FONTS to the appropriate font paths (typically, /usr/share/fonts/truetype) and then export it. This is usually done in /etc/profile file. More information can be found in Install and configure Unicode TrueType fonts in Linux and Configure Java environment on Linux.

CONTACT

For comments/feedback/input/bug report, please post at Viet Unicode Forum.