WinHZ (v1.1) : - A HZ code extension to Chinese (GB) systems for Windows by Tian Bogang, April 1995 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- What's new in WinHZ v1.1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In v1.1 some codes of "auto-refresh", that is implimented first time in v1.0, have been rewritten. Hopefully it will not crash your system when using with some telecommunication programs. If you still get problem with this "auto-refresh", or you don't like this kind of thing, you can disable it by unchecking the new menuitem "AUTO-REFRESH" in sysmenu. When you check or uncheck the menuitems "AUTO-REFRESH" and "TOPMOST", WinHZ v1.1 saves your setting in a .ini file so that next time the setting will take effect. You may remember that in the doc of WinHZ v1.0 I told you there are two methods to input HZ code, and I recommanded the first one. The first method needs auto-refresh. So if you disable autorefresh, you have to use the second method to input HZ code. That means to check the "Input HZ" menuitem. Don't forget to uncheck it when you finish the input of HZ code! When you disable "auto-refresh" you may need to refresh the screen manually, that can be done by double-clicking the WinHZ icon. Because the codes of "auto-refresh" have been rewritten, whenever it is not in conflict with your application, I still suggest you to enable it. The following is the document of WinHZ v1.0. ======================================================================= WinHZ (v1.0) : - A HZ code extension to Chinese (GB) systems for Windows by Tian Bogang, January 1995 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- About WinHZ v1.0 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ WinHZ, now in version 1.0, is a HZ code extension to Chinese systems for Windows such as CStar, Twinbridge or Chinese Windows 3.1 (GB version). If you use these Chinese environments you know they can handle GB or BIG5 codes but still not HZ code. WinHZ will add the HZ code capability to them. When used together with these Chinese systems, WinHZ converts the HZ code to GB code and passes these GB code to the underlying Chinese system to display the HZ coded characters as Chinese ideographs. Using WinHZ you can edit HZ file with a normal text editor or you can use your telecom- munication program to read the HZ email and HZ news (such as the famous alt.chinese.text). File list ^^^^^^^^^ In WINHZ10.ZIP -WINHZ.EXE --------------- main program; -TBHKCS.DLL --------------- HZ code handling dll; -WINHZ10.DOC --------------- You are reading it. Installation and usage ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ First of all, you need the normal MS Windows 3.1 plus some Chinese system, such as CStar or Twinbridge, or Chinese Windows 3.1 (GB version, NOT BIG5 version). To install, you need to unzip WINHZ10.ZIP and put WINHZ.EXE and TBHKCS.DLL in any directory. Put the two together. Now WinHZ is ready to run. It will be convenient to build an item of WinHZ in Programmer Manager. To use WinHZ, you should launch your Chinese system before you launch WinHZ. During start-up WinHZ tries to see if the underlying Chinese system is known. Currently WinHZ knows three Chinese environment: Chinese Windows 3.1 (GB version), CStar and Twinbridge. If no known Chinese system is found, WinHZ will complain "chinese system? Unknown or not loaded?". Different from the beta version, WinHZ v1.0 starts working "blindly" even no known Chinese system is found, but be Warned: YOU ARE USING WINHZ.EXE WITH YOUR OWN RISK. NO WARRANTY. WinHZ starts as an icon. Single clicking pulls up its sysmenu. The sysmenu is appended by four more items: "HZ", "INPUT HZ", "TOPMOST" and "About WinHZ". The "HZ" and "TOPMOST" items are initially checked. Now you can use a text editor to edit a HZ coded file or start your telecommunication program to connect to network. Whenever some HZ coded characters appear on screen, they will be displayed as Chinese ideographs. With some Chinese system such as CStar and Twinbridge, the HZ extension is available even in a DOS box (windowed DOS session, NOT full screen). That means you can use your favorite Windows or DOS telecommunication program to read HZ information on network, only that using the Windows program you have better quality of Chinese font. You can click on HZ menu item to turn ON/OFF the HZ extension. The checked menu item means ON. The beta version of WinHZ has a problem: Some times it can not display the HZ codes correctly when it is used with telecommunication program and the connection is slow. Now WinHZ v1.0 is able to detect the problem and refresh the screen when it is necessary. If you want to refresh screen manually, the capability provided since the beta version of WinHZ is still there: just DOUBLE-CLICK on WinHZ icon, the screen (all windows) will be re-painted. To use this feature you may need to check "TOPMOST" menu item to keep the WinHZ icon always on top of all other windows. Improved upon the beta version, now you can input HZ code with WinHZ v1.0. You can input HZ code with two different methods: 1) You just type in the HZ escape code, ~ {, then use whatever input method provided by the Chinese system to input Chinese characters. The Chinese characters coming from the Chinese system are, of course, GB codes. WinHZ will try to convert these GB codes to HZ codes automatically. As a user you just need to type the escape code ~ { and all the Chinese characters you input after the escape code become HZ code. (Don't get confused: The original job of WinHZ is to convert the HZ code to GB code and pass the GB code to the underlying Chinese system for DISPLAYING. To INPUT HZ code, however, the job we need to do is on the contrary.) 2) Some times the method 1 may not work, for example, if you try to input HZ code to Windows Write. This is because some application has different way of handling "DOC" and "VIEW". Now you can use the second method: checking the "INPUT HZ" item on system menu. When it is checked, WinHZ installs a message filter that converts any GB code in a message to HZ code. Warning: you should use this method with caution: when you don't want to input HZ code any more, don't forget to uncheck the "INPUT HZ" item, otherwise the GB code you input will be converted to HZ code anyway. To remind you this, WinHZ changes its icon when the "INPUT HZ" item is checked. Another thing you should pay attention to is: when using the second method, WinHZ does not check if the HZ escape code is there, so it is your duty to type in the HZ escape, ~ {, before you really start to input HZ code. When you uncheck the "HZ" item, WinHZ reasonably unchecks the "INPUT HZ" item for you. When later you check "HZ" again, however, the "INPUT HZ" will not be checked automatically. When applicable, the first method is recommended. If you used the beta version of WinHZ, you may remember that WinHZ must be closed before the underlying Chinese system is closed, otherwise WinHZ may block your PC (or worse, jump out to DOS). In this WinHZ v1.0, it is unnecessary to always close WinHZ before closing the underlying Chinese system. Actually, if the Chinese system is known to WinHZ, when the Chinese system quits, WinHZ will also quit. If the Chinese system is not known, WinHZ will not quit, and you need to close WinHZ manually. You may agree that it is non sense to use WinHZ after the underlying Chinese system is closed. There is still a problem remained since the beta version of WinHZ: Some Windows text editor (Multipad, for example) uses variable-pitch font. If you use this kind of text editor to read a HZ coded file, the line width will be incorrect and some characters may be invisible. You need to use some other text editors that use fixed-pitch font or allow you to choose screen font. The NotePad that comes with Windows works correctly because it uses fixed-pitch font. WinHZ has been tested with these four Chinese systems: CStar 2.0, Chinese Windows 3.1 (GB version), Twinbridge 3.2 demo version and a less known Chinese system called SP Windows. The last one was taken as an example of "unknown Chinese system". Only a few telecommunication programs, such as WINQVT and Kermit for DOS (with CStar or Twinbridge, running in DOS box) have been used to read the HZ information on network. WinHZ cooperates with them well. With WINQVT one can read and input HZ code. The comments and bug reports of using WinHZ with different kind of telecommunication programs are specially welcome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- WinHZ version 1.0 is copyrighted by Tian Bogang but is free to use and distribute as long as you distribute all files together. Any bug reports and comments are welcome. Please email to Tian Bogang, WINHZ IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.