(OLD) (ARCHIVED) Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[MochiMoppel]

Update 2020-07-08 (see also initial post)

This update introduces a new button for functionality I haven't found anywhere in Puppy. It allows to analyze and - to a certain degree - read selected text, even if the text appears only as cryptic blocks like this one: ፫+༢=? .
I also added a simple zoom function.

This replaces the less functional "Convert Text" dialog. The HEX button and the View menu have been restructured accordingly.

Current Text Selection
Usage: Drag mouse cursor over any text inside or outside MMview to select it, then push SEL button (or use menu View - Current Text Selection).

The resulting display includes the official Unicode name for each character, which I find very helpful. Names are retrieved from file /usr/share/i18n/charmaps/UTF-8.gz which I hope is present in all Puppies. Depending on its version it covers at least 34.000 characters and their names.

Here some mysteries that can be solved by using the SEL button:
໒+໑=? May be readable, but what's the result? Hint: not 15

Without a Japanese font installed this clip from today's newspaper will appear as a sequence of blocks:
コロナウイルス Even with a font installed it still needs knowledge of Kana characters to read the text. The SEL button can help.

Lastly a real world example. I received a PM from a user who had trouble with a seemingly correct command like this one:
echo "hello world"
Try to paste this command into a console window. It will not work. The SEL button will tell you why.

Selection Zoom
Usage: Select text, then right-click the SEL button
This is intended to enlarge hardly readable characters like the cute ‎☃ or the slightly less cute ☠. Actually I made it to enlarge Japanese Kanji which often don't show enough details in standard font size. The zoom window can display a maximum of 6 Jap. Kanji or 18 ASCII characters. Trying to show more always resulted in a buggy display which would skip portions of the text. I noticed this bug in other GTK widgets. Extremely large text seems to cause some kind of adjustment error.

This function is the only function so far in MMview that can only be accessed by mouse, not by menu. Like above "Current Text Selection" it would require quite extensive code to prevent freezing of MMview caused by the GTK selection bug. Making it "button only" keeps it simple.

Other changes
The "Selecting file sends its full path to PRIMARY buffer" has been removed. Such automatic update of the PRIMARY buffer may interfere with the operation of the new Text Selection button.

As usual some code cleaning and performance improvements, particularly for the "Find text" function.

[rockedge]

Hello MochiMoppel,

Wow! great added function. This tool again is improving in usability. A real favorite of mine these days and I find works on every Linux distro I have running. I personally can't read Japanese or any of the major or minor Asian languages but I can appreciate the ability to do so (my cousin speaks and writes English, German and Mandarin, my son German,English and Vietnamese and my step-sons English and Japanese)

MochiMoppel...I really like your avatar/icon!

[MochiMoppel]

Bugfix 2020-07-09 (see also initial post)
Important update. Seems my code cleaning was too aggressive. I managed to wipe an important function. Sorry for that