[XeTeX] XeTeX Digest, Vol 96, Issue 7

[Zdenek Wagner]

2012/3/9 Shiva Shankar <shivably04sdst at gmail.com>:
> Hi,
>
> ...
>
>
> May I know how to test it for non-UTF8 characters in plain TeX and LaTeX
>
In any flavour of TeX you can switch the language and type
\showhyphens{some text}. The log file will show you the hyphenated
version and thus you can see whether TeX hyphenates the way you like
or not.
>
>>
>>
>> Mojca
>>
>>
>
>
> Thank you.
>
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Zdenek Wagner <zdenek.wagner at gmail.com>
>> To: Unicode-based TeX for Mac OS X and other platforms <xetex at tug.org>
>> Cc:
>> Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 11:13:58 +0100
>> Subject: Re: [XeTeX] Hyphenation for Kannada
>> 2012/3/9 Shiva Shankar <shivably04sdst at gmail.com>:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I have a doubt regarding usage of hyphenation rules in LaTeX. Based on
>> > generic rules or patterns written
>> > in XeLaTeX for Kannada language I want to write them for Kanlel package.
>> > Kanlel package is
>> > not for UTF8 data. It is like Velthuis devanagari package for
>> > typesetting
>> > Sanskrit. My question is after writing patterns for
>> > Kannada language how can I test them? and where should I need to specify
>> > lefthyphenminchar and
>> > righthyphenminchar? Should I need to follow the route of babel or I is
>> > there
>> > anyway that we can test them directly?
>> >
>> It is a bit difficult answer. Generally, the hyphenation pattern
>> should be loaded when the LaTeX format is being generated. when doing
>> it you have to assign a proper number to the \language register. Later
>> in your document you need to set the same value to \language in order
>> to use these patterns. This is also the place for setting
>> \lefthyphenmin and \righthyphenmin. When loading a font, you have to
>> define \hyphenchar unless the hyphen is available in the standard
>> slot. The advantage of babel is that you can define a symbolic name to
>> the language and the module will set the correct values of
>> \lefthyphenmin and \righthyphenmin automatically when the language is
>> selected. Remember that different users may have different languages
>> installed so that the \language value for a given language may vary
>> but the symbolic name will be the same.
>>
>> Now the problem of hyphenation. TeX hyphenates words. The word is
>> defined as a sequence of characters with \catcode=11 and nonzero
>> \lccode. At least in Velthuis Devanagari some characters are build
>> from pieces, conjuncts do not encode virama which means that the
>> patterns written in UTF-8 would be unusable. Moreover, some matras are
>> typeset by macros that will create false word boundaries. Simply said,
>> hyphenation patterns are unusable with Velthuis Devanagari and
>> situation with Kanlel will most probably be exactly the same.
>> Hyphenation in Velthuis Devanagari can be optionally generated by the
>> preprocessor. It is achieved by putting \- to all feasible hyphenation
>> points.
>>
>> The last question is whether such a system is still needed now when we
>> have XeTeX. I understand that people may not have UTF-8 keyboard for
>> non-latin scripts or may have old files written in some
>> transliteration and they have to process them. I would recommend
>> another method. It is possible to generate TECkit map. TeX Live
>> contains package xetex-devanagari with several such mappings,
>> ArabXeTeX is another example of such maps. The advantage is that you
>> specify this mapping when loading the font. The text is then converted
>> automatically, no preprocessing is needed. I would now go this way.
>>
>> > --
>> > Regards
>> > Shivashankar
>> > Srirangapatna
>> >
>> >
>> >
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>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Zdeněk Wagner
>> http://hroch486.icpf.cas.cz/wagner/
>> http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Regards
> Shivashankar
> Sriranga Digital Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd.,
> Srirangapatna
>
>
>
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-- 
Zdeněk Wagner
http://hroch486.icpf.cas.cz/wagner/
http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz