[XeTeX] lacking precomposed character

[Ross Moore]

Hi Artemij,

On 19/05/2009, at 9:15 AM, jadolov k wrote:

> Oh, thank you this is almost what I needed.
> I say almost because it works quite well in the middle of a word,  
> but if the line contains only that glyph (this is what I've done as  
> a first try), the macron ends up to go below the letter, instead of  
> going above it...

Aaah; because you are in vertical mode, not horizontal.

You can just do:   \leavevmode\overstrike{..}{..}
or maybe           \null\overstrike{..}{..}   works.


Alternatively, modify the  \overstrike  macro as follows:

   \def\overstrike#1#2{\ifvmode\leavevmode\fi
      \setbox0=\hbox{#1}\setbox1=\hbox{#2}\copy0
      \kern -0.5\wd0 \kern -0.5\wd1 \copy1 \kern -0.5\wd1 \kern 0.5\wd0}


> I wish I knew the syntax of TeX as well as you do, but  
> unfortunately I don't. I tried to change some of the parameters of  
> the \def you suggested, but it went even worse, so I gave up.
> However, thank you very much.
> A.K.

Hope this helps,

	Ross


>
>
> On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 9:37 PM, John Was <john.was at ntlworld.com>  
> wrote:
> Hello Artemij
>
> As an interim measure (until an elegant solution is suggested), you  
> can set the non-zero-width macron (positiong 00AF) on top of the  
> schwa thus:
>
> \def\overstrike#1#2{\setbox0=\hbox{#1}\setbox1=\hbox{#2}\copy0
>    \kern -0.5\wd0 \kern -0.5\wd1 \copy1 \kern -0.5\wd1 \kern 0.5\wd0}
>
> \overstrike{ə}{¯}
>
> Of course that is tedious to type, so, after defining \overstrike  
> as above, you can use something like
>
>
> \def\ə{\overstrike{ə}{¯}}
>
> Then for the schwa with macron just type {\ə} or simply \ə if you  
> don't mind adding a space after it in the middle of a word, and an  
> explicit space (\ ) after it if it comes at the end of a word  
> (personally I prefer {\ə}so one doesn't have to think about the  
> following space).
>
> This isn't very nice but it might help if you are in a hurry to get  
> through some piece of work, and you can search and replace on it  
> afterwards when something better is suggested.
>
> Best
>
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: jadolov k
> To: Unicode-based TeX for Mac OS X and other platforms
> Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 2:58 PM
> Subject: [XeTeX] lacking precomposed character
>
> Hi to all,
> What I need to obtain is a certain character with the macro sign  
> above it (namely, a schwa with a macron, that serves to the  
> transliteration needs for Ancient Indonesian). However, the Unicode  
> standard lacks a precomposed entry   for that character. Still,  
> with the package Xunicode I can use the command \= to add a  
> combining unicode compliant macron sign to any character (can't  
> I?). The problem is that the font I use (Minion Pro) does not have  
> a good combining macron glyph. Therefore, when I write \= 
> {<something_strange>} I obtain only this <something_strange>  
> followed by a null character instead of being "covered" with a macron.
> So, my question is: is there some way to substitute the glyph used  
> by Xunicode as the macron sign? something similar to the command  
> \textsuperscript* or \fakesuperscript provided by the package xltxtra.
> Any idea?
> Thank all the people in advance.
> Artemij Keidan
>

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ross Moore                                       ross at maths.mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850 8114
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